Story
Mike (Josh Hutcherson) has had trouble sleeping for years. He blames himself for not being able to save his little brother from being kidnapped when they were children. That day has haunted him ever since and was the catalyst that unravelled the fabric of his family. After his father left and his mother died, it was Mike who took over the care of his young sister Abby (Piper Rubio). The only problem is that he struggles to hold down a job, to pay the bills and to fulfil all his parental responsibilities. His Aunt Jane (Mary Stuart Masterson) wants to take over custody of Abby but that is the last thing that either Mike or Abby want. When Mike loses another job, it looks like Aunt Jane may be closer to getting what she wants.
In desperation, Mike takes a job working as a security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a restaurant that was once a favourite with families but became abandoned after a number of children went missing. Mike’s job is to keep people out of the site and generally look after the place, which doesn’t seem that hard, except creepy and inexplicable things begin to happen, especially when he falls asleep.
When Mike has to bring his sister with him to work one night, the animatronic characters all take an extreme liking to her and decide that Abby must join them. What Abby doesn’t know is that they contain the bodies of the missing, murdered children who are controlled by a Yellow Bunny (Matthew Lillard) whom the animatronic characters don’t often see and hardly remember. But the Yellow Bunny isn’t who they think he is and it will be up to Mike, Abby and a police officer named Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) to solve the mystery of the missing children and stop the carnage at Freddy’s.
Themes
Family breakdown and dysfunction; children separated from parents; the kidnapping and murder of children
Violence
Five Nights at Freddy’s has some violence. For example:
- A security guard tries to escape from Freddy’s place. He is hunted and followed while he tries to get out and just as he reaches the exit, he is captured and murdered shortly thereafter.
- A child from a dream says that they should kill Mike.
- Mike attacks a man in a shopping mall, punching him repeatedly in front of his child.
- In a dream, children start to attack Mike and one child slices his arm with a rock. His arm begins bleeding profusely in the dream and the injury carries over into real life, with blood dripping down his arm.
- A child begins to bleed black ooze from its eyes.
- A group of guys smash up Freddy’s Pizza restaurant, knocking things down and destroying the place.
- A creepy cake puppet bashes around in the inside of a refrigerator. It then attacks a character, trying to eat its face. Blood is spurting as the creature rips into the man’s flesh, and he screams for help as another creepy creature looks on.
- A creepy creature tries to break through a door, the door opens, and the man is trapped inside, the lights flickering as the robot creature advances with menacing sounds.
- A character is lifted off her feet as she peers into Freddy’s mouth. It appears that a hand suddenly reaches out to grab her and at that point, she is decapitated.
- Freddy says that Abby is going to die.
- Characters run past Mike and slash him with knives, attacking his chest and legs.
- Mike wakes from a dream to find himself trapped in a chair with Freddy about to slice a blade through his skull. He manages to escape from the chair and immediately notices numerous other mutilated bodies lying in the room.
- Freddy attacks Aunt Jane (her inert body is shown lying on the floor) to have access to Abby. Freddy then takes Abby back to his place, while terrifying a taxi driver on the way.
- An animatronic character tries to stuff Abby into the shell of an old, discarded robotic creature.
- A creepy cake monster attacks Mike’s leg as if eating it, while a little boy watches in the shadows. Mike Tasers the cake creature.
- Mike Tasers the Yellow Bunny.
- The Yellow Bunny shoves Mike across the room saying, ‘first I killed your brother and now I will kill you’. He kicks Mike hard in the face, knocking him unconscious.
- Vanessa holds a gun on the Yellow Bunny. The bunny then strangles Vanessa and stabs a knife through Vanessa’s stomach.
- The children in the animal costumes remember that the Yellow Bunny is the one who killed them, and they turn on the man in the bunny suit.
- The bunny suit begins to kill the man inside it. The sound of his bones crunching and metal slicing into his body can be heard as he writhes in pain.
Sexual references
There are no sexual references in Five Nights at Freddy’s.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
Five Nights at Freddy’s has some substance use. For example:
- Mike uses lots of prescription medication to help him get to sleep and to cope with the guilt of not being able to save his little brother from his abductor.
- According to Abby, Aunt Jane smells like cigarettes.
Nudity and sexual activity
There’s no nudity and sexual activity in Five Nights at Freddy’s.
Product placement
Five Nights at Freddy’s has some product placement. For example there are a lot of product tie-ins to the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise.
Coarse language
Five Nights at Freddy’s has some coarse language and name-calling.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Five Nights at Freddy’s is a horror film based on the popular video game of the same name. This is not a family film and will be far too scary for many children. It is best suited to ages 15 and over, particularly those who are fans of the franchise.
The main message from Five Nights at Freddy’s is that you can’t change the past and that you can’t control the future but you can make powerful choices that allow you to appreciate the present and the life (and family) that you have.
Values in Five Nights at Freddy’s that you could reinforce with your children include persistence, love, helpfulness, forgiveness and courage.
Five Nights at Freddy’s could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues like these:
- Wandering off with someone you don’t know.
- Not telling people where you are going or when you will be back.
- Using violence as opposed to words.
- Over-using prescription drugs.