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partnersatfazbear · 6 months

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FNAF Movie - Full Review / SPOILERS

Alright, my full review after seeing the film once in theatres, under the cut:

Let me preface by saying a few things. I've been a fan of the series since Sister Location and if you follow my blog, you know my main interests would be William and Henry going into the film. Let me say: Henry was not in the film. :( In fact, nothing of Fredbear's was even referenced. Yeah, we expected too much... You may also know how bleh I am towards Vanessa as a character, especially after her botched introduction in Security Breach. That doesn't change here. I went in expecting to hate her inclusion and as expected she adds nothing to the film. But let me start from the beginning..

The first ten minutes is so good. The opening feels like a horror movie and sets the tone really well. Characters, although many, are introduced fairly quickly, including a very stereotypical / evil Aunt Jen (Aunt Jane). Given her actress, I should have expected that... Luckily, she has such a minor role in the movie that it doesn't detract. In short, she wants custody of Abby and wants it now.

Michael was the shining star of this movie. Without his character being everything I'd ever want from a character, I would probably rate this movie way lower. He's a little brooding, he's fucking trying his damndest to raise Abby on his own, and the movie opens with him having major anger problems. PTSD does that to you, though.

Shortly after Michael beats up some guy walking off with his kid, we get to a meeting with his career counselor, Afton (under a different name I don't recall--it's shown a lot in the trailers). But before I say that, I wanna discuss where I thought the film was going... If you played the games you know William is Michael's father. That is NOT the case here, very very very much to my disappointment. When we see an angry father drag off a kid and Mike get upset about it, I thought perhaps it would allude to Michael's troubled childhood. Nope. He's got different problems, which aren't really bad, but I really wish they had kept that familial connection given the scene following with Mike and ("Not")Afton. William recognizes Mike's name, which at this point it's unclear why. If a fan goes into this, they already know William was going to say Schmidt--Michael's alias in the games. My thought here was maybe William abandoned his family and recognized Mike, but Mike didn't recognize him. Again, more on that later. Anyway, "Not"Afton invites Mike to a job at FNAF as a security guard, which due to the night shifts, Michael can't take yet.

But Aunt Jane is back trying to get custody (god, this trope is so badly used here, but it serves it's purpose) and so Mike HAS to take the job before he's evicted from his home and loses Abby. Abby also has some problems of her own. She wasn't around during Mike's life-changing incident, but she is his sister. Due to their parents splitting/dying/whatever I don't even remember it's so unimportant, Abby also isn't told about said incident. She draws a lot, too. (I loved being able to see a bit of my version of Charlotte in her, so that was nice!)

Note: Mike's Dream Theory book is not only plot relevant but a funny nod to the infamous FNAF 4 Dream Theory. Also, MatPat shows up as a waiter very briefly.

Mike takes his first shift, leaving Abby with a babysitter. I know her actress' face, but her character is like a slew of others about to be introduced as 90's slasher fodder. Mike's first night is mostly uneventful, but he takes his sleeping pills and puts on Sounds of the Trailer Park Nature tape and gets a nap in where he recalls a camping trip with his family (unnamed mother, father, and little brother Garret). Garret is quickly kidnapped in a car--and because it's so different from how Charlotte's death is portrayed in FNAF 2, I actually didn't put it together until the 2nd or 3rd short dream sequence. I can see some people not liking these sequences, but for me it made it feel more like it's own movie, it's own thing--it felt like an original horror film and I loved these sequences a lot. They don't overstay their welcome, either.

Now the film kinda goes downhill. Aunt Jane actively PLOTS to get MIke fired to win custody of Abby. It feels very cheesy and it's... kind of bad writing. It serves it's purpose as her character does, but it's a really low point for me. We see she's hired the Babysitter and Unnamed Man A to go trash Freddy's when Mike isn't there in hopes to get him fired. There are two other people as well. Unnamed Person B and Hank (or, Uncle Hank as he was called in casting). And no Hank is NOT Henry--he's just an adorable buff bear that screams like a girl and he's excellent for the short time he appears.

Proceed with them trashing Freddy's and having a nice, quick sequence of them all being picked off by the animatronics. There's good nods here, especially Chica in the kitchen. Chica is a bad ass bitch in this movie and I really enjoyed how everyone (except Freddy) had a pretty solid personality. Foxy even gets a bit of a run sequence, but this may have been later in the film...

Vanessa was introduced somewhere between all this, I don't remember. Everytime she's on screen she's like a paper doll (no complaints to her actress, she was great), but she's... Generic Cop Y. She chunks a few "Don't investigate, Mike"s and "This place's backstory, Mike!"s and that's her character for 99% of the film. Hate it, hated her inclusion from the start, and she TRIES to be romantic with Mike but luckily the movie's plot cuts her off really quick. There isn't a kiss scene or anything like that, but there's a scene where she wants to dance with him and another heart-to-heart that gets cut off by her police radio and both were so dull and boring I will not recap them as her character only serves to infodump to the audience (and Mike) and it's bland and I hate it.

Mike returns to the Pizzeria with his sister since the animatronics killed the babysitter, and she wanders off and makes friends with the animatronics. During this time, Mike starts seeing a group of five children in his dreams that shouldn't be there. We all know who they are and after an 80's style montage of Mike, Vanessa (again...), and Abby building a fort with the animatromos, we learn Vanessa knows who they are.

My wife and I both thought Vanessa would be like... Suzie's sister. You know, something kinda fun and different and help her relate to Michael more and have a stake in the movie. Nah, nah fam. Scott's bad writing shows badly with Vanessa and it gets worse.

I am skipping some stuff, but namely you should know that Mike almost leaves Abby with Aunt Jane forever after Vanessa threatens to literally shoot him if he brings her back after Abby almost dies activating Bonnie's guitar. It seems kinda odd, since Vanessa was encouraging Abby to play with them, but it's supposed to.

Mike goes back for another shift to investigate further with the dream children and knowing that Abby has been seeing the ghost children and talking to them. The children promise to show Mike who kidnapped Garret (again, you should've figured it out) if they offer up Abby. He agrees at first, but then he wakes up and is nearly killed by all the animatronics. I really miss the bit from the games where they wanna kill Mike because he looks like his father, not because Mike broke an arbitrary promise and the animatronic kids are evil (similar to the novels... There's a lot of novel influence here, and this INCLUDES a Golden Freddy kid who is basically FF's Andrew / TOYSKHK from UCN).

Vanessa rescues Mike off-screen and Mike returns to Freddy's with a taser after learning she's Afton's daughter. Yeah. Remember that old deleted / AR email "Vanessa A."? The movie tries to get you to think it's clever by naming her Shelley or something, but no, A COP is the daughter of a SERIAL KILLER. Not like game Afton, either, where he started killing with Charlotte. No, he killed Garret too. Why? Who fucking cares, the movie isn't gonna tell you because... why bother. Also I don't remember when it happens but Vanessa also explains the springlock suits when they find one in the storage of Freddy's that looks a lot like Eleanor / Baby. The springlocks themselves aren't as much like the novels / comics and more like a robotic ribcage that slams shut (think Saw 3's Angel Trap but in reverse).

Speaking of, in the intro to the movie we see a device that's basically a Freddy head with blades inside it where the user is strapped to a chair to have their face sawed off (as is the fate of Security Guard A). Never explained. Only shown again with Mike very late in the film and he escapes rather easily... I DON'T KNOW what the point of this Saw trap is except to provide trailer fodder! I wanted to believe it was the SCUPER, but guess fucking not. You could remove this from the film with literally NO CONSEQUENCES.

Abby finally stops throwing a fit and wakes up to meet Golden Freddy and a dead Aunt Jane (so much for her, I guess). This taxi just fucking ubers her and GF to Fredbear's. I guess the driver thought he was a creepy cosplayer, but the entire segment is played for laughs (which is fine, I guess) but also makes no sense. it's an excuse to get Abby to Freddy's and show off GF. Who, by the way, disappears as quickly as he appeared in the movie, which is kind of shitty considering how important he's played up in some of the original screenshots we saw.

Mike goes to save Abby at Freddy's, electrocuting a bunch of the animatronics with the tazer Vanessa gave him after saving him off screen and taking him back to the police station and info dumping. If she hadn't said that was where Mike was I would've thought it was still Freddy's TBH. Oh, Vanessa? She's not gonna help because she's "scared of her daddy" -.- Just fucking kill me Vanessa it's better than sitting through your shitty character.

Abby is nearly put into the Saw trap by Chica, but Mike saves her. However... THE BEST PART OF THE FILM IS HERE GENTLEMEN. Spring Bonnie finally makes his appearance.

William/Bonnie can somehow magically control the animatronics (it's not explained) and so they all start attacking again. Which is it? Mad at Mike? Want Abby for their kiddy carnival? Or William wants them to kill to build his found-family of child labor force? I DON'T KNOW, IT'S NOT EXPLAINED.

Spring Bonnie's intro is fucking glorious, but it is disappointing we didn't get to hear him hum the Toreador March. In fact, it isn't in the film anywhere that I recall.

Tangent for a second because the march song, the power down noise (despite the power going out 3 times during the film), and the Freddy bonk are ALL ABSENT. Key elements fans wanted to see... not here.

Vanessa tries to shoot daddeh but Spring Bonnie's bulletproof~ Fuck you, it's FNAF, I guess. (It's a bad ass scene though. And Lillard's Afton is everything I wanted. Just creepy enough to not be a Criminal Minds villain but just twitchy enough to be how I imagined William). In a tussle, Wiliam tries to strangle Vanessa (I audibly cheered for him--kill the bitch, Will) and he stabs her shortly after when he brandishes the knife on Mike. Thank God.

Abby shows the animatronics her drawing with Mike's instruction, revealing and reminding them that Afton / Spring Bonnie killed them. They all descent on him and when Cupcake takes a very familiar bite out of Spring Bonnie (see: Springtrap), the springlocks start going off. The animatronics cart off William to the back. Admittedly, I was a bit disappointed it wasn't MORE dramatic, but I think that it would have upped the rating... so I'll let it slide. Mike and Abby leave with Vanessa's "corpse".

Vanessa is in a coma at the hospital. Fuck this movie.

Mike and Abby are happy, although Abby misses her friends. Mike has learned to look forward instead of back, giving him a decent character arc. I think if Garret's killer had been random it would have been better... except my theory for FNAF 2 is that Garret may end up being our Puppet! I really hope that's the case!

There's a final scene of William in his FNAF 3 glory, twitching as Spring Bonnie and reaching out for the door closing on him, in a very "Hello, Zepp" theme kinda way. I LIVED FOR THIS IT WAS EXACTLY HOW YOU'D WANT IT AS A WILLIAM FAN. Andrew/TOYSKHK/GF ghost closes the door on him, showing that at minimum he hasn't moved on, although I suspect the others haven't either.

Only cut in to the credits is that taxi driver again. No post-credits scene of Springtrap. EVERYONE in my theatre stayed the entire time (Living Tombstone song was great) but we all left a little sad about that. It was one of many odd decisions plaguing this movie, but not entirely out of the realm of possibility if you have any experience with Scott's writing. So... I went in expecting the worst, wishing for some things we didn't get to see (FREDBEARS), BUT I left loving this movie. As my wife said if we had a No-Vanessa-Cut I'd give this movie a perfect 10/10 despite the odd writing choices. She's about 45% of those choices.

I hope they leave her for dead so we can watch a PERFECT movie for Part 2.

In conclusion, A-. Good acting, score, effects. Dialogue didn't come off wierd and there's a ton of fun references for fans. A mostly good story with some weird inclusions that slow down the pacing at times. Lack of post-credits scene was disappointing to all and lack of Fredbear's disappointing to all Willry shippers. Also, casuals may be annoyed at how little screentime William gets overall. Fans of the animatronics will die over this film--they shine with Henson's work behind them. Bonnie has toebeans. I love them. Spring Bonnie is a hulking behemoth and I wish he was shown more. Just go see the fucking movie, even if you aren't a fan of the games. It's a fun little romp.

EXTRA NOTES (rewatched on streaming):

I wonder if the Saw trap thing will get explained in a future installment. A big thing now having seen the film is how to set up part 2. If it's a prequel, Mike won't make sense. If it's a sequel, it changes the lore slightly.

THE PIXEL INTRO OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT TO MENTION IT. IT'S SO GOOD. I LOVE 'YELLOW RABBIT'

I was VERY confused on WHEN the movie took place on my first watch. There's a very minor establishing shot that reads 4/6/2000. Unsure if this date is / will be important. Luckily the use of VHS and flip phones does help give a timeframe as well. (Saw crossover, anyone?)

I really wish the ghost kids in the real world (namely, at the end in the Pizzeria and in the final shot of William) were transluscent. IDK if this was a stylistic or budget choice. It doesn't bother me in the dream sequences but it's a touch I wish was added for viewer clarity (a problem this movie and Scott's writing in general has)

I didn't get to rant about Spring Bonnie enough lol But one thing that really does show his power is how he tosses Mike around like a footballer and stomps like he owns the place. The other animatronics are very stilted and slow in comparison, showing the difference well between an animatronic and a springlock suit. I also LOVE how accurate the suit is to the few models we've seen of Spring Bonnie. It's bulky to hold a human, but it's also bulky to show William's power and ego. I can't remember if I mentioned before when he first shows up and has to adjust his stance to stand up straight--it's a very powerful and evoking moment! (Probably helps that Lillard is very tall to begin with...)

A small thing about streaming VS theatre: way easier to see details in the theatre. I highly recommend you experience this film on a big screen or a very large TV (our 50" is not enough). Also, alot of the backgrounds in the film are purposely blurred, which is kinda weird? But little things like the details on the chalkboard, the map in Not!Afton's office... you'll kind of miss that on home viewings.

I didn't say this enough but the lack of Fredbear's really sucks in the long run of letting this movie soak in. There is literally no mention of Henry, Fredbear, or the diner. Vanessa's photo is at the diner in question where the film takes place. I feel like it's a very personal decision on Scott's part to completely ignore Fredbear's (I even partially suspect because of blogs like mine with a specific ship in mind, but I won't read a lot into that as I have an anxiety disorder) But to completely disregard a big chunk of the lore that fans are really dying for feels a little like a slap on the wrist for spilling juice on a new carpet. Like, come on, Scott. This kinda sucks. It doesn't diminish my love for the film (or this continuity) but as a fan it really hurts. I don't think clarifying Fredbear's in any way, given us more insight to Henry or William, would harm everything, but it is what it is.

A minor detail I noted early on in my theatre watch was how all the Yellow Rabbit drawings are pretty centralized on the wall of drawings in the restaraunt. Not only does it draws the viewer's eye (especially an unsuspecting viewer's) but it adds to William's narcissism / ego as a character. If you look at it in that light, the scene with Abby ripping down the drawing is way more impactful!!

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