As Flynn mentioned in his comprehensive breakdown of video game adaptations, the point-and-click survival horror series Five Nights at Freddy’s is hoping to make the leap to big screens courtesy of Warner Bros. This past week, the adaptation moved a smidgen closer to reality when Warner Bros announced that Monster House and Poltergeist remake director Gil Kenan had jumped on board the project.
I was immensely displeased with Poltergeist (my review), but I still find myself rooting for Kenan. He’s one of the only directors out there who seems committed to creating horror movies that are aimed at kids, and that’s something we’re sorely missing in our current movie landscape. Five Nights at Freddy’s is chock-full of creepy imagery thanks to the main conceit of evil animatronics trying to kill you. Kenan has even said that he wants to use minimal CGI and focus on practical effects in order to bring the villains to life. All that sounds good at this juncture.
I haven’t played any of the Five Nights at Freddy’s games, but I’ve watched some playthroughs and read tons of stuff about the lore of the games, and that’s where I’m most interested in this adaptation. Kenan says the film will be canon to the game’s universe, and considering how disturbing that world can get, I’m hoping the film pushes its kid-friendly boundaries to the absolute extreme.
I also hope the movie references the infamous “Bite of ’87” where a child’s frontal lobe was bitten off by one of the animatronics. If I get to see a kid’s head getting chomped off by a demented Chuck E. Cheese stand-in, I’ll be thoroughly pleased.
For more news, you can follow me on Twitter @DrewDietsch