Mike has a troubled past, he can’t hold down a job due to his anger management issues, and he is raising his young sister Abby at best he can. Money is tight, he is facing eviction, Abby is withdrawn, and Aunt Jane is hovering intent on taking custody of Abby and earning those Government dollars. So Mike needs a new job pronto, and wouldn’t you know it there’s a gig as a night time security guard at the abandoned kid favourite fast food emporium Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Only trouble is the life size animatronic mascots seem to have a life of their own, Mike is having nightmares involving his abducted younger brother and a bunch of kids, and there’s a feeling of something wicked this way comes. Can Mike make rent, hold onto his sister, and oh yeah survive the work week.

Another week another Blumhouse horror flick, yes I audibly groaned when that realisation hit me full force in the face. But surprisingly, you may need to take a seat here kids, I actually quite dug this one and was surprised by the movie that found its way onto my screen of dark intent. What we get is a revenant movie, wonder if there is a collective noun for revenants, a surprisingly textured movie, and a central protagonist that is actually sympathetic. Did the folk over at Blumhouse collective have a road to Damascus moment, and actually decide to give their potential audience something good, or is this a flash in the pan. I don’t know folks, jury is out, but if the proof is in the pudding we could be seeing a new dawn at Blumhouse.

Okay kids we all know the movie is based off the runaway hit indie game of the same name, and since I have never played the game I have no idea if the movie is true to the origins or not. Once again I would point out to the recalcitrant reader the movie format necessitates changes to the original source material, what works on your computer screen may not work in the context of the film format. So no comparisons here folks, I’m just looking at the movie as a standalone property.

We are introduced to our protagonist in singularly brilliant fashion. Mike has anger issues, isn’t able to hold down a job for any length of time, and can best be described as a complete loser. Not the sort of character your average cinema goer is going to be sympathetic too. No square jawed heroics going down here. But as the movie develops and we learn more about Mike the sympathy levels are going up, Mike is completely informed by a tragedy in the past, is doing his best by his dependent sister, who appears to be on spectrum, and is prepared to do the hard yards to keep things trucking on the home front. He also proves to be a foil for his completely evil Aunt, boy is the audience going to love to hate that character! So yeah, director Tammi has the hero’s progress going down and understands how Western stories have worked since the ancient Greeks decided there was an audience for works of fiction; okay they used public performances for plays, but you get the point right, Western fiction or any fiction for that matter, works when it gives the viewer what they want to see rather than wallowing in messaging. So yeah, the lead is a guy we come to sympathise with, and a character the audience will identify with.

I was kind of worried about how they were going to get around the notion of honking big mechanical monsters without diverting into Terminator territory after doing a slight Stephen King side-track. Surprisingly the group of writers have you covered here, and I for one was applauding the ingenuity on display. We are told early on that kids love Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza and that a number of kids had gone missing, hence the fast food emporium being shut down, this is tied together in the plot as neat as the birthday presents your mom wraps up and we are away in a sort of revenant rampage. I say sort of because Five Nights isn’t about to make anything easy, there’s some psychology going down here and the twists are going to keep coming at the viewer. So yeah, my major concern going into the movie was quickly covered and I was happy with what the plot threw in my direction.

We might be getting into spoilers here, jump to the next paragraph if you haven’t seen the movie yet, but full plot coverage means we have to at least acknowledge the main antagonist of the flick, if only in sketch fashion. We’re talking that most disturbing psycho killer, one that preys on children. Emma Tammi isn’t about to show anything happening to kids, a dangerous approach to take in any horror movie, but equally she isn’t shying away from making the viewer absolutely aware of what is going down here. Surprisingly, Matthew Lillard of all people nails the dual roles he is presented with here, and while not being on the chilling side as the antagonist does ample work to have us believing in the insanity.

But just when you think director Tammi is finished with the shenanigans she delivers some supernatural meanderings in the form of Mike’s dreams, the dream children – who we learn are the missing links, and Mike’s constant nightmares about the abduction of his younger brother, if you haven’t guessed who the abductor is pretty early in the piece then you really aren’t watching with any degree of interest. Just saying Tammi goes for a multi-dimensional approach to her horror tactics, and surprisingly those tactics are working. Not a bad result for a movie featuring mechanic antagonists.

While Five Nights is wearing its horror heart on its sleeve there are some sidenotes that sort of add to what is going down. I mean we aren’t talking sub plots and major enhancements, but the interest is added. Firstly, Mike’s younger sister Abby, superbly played by Piper Rubio, looks to be initially on spectrum, has a will of her own, and adds a big dose of motivation for Mike. While I tend to detest children in horror movies, generally they are obnoxious as all get out, Rubio had me onside from her first appearance. Secondly Aunt Jane provides a villain you are going to love to hate. Ever had a relative who takes advantage of all and everything around them? Well Aunt Jane nails that, she doesn’t care about anything except her own comfort. Naturally the viewer is going to be waiting for Aunty to reap what she has sown, hey you don’t get out of a horror flick if you are a detestable character. And to round out festivities we have a crew Aunt Jane hires to wreak havoc in the pizza parlour of doom. We get havoc, but not quite in the manner the crew was expecting, surprisingly this reminded me of the ginger twins in the first every episode of American Horror Story season one.

I guess this review wouldn’t be complete without mention of the more than interesting character Vanessa. She starts out as a police officer who the audience are probably going to write off as Mike’s love interest who will have some impact on the final confrontation we know is coming. But gradually we find she has far more knowledge and interest in the Pizza parlour that dripped blood than you would normally expect from a patrol office. At one stage I was thinking she might have been the culprit in the missing kids thing. We get full disclosure by the end of the movie, and yeah that was a surprise, and I guess a fitting fate for the character, given her past actions.

While Five Nights at Freddy’s isn’t going to have gorehounds baying at the moon, it does deliver a decent enough plot that had me on board. Guess we knew any movie out of the Blumhouse stable would be on the safe side of the table, no surprise there, and folks we have to face the reality that not all movies are made for us. The acting is adequate, the atmosphere while there isn’t exactly making new fans for the genre, of the horror tactics are on the low dial, but you do get to be entertained as the plot delivers more twists than Chubby Checker sang about. All in all, I would recommend this one to people who can’t find anything more serious to watch. The movie isn’t going to do you any harm, might actually entertain you, and isn’t the worse thing on the menu. I enjoyed my slice of Five Nights at Freddy’s, but was after something slightly more intense on the topping.