Five Nights at Freddy's (4½ Stars)

I recently read an article in which "Five Nights at Freddy's" is called a family friendly horror movie. Weird. I'd never heard that expression before. So after watching the film this evening I did some online research. A family friendly horror movie is a film that can scare children without traumatising them. It's a film in which the viewer is detached from the horror, i.e. he doesn't feel like he's the one being threatened or killed. I still didn't understand that explanation, so I carried on reading. There's one point made that I could understand. The age limits jump from 0 to 6 to 12 to 16 to 18 without gaps in between. A film might be suitable for a 10-year-old. Apart from that, children have different maturity, so what's good for one 10-year-old could be bad for another 10-year-old.

One thing that's surprised me is that the film has been parodied many times on YouTube children's channels. Check out the videos on the Shiloh & Bros channel, which have been viewed millions of times. My grandson Oliver has watched them repeatedly. He knows the names of all the robots in the film. I don't.

There's another thing that's always confused me about horror films, specifically "Five Nights at Freddy's". One of the main characters is Abby Schmidt, played by the actress Piper Rubio. She was only seven years old when she made the movie. Does that mean she wasn't allowed to watch the film when it was finished? I expect the filming itself wasn't as scary as the finished product, because actors on the set don't see the magic of cinema. It's all too real to be scary.

"Five Nights at Freddy's" is a good film. Maybe confusing in parts. It's never explained how Abby is able to draw the robots before she first sees them. Let's hope there's a plausible explanation in the sequel.

Success Rate:  + 12.9

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