Re: Movies Like Five Nights At Freddy 39;s
Scat Laboy
Halloween may now be in the rearview mirror, and most people got through their 31 Days of Horror watch lists. Some had October 27th circled for a certain release. Blumhouse produced an adaptation of the cult video game Five Nights at Freddy's. Josh Hutcherson plays a security guard who gets a night shift gig watching over Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. It comes to the conclusion that the animatronic puppets in the restaurant seem to be coming to life and have murder on their minds.
Five Nights at Freddy's now falls in line with many other puppets who come to life in killer doll movies that have captivated horror fans since the 1980s. There's a long list, but we've whittled it down to ten movies that work just fine if you liked Five Nights at Freddy's.
Pooka! was released in late 2018 as a film that was a part of Blumhouse's series of 90-minute horror films that circled around the popular holiday of the month in which they were released. Pooka! is about a struggling actor who takes on a gig during the holidays promoting the biggest toy of the year. His duties include dressing up as the doll, but eventually the lines of reality blur between who he is and the character he is playing.
For starters, both of these films are produced by Blumhouse. And even five years before Five Nights at Freddy's was to be released, there was internet chatter on Reddit that Pooka! was a clear rip-off of the cult video game. There is an eerie aesthetic in both of these films that feels kind of similar. The appearance of Pooka almost feels like a distant cousin to one of the animatronic killer puppets in Five Nights at Freddy's. And if you do like Pooka! check out the sequel on Hulu,Pooka Lives!
The only short film on this list, The Hug, clocks in at only five minutes long. It is about an animatronic panda at a pizza arcade that seems to be broken. But it seems to come back to life once little Aiden gives it a hug. And unfortunate events happen from there.
The Hug is actually heavily inspired by Five Nights at Freddy's and, even more so, actual accidents that would occur at Chuck E. Cheese. The panda named Pandory is utterly alarming; its eyes wouldn't make any kid want to go near it. The short film gets in and out with a terrifying buildup and payoff to a child being in danger. People who grew up in mall culture and kid-friendly restaurants like this will have flashbacks to these kinds of friendly animal characters. And, as we all did, ponder what they would do if they came alive.
Speaking of mall culture, a film about killer robots in a mall. Chopping Mall is about a sentient robot who malfunctions and decides to go on a killing spree around a mall. Now it's up to the scientist who created it and many others to put an end to the madness.
With a poster that does not match the tone of the film at all, Choppping Mall is one of the ultimate cult horror comedies of the 1980s. The robotic killing machine in the film is not scary in the least bit; it's filmed at the famous Southern California shooting location, The Sherman Oaks Galleria, where other great 1980s films like Commando and Fast Times at Ridgemont High were shot. It's hard to tell if Chopping Mall is ripping off slasher movies and The Terminator, but either way, not one person has seen this and not had fun with it, even if they didn't like the movie.
Westworld is written and directed by Michael Crichton. It is about a futuristic theme park that allows its guests to pretend that they're living in the old west. However, one of the androids that roams the park (Yul Brynner) begins to malfunction and go on a killing spree.
For starters, Yul Brynner's performance is a solid precursor to a character like Michael Myers or even The Terminator. It's a treat to watch him in this role. It's crazy to compare Westworld and Five Nights at Freddy's. Westworld does take itself a little more seriously in its themes. Westworld explores big ideas, one of which is that it presents itself to men specifically as a place where they can roam free and not be bogged down by society. But in actuality, when they're there, they are no more free than the robots at the park. Oh, and let's not forget, a remarkable television series was adapted from this story for HBO.
The Banana Splits Movie takes on the ultimate kid-friendly experience of going to a taping of your child's favorite kid-friendly show and turning into a full-on massacre. It's about a boy named Harley who attends a taping of The Banana Splits TV show with his family, but soon the body count starts to rise as the friendly characters on the show may not be so friendly.
For starters, it's an R-rated adaptation of a Hanna-Barbera property. It also has the feel and aesthetic of what it would be like to actually go to one of these low-budget show tapings. The set design is magnificent, and you can kind of tell that this was made with people who gave a damn about the material. If you liked Five Nights at Freddy's but want to turn up the dial a bit with some more intensity, The Banana Splits Movie might be your jam.
Arguably one of the best direct-to-video franchises of all time. Puppet Master is about a group of psychics who find themselves trapped in a mansion after coming together in the wake of one of their friends' deaths. Here they learn his secret about the puppets he created that can come to life, and it seems said puppets are still alive and well.
A franchise that has been going strong on the straight-to-video market for almost 35 years now. Most of these films are there to turn your brain off. But all in all, the original film broke down more barriers for the doll-that-comes to life sub-genre. It's a clear knockoff of Child's Play in terms of timing, but way different in its plot. With interesting kill tactics as well, these puppets walked, so something like Five Nights at Freddy's could run.
It can't get any more crystal clear than that title. Killer Klowns From Outer Space is about when two teenagers see a comet crash near their house and venture over to investigate. It feels as if a team of clown-looking aliens have crash-landed on earth and are on the hunt to eat people.
The Chiodo Bothers craft an unforgettable cult classic with this one. The bloody rampage the clowns go on is oddly hilarious to watch, as the clown aspect of the movie is not forgotten about at all. The weapons the clowns use have a circus-like style to them. Killer Klowns From Outer Space twisted the slasher genre while it was on its last leg at the end of the 1980s. The days of taking yourself seriously with a killer on the loose were over. With a cast of genre film hopefuls, be sure to keep an eye out for standup comedian Christopher Titus thrown in there as well.
Peter Jackson would direct Meet the Feebles, a movie about the cast of a kids puppet variety show that experiences the rude and crude side of show business. The whole film is an entire parody of show business, specifically the variety show side of the industry, through the eyes of puppet characters.
It's wild to think Peter Jackson, of all people, would do this and go on to make great movies in the decade to come. But hey, that's showbiz, baby. It makes this list due to the obvious comparisons between puppets coming to life and the odd appeal it has to kids. But there is a lot that is hard to stomach in the film. Its crude tone lives up to its tagline: The Adult Puppet Movie With Something to Offend Everybody!
Nicolas Cage plays a loner whose car breaks down. In exchange for help, he agrees to clean a family fun center. Eventually, he finds himself waging a war against the animatronic puppets in the building, who won't let him leave Willy's Wonderland alive.
Nicolas Cage apparently took on acting roles to assist with paying off debts years ago. You wonder if Willy's Wonderland falls into that category of roles Cage would take on, or is this him just cautiously trying to have fun on screen? Willy's Wonderland is literal proof that give Cage anything, even murderous animatronic beings, and he will elevate it. And what is even another testament to his craft: Cage goes full Harpo Marx and doesn't utter a single line in the film. It's actually something that enhances the movie quite well.
Child's Play is about when a serial killer named Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif) is taking heavy fire from police in a shootout, and death seems imminent. He uses black magic to transfer his soul into one of the hottest kids toys around, the Chucky Doll. Once the Chucky doll is purchased and now in the hands of a little boy, the serial killer plots his next victim accordingly.
With respect to Five Nights at Freddy's and the other movies on this list, when you think of killer doll movies, you think of the Child's Play franchise and all the murderous adventures Chucky has been on. He's the ultimate anti-hero. However, the very first Child's Play is also just a well-done film by director Tom Holland in terms of making it ominous and mysterious. And credit, of course, must go to Don Mancini for the creation of the character, how it is a brilliant take on the consumerism of the 1980s, and what he has since gone on to do with the franchise since Chucky's first appearance.
I was intrigued when I heard the news about the game receiving a film adaptation. FNAF as a video game is predicated on building suspense and unease as the player tries to survive each of the five nights until all those building feelings inevitably climax with a violent animatronic jumping onto your screen. So I was hoping the mood of those games would translate well into, at the very least, a competent horror flick. What was received instead was a piece nearly devoid of all tension and a showcase of something plaguing most established franchised Hollywood productions.
Trauma and horror have always gone hand in hand, but it seems as though recent horror films have been honing in on that aspect, and this film is not an exception. However, this FNAF adaptation never dives into their trauma with any depth, always preferring to stay on the surface level. I was initially expecting little depth in the FNAF movie. Still, when a film starts to tackle fundamental themes like preconceived trauma and its effects on people, we expect it to tackle those themes with more depth than a kiddie pool with just an inch of water.
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