Five Nights at Freddy’s big screen adaptation has been a long time coming, according to Blumhouse head Jason Blum.
The producer first connected with the game’s creator Scott Cawthon a decade ago, and has been pursuing this story ever since. It’s a journey that Blum tells 12DOVE has required a lot of "persistence", but he knew from the off that it was the right choice for his horror-focused production company.
"Five Nights at Freddy's is a very Blumhouse game," he explains. "I mean, the theme and the story and the mythology definitely shares a lot of DNA with a lot of the movies and television shows that we've done. So creatively, it was a great fit. But also there are very few games with the kind of reach that Five Nights at Freddy's has that haven't been adapted."
Blum adds: "I was excited about the challenge of trying to do something. People had tried with Five Nights and not figured it out but I was excited [because] I always like a challenge. So I thought that would be fun to try and see if I could pull it off. It took longer than I thought, but we did it."
Part of that process was getting Cawthon involved every step of the way, even having him come on board as a co-writer and producer. According to Blum, the Five Nights at Freddy’s creator is thrilled with the end result too, which was no easy task.
"Scott's very happy with the movie," he smiles. "Scott was intimately involved in every stage of the movie. There were no surprises when he saw the movie and I think he's very happy with it. He's very proud of it. And I think that's a real tribute to Emma [Tammi, director] who really was able to turn his game into a terrific movie that Scott gave his stamp of approval to, which was a tricky, very tricky job."
The new adaptation leans heavily on the world of the games and its anthology book series as it focuses on a troubled security guard called Mike (played by The Hunger Games’ Josh Hutcherson). After losing his job, he’s forced to take up a night job at an abandoned restaurant called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.
However, after the clock strikes midnight on his first shift, he gets more than he bargained for as the four animatronic mascots come to life with killer intentions. Alongside Hutcherson, the new movie also stars Elizabeth Lail as local police officer Vanessa, Piper Rubio as Mike’s younger sister Abby, and Matthew Lillard as his career counselor Steve Raglan.
Five Nights at Freddy's arrives in cinemas on October 25 in the UK and on October 27 in the US. It will also be available on Peacock on the same day in the US.
For more from our interview, check out what Blum had to say about creating the animatronics and director Emma Tammi shares her view on why they went for a PG-13 rating.
You can also check out our guides to the best horror movies of all time and all of the upcoming horror movies to add to your calendars for more scares.
