It’s been a long journey for the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie – from the rights changing studios to years of silence on the project’s development. Now though, the time has come for its distinct flavor of animatronic horror to grace the big screen and while it has its strengths, it’s utterly disappointing.

Aside from the nostalgic, Chuck-E-Cheese-inspired aesthetics that gave the franchise a distinct persona in horror, the defining trait of the Five Nights at Freddy’s games is how scary they are. Right from the first game, Cawthon mastered delivering effective jump scares and unsettling atmospheres along with designing characters who are as inviting as they are creepy. The tense gameplay and suspense-building are why the franchise became an unexpected phenomenon and has continued to be recognized as intensely frightening. That’s why it’s so upsetting that this film is missing the fundamentals of this franchise’s horror identity.

To be honest, this film can barely conjure any legitimate scares that make you shift even slightly in your seat. There aren’t many jump scares that really stand out or effectively recreate the experience of the game. The security feeds are just there for decoration and aren’t used whatsoever to create tension or show rising threats. Even well-known aspects of the characters – like Foxy sprinting down halls or characters creeping their way towards the security room – are totally absent. There are a couple eerie scenes and one shockingly visceral kill, but overall, this film severely lacks actual horror and is needlessly tame.

Even in terms of the film’s atmosphere, there’s nothing intriguing or remotely haunting. Now, to the film’s credit, it’s great that fans are taken out of the security room to actually explore Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza in its entirety. There’s something special about seeing this setting brought to life and all the little details put into its design. From seeing Freddy’s face plastered all over the place to the classic arcade games lined up along the walls, there’s a visible history that’s legitimizes the past impact of this place along with a palpable soul that’s been ripped out because of how long it’s been shut down.

Also, the work that went into creating Freddy and his animatronic allies is remarkable and highly impressive. The practical design and movement of these characters makes them visual marvels, and fans will instantly feel the clear love and care that went into bringing these characters to life. Also, for being characters that don’t generally speak, they have recognizable personalities that set them apart and often make them a lot of fun to see roaming around in this film and interacting with people. However, the impressive craftmanship of the environment and the film’s mechanical monsters isn’t enough to overcome the fact that they’re terribly docile.

Fans will basically be able to count how often Freddy and his friends are actually scary on one hand and the film takes a more comical direction with them at times that’s more off-putting and weirder than satisfying. There’s like a whole “friendship” sequence between the animatronics and human characters that’s just plain bizarre and completely strips the film of its horror. With how much effort went into creating realistic versions of these characters that look awesome, it’s such a shame that they’re just not frightening in the slightest. The film leans too much into comedy with these characters and it works totally against the horror presence they’re supposed to have. As for Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, well, it too is only as scary as finding dust and cobwebs can be.

Even worse is that the film’s writing is about as dull as its horror. Again, to the film’s credit, it does try and expand on the format and lore of the games in solid ways. The film’s protagonist Mike (Josh Hutcherson) – a new security guard tasked with staying the night at Freddy’s – has a compelling trauma that’s easy to relate to and immediately tugs at your heart. His longing for answers to a childhood tragedy surrounding his younger brother being abducted is absolutely gutting at times and Hutcherson can make his pain palpable. Plus, it adds unique layers to his strained relationship with his younger sister Abby (Piper Rubio) and makes him vulnerable to the sinister plan that Freddy and his friends have for him.  Aside from some strange choices within his personal arc and annoying lack of awareness, Mike is honestly someone fans will love to see leading this franchise and his dynamic with Abby is a good central arc that’ll keep viewers invested.

Unfortunately, the film’s other characters can be downright frustrating. There’s this whole mystery set up about who took Mike’s brother and who’s controlling Freddy and his friends that doesn’t have satisfying answers. The identity of this unseen puppet master isn’t shocking since it’s super obvious early on and the backstory for the character is so minimal that viewers have no real impression of them. The film is honestly terrible at building mystery and suspense – often relying on bland storytelling methods or annoying characters to try and keep viewers on the hook. For instance, there’s a police officer named Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) who befriends Mike that only pops in to be unnecessarily cryptic and it’s the film’s most annoying element. She’s just holding back information for no reason and by the time she’s ready to spill the beans, it’s all stuff viewers eventually figure out on their own.

Worst of all is that the film is so unambitious and doesn’t present a strong future for the franchise that fans can look forward to. With the games building out this surprisingly robust lore over the years, it’s baffling that the film doesn’t use any of it to chart a path for itself. Some good lore/world-building would’ve gone such a long way in making the environment and animatronic characters more compelling, but what’s here is so basic and surface-level. Thus, the film doesn’t present any reason for fans to feel like something deeper is being built and the generic and unremarkable ending the film provides.

There are bright spots to the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie that fans will love and shouldn’t go unappreciated, but it’s vastly undercooked in many ways and doesn’t have the horror vision needed to live up to the legacy the games have built. Plus, there’s nothing worse for horror fans than an unscary horror movie and Five Nights at Freddy’s heavily teeters towards that distinction.

Watch the Trailer Here: