How Five Nights At Freddy's Balances Terror With Innocence [Exclusive]
This article contains spoilers for "Five Nights at Freddy's."
"Why do kids like 'Five Nights at Freddy's' so much?" This is a question I've gotten a lot over the last few months, as many adults rightfully see the uncanny horrors of killer animatronics. Meanwhile, younger fans are begging for Freddy Fazbear stuffies and one of the over 80 different Funko POP releases. As frightening as they are, there's something weirdly cute and comforting about these mechanical monsters, because the innocence of what's inside the animatronics creeps through the terror.
The lore of "Five Nights at Freddy's" is pretty twisted, with the villainous William Afton murdering children and stuffing their corpses inside the animatronic machines. This means that as Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy shuffle around the pizzeria, they're doing so with the remnants of dead children. But in a heartfelt turn, the live-action adaptation has allowed the animatronics to maintain the childlike wonder of Afton's victims prior to their deaths. They build forts, dance with young Abby Schmidt (Piper Rubio), and ultimately ... get to be kids. In talking with director Emma Tammi, she confirmed in our interview that this was by design.
"One of the things Scott [Cawthon] emphasized to me in the early days when I came on board the project was just like, the animatronics are — they're innocents," she told me. "The ghost kids inside them are, they're innocents." While the lore of how Afton committed his crimes in the film changes slightly from the video game, the children are still very much inside the machines. "Of course, then they go into killer mode and that's a whole different thing," Tammi joked. But initially, Abby is not afraid of the animatronics. She even refers to them as her friends.
A world of pure imagination
Emma Tammi has also spoken at length about how much Piper Rubio loved being around the practical animatronics on set, hugging them at the start and end of every shooting day. That adoration comes through in the film, as her character, Abby, is enamored with the gigantic creations. "There's this element that Abby is connecting with that is not sinister and that is pretty pure," Tammi said. "So we were trying to find opportunities to show that as kind of the counterbalance to some of the more terrifying moments."
In my opinion, the balance succeeds. As delightful as it is to see Abby playing with her "friends," it immediately puts the adult worries of "there's something wrong here" on high alert. Not to mention, the visual of gigantic animatronics possessed by dead kids doing something that isn't scary is a fantastic juxtaposition. "It's weird and funny," Tammi joked. "I mean, seeing huge animatronics do anything that's normal, like building a fort with a kid or whatever, is hilarious and awkward. So I think we saw an opportunity to bring that out in the movie as well." She's absolutely right.
The live-action "Five Nights at Freddy's" expertly taps into that unsettling weirdness that surrounds seeing people in mascot costumes at theme parks or the very existence of the Teletubbies. Kids love them, most adults fear them, and the ones that aren't afraid of them are at least self-aware enough to know other adults probably think their interest is a little weird. In other words — my kind of people.
"Five Nights at Freddy's" is now playing in theaters and available to stream on Peacock.