On October 27, Blumhouse Productions released “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” a movie based on the very popular horror game franchise. It was announced in March 2017, and fans all around campus have been waiting for over six years.
“I’m super excited!,” said senior Joshua Potter. “Can’t wait to see Cory Kenshin in that thing.”
Cory Kenshin is a popular streamer on the platform Twitch who rose to fame streaming the Five Nights at Freddy games. Potter exemplifies his excitement for the FNAF movie and represents many others as a part of the fan base.
The very first FNAF game of the franchise was released Aug. 8, 2014, by Scott Cawthon, and the game quickly developed a cult following for its intense gameplay, which often created an eagerness and anticipation for the jump scares.
Late 2014-2015 sparked the peak of the FNAF games popularity. YouTubers like Markiplier, Game Theory, Cory Kenshin, and many others uploaded videos of themselves playing the popular horror game, in which their reaction to the jump scares had helped raise popularity for the creators and game franchise.
Scott Cawthon, founder and creator of Scottgames who developed FNAF, began his career creating small Christian and family games. He turned to developing survival horror games in 2012 in which the first FNAF was created in 2014. Selling nearly 33.5 million copies in 2023, the first FNAF was a complete commercial success, and opened hundreds of doors to a new fictional universe full of spine chilling gore and flashy jumpscares.
Students all around the RCHS campus have been eager for the movie’s release, and couldn’t wait for it to be shown on the big screen.
“I hope it lives up to its expectations of the games, and has the similarities to the games,” senior Xavier Espinosa said. “I’ve been anticipating this movie since its announcement in 2014 when I was 7, and I’ve loved the games growing up, and I’m just super pumped.”
After the movie’s release, on Rotten Tomatoes there have been mixed reviews on the movie, especially from the critics. The movie holds a low 28% which is subpar, but the actual audience review is a staggering 89% with 1000+ reviews, which exemplifies the audience and their likings for the movie.
“Prior to watching the movie, I didn’t have that much expectations for the film, but after watching the movie, I thought it was pretty cool,” RCHS senior Alexis Rodriguez said. “Overall I would rate the movie a solid 8/10, the plot was confusing at first, but still engaging, but then it wrapped up towards the end, and I encourage others to watch it.”