Five Nights at Freddy’s

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for Five Nights at Freddy’s
• a review of Five Nights at Freddy’s completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 30 October 2023.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the story

Mike (Josh Hutcherson) has had trouble sleeping for years. He blames himself for not being able to save his little brother from being kidnapped when they were children. That day has haunted him ever since and was the catalyst that unravelled the fabric of his family. After his father left and his mother died, it was Mike who took over the care of his young sister Abby (Piper Rubio). The only problem is that he struggles to hold down a job, to pay the bills and to fulfil all his parental responsibilities. His Aunt Jane (Mary Stuart Masterson) wants to take over custody of Abby but that is the last thing that either Mike or Abby want. When Mike loses another job, it looks like Aunt Jane may be closer to getting what she wants. In desperation, Mike takes a job working as a security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a restaurant that was once a favourite with families but became abandoned after a number of children went missing. Mike’s job is to keep people out of the site and generally look after the place, which doesn’t seem that hard, except there are creepy and inexplicable things that begin to happen, especially when he falls asleep. When Mike has to bring his sister with him to work one night, the animatronic characters all take an extreme liking to her and decide that Abby must join them. What Abby doesn’t know is that they contain the bodies of the missing, murdered children who are controlled by a Yellow Bunny (Matthew Lillard) whom the animatronic characters don’t often see and hardly remember. But the Yellow Bunny isn’t who they think he is and it will be up to Mike, Abby and a police officer named Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) to solve the mystery of the missing children and stop the carnage at Freddy’s.

Family breakdown and dysfunction; Children separated from parents; The kidnapping and murder of children.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

• A security guard tries to escape from Freddy’s place. He is hunted and followed while he tries to get out and just as he reaches the exit, he is captured and murdered shortly thereafter.
• A child from a dream says that they should kill Mike.
• Mike attacks a man in a shopping mall, punching him repeatedly in front of his child.
• In a dream, children start to attack Mike and one child slices his arm with a rock. His arm begins bleeding profusely in the dream and the injury carries over into real life, with blood dripping down his arm.
• A child begins to bleed black ooze from its eyes.
• A group of guys smash up Freddy’s Pizza restaurant, knocking things down and destroying the place.
• A creepy cake puppet bashes around in the inside of a refrigerator. It then attacks a character, trying to eat its face. Blood is spurting as the creature rips into the man’s flesh, and he screams for help as another creepy creature looks on.
• A creepy creature tries to break through a door, the door opens, and the man is trapped inside, the lights flickering as the robot creature advances with menacing sounds.
• A character is lifted off her feet as she peers into Freddy’s mouth. It appears that a hand suddenly reaches out to grab her and at that point, she is decapitated.
• Freddy says that Abby is going to die.
• Characters run past Mike and slash him with knives, attacking his chest and legs.
• Mike wakes from a dream to find himself trapped in a chair with Freddy about to slice a blade through his skull. He manages to escape from the chair and immediately notices numerous other mutilated bodies lying in the room.
• Freddy attacks Aunt Jane (her inert body is shown lying on the floor) to have access to Abby. Freddy then takes Abby back to his place, while terrifying a taxi driver on the way.
• An animatronic character tries to stuff Abby into the shell of an old, discarded robotic creature.
• A creepy cake monster attacks Mike’s leg as if eating it, while a little boy watches in the shadows. Mike Tasers the cake creature.
• Mike Tasers the Yellow Bunny.
• The Yellow Bunny shoves Mike across the room saying, “first I killed your brother and now I will kill you”. He kicks Mike hard in the face, knocking him unconscious.
• Vanessa holds a gun on the Yellow Bunny. The bunny then strangles Vanessa and stabs a knife through Vanessa’s stomach.
• The children in the animal costumes remember that the Yellow Bunny is the one who killed them, and they turn on the man in the bunny suit.
• The bunny suit begins to kill the man inside it. The sound of his bones crunching and metal slicing into his body can be heard as he writhes in pain.

Material that may scare or disturb children

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

• Many of the characters look extremely creepy, evil, and menacing. Parts are missing or broken, and their eyes occasionally glow bright red. They occasionally come out of nowhere or sneak up, right behind a character to terrify or kill them. These scenes are often accompanied by ominous music, scary shadows and eerie humming or singing, such as when a security man is trapped at a door while someone moves up behind him. He screams and blacks out, only to find that he is trapped in a chair and completely restrained while Freddy’s mouth opens wide, to reveal blades grinding towards his face. The saws churn as the man screams and Freddy’s eyes glow a deep red.
• There are numerous, suspenseful scenes where the Five Nights at Freddy’s characters pursue and attack others. Smashing, crunching sounds are often followed by screams and occasionally bloody handprints on a door.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

• Mike has repeated flashbacks of the moment that his little brother was kidnapped. He can’t see the abductor’s face and the little boy is never found. Mike is horrified and haunted by the experience.
• A creepy voice calls to Abby in the darkness. There are glowing eyes and Abby is screaming. Mike is terrified as he races to find her.
• The creepy animatronic characters that inhabit Freddy’s Pizza place contain the murdered bodies of missing children. As Mike pieces this mystery together, the ghost children visit him in his dream. They tell him that they want Abby and that they plan to take her away.
• Abby is hiding from an animatronic character as it menacingly clomps its way towards her, looking deranged. She is terrified and fully aware that she and her brother are fighting for their lives.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

• Many children in this age bracket are also likely to be scared or disturbed by the above-mentioned scenes.

• Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

• There are a lot of product tie-ins to the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise.

Sexual references

• None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

• None noted.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

• Mike uses lots of prescription medication to help him get to sleep and to cope with the guilt of not being able to save his little brother from his abductor.
• According to Abby, Aunt Jane smells like cigarettes.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• Shit
• Asshole
• Idiot
• Jerk
• Go to hell.

In a nutshell

Five Nights at Freddy’s is a horror film based on the popular video game of the same name. This is not a family film and will be far too scary for many children. It is best suited to ages 15 and over, particularly those who are fans of the franchise.

The main messages from this movie are that you cannot change the past and that you cannot control the future but that you can make powerful choices that allow you to appreciate the present and the life (and family) that you have.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• Persistence
• Love
• Helpfulness
• Forgiveness
• Courage.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

• Wandering off with someone you don’t know.
• Not telling people where you are going or when you will be back.
• Using violence as opposed to words.
• Over-using prescription drugs.