The new FNAF movie came out on October 27th and as you may know based on my previous articles, I am a huge fan of this. I’ve been watching, playing, and diving into the lore behind this video game franchise since I was in 6th grade. It’s so cool to see something like this coming full circle for me as an adult! Because of the years spent consuming immense amounts of content related to that brown animatronic bear and his pals, I can confidently say I know a fair bit of knowledge about it. So, before you watch the movie, you’ll wanna know some things.
What is FNAF?
Five Nights at Freddy’s, or more commonly known as FNAF, is a video game franchise created back in 2014. The game was created by Scott Cawthorn (who despite making this insanely entertaining video game is a huge homophobe…yeah, not fun) and immediately took off from there. As I detailed in my previous article, https://www.hercampus.com/school/cwu/the-five-nights-at-freddys-movie-might-end-up-being-better-than-we-expected/, popular YouTubers such as Markiplier, JackSepticEye and more catapulted the popularity of what was once an indie horror game into a worldwide phenomenon. From there, FNAF 2, 3, 4, and more were created. But, the new movie seems to mostly focus on the first game in the series.
What will the Movie Feature?
According to a quick Google, the movie’s description reads, “A troubled security guard begins working at Freddy Fazzbear’s Pizzeria. While spending his first night on the job, he realizes the late shift at Freddy’s won’t be so easy to make it through.” This security guard, played by none other than Josh Hutcherson, must successfully survive all 5 nights… eerie, right? Based on the trailer for the movie, the story will dive into some things that were not in the game, such as previous break-ins, the security guard venturing out of the security office, a child in the Pizzarea and a cop who is very familiar with the lore associated with the abandoned shop. But, some things have definitely remained the same. Things like the presence of the familiar characters, Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy and the same restaurant from the game remain in the final cut of the film.
Continuing on, are there more things that may not be as clear to a general audience that will appear in the movie? Let’s see…
Popular Lore in the Film
As shown in the trailer, the film will dive into the mystery behind the disappearances of different children who had some sort of connection to the restaurant. This can be attributed to popular knowledge among the FNAF community, which indicates that the disappearances were in fact murders. It is largely implied that due to the malfunctions of the Springtrap Suits the animatronics have, the children were forcefully stuffed into the suits…yikes. This brings me to my first piece of FNAF lore associated with this movie…the Bite of ’87. In the timeline of the world FNAF takes place in, we know that William Afton, the owner and creator of [Freddy] Fazzbear Entertainment had a son who was killed in his early restaurant by an animatronic. Kids bullying the young boy put him inside the mouth of one of the characters and, well, you can piece together the rest.
There’s really no lighthearted way to move on from there, so I’m just gonna acknowledge right here that you have the absolute right to feel disgusted right now. I was too when I first saw this happen in the pixelated minigame in FNAF 4. Instead, I present you with this work of quotable art.
Anyway…the next bit of lore that may be relevant to the movie is the presence of Golden Freddy. No, this character is not the same as Freddy Fazzbear. Golden Freddy is a special character, a ghost of sorts, that would only appear in the video game on occasion. A golden, broken-down version of the popular bear character would either jump at the screen when you put the security screen down, or an empty suit of the character would appear in front of you while you were surveying. Fans have scanned different parts of the movie and believe that this character is pictured in this photo posted on Instagram:
This has been brought to light because of the missing ear on the bear in the photo. When the Golden Freddy character appears in the game, the bear is ALSO missing an ear. Coincidence? I think not.
The final bit of lore that I will share is the background of William Afton. Played by Matthew Lillard in the film, William who owns the Pizzarea posts a listing for a night-time security officer. It is clear in the trailer that he is a creepy middle-aged man, but there is so much more to who William is in relation to the franchise. It is known that William is the owner, but he may have a sadistic reason for maintaining ownership. It is popularly known in the FNAF community that Afton is also the character known as “Purple Guy” who appears throughout the games. This character always comes in during the minigames and causes havoc among the characters. But are his intentions just to mess everything up? Or does he have something to do with the mystery of the missing children?
You’ll have to watch the movie to find out. You never know, Purple Guy may appear to mess everything up.
But hey, that’s just a theory…a GAME THEORY. (This is the second time I have stolen MatPat’s catchphrase. I am not proud of it but it had to be done).
Catch the movie in theaters starting October 27th, 2023! I’ll see ya there!