On Oct. 29, I watched the “Five Nights at Freddy’s Movie” at Regency Theaters. Although there is much criticism online towards the movie, claiming that it is “another lazy horror movie adaptation,” I strongly disagree with this claim and others like it.

I found the movie to be entertaining and well-made, but some of its cynical aspects were too much for me to handle. Additionally, there were constant leaks online, which further ruined the experience for me, leaving me with a shallow understanding of the content.

Even though I was aware of the movie’s leaks, I still did not know what to expect overall and ended up jumping to conclusions. As a result, I started to doubt if I would truly enjoy the film, thinking that it was going to be another disappointing game adaptation by Hollywood.

The movie, however, ended up assuaging those fears. It left a lasting impression on me due to its superb soundtrack and its use of real animatronics instead of CGI, both of which improved the movie immensely. I also appreciated the effort that went into creating the movie after eight years of planning.

I wasn’t upset about how they changed the lore when adapting the game into a movie, a topic that was lambasted by other diehard fans.

The movie adaptation, for example, changed the perspective from the game’s first-person to third-person by introducing Mike Schmidt, who is the night security guard we follow in the film.

Many fans found the concept to be absurd and not true to the game. But upon further research, the movie, in fact, follows the graphic novel book that Scott Cawthon, developer of the FNAF franchise, created named “Silver Eyes,” not necessarily the game it’s named after.

In the comics, there are many references based on this book, such as when SpringTrap, the chief animatronic antagonist, was defeated and carried away by the other animatronics, who were inhibited by the spirits of children lost inside the restaurant.

I was truly disappointed that I didn’t see Markiplier, a classic FNAF streamer on social media, in the movie, but he was busy working on his film “Iron Lung,” set to release sometime next year.

Overall, I was glad I watched the movie because it did a phenomenal job of displaying a wonderful game series that I greatly enjoyed playing when I was younger. The nostalgia combined with the passion behind the movie gave a riveting experience that I highly recommend for people to go and experience for themselves.

Overall Rating: 8.5/10
Overall Scare Factor: 5/10
Accuracy of the leaks: 3.5/10