Five Nights at Freddy's
Universal Pictures | Release Date: October 27, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
33
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
20
Negative:
15
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
EmpireHelen O'HaraOct 27, 2023
Creepy rather than scary, and more a ghost story than a monster movie, this has a good heart but feels a little toothless for something with so many killer robots. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubLuke Y. ThompsonOct 27, 2023
Yes, there are kills, but they’re often as comical as they are scary, and deliberately so. It’s a fun gateway horror movie for kids—and the easily scared who want to test their limits lightly. Read full review
50
Rolling StoneMiles KleeOct 31, 2023
As a narrative that pretends to plumb the dark absence of missing children, however, Five Nights at Freddy’s is curiously inert, unwilling to get under your skin even as it grows dense with explanations of what’s happening. Read full review
50
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiOct 28, 2023
As far as middling entertainment goes, Five Nights at Freddy’s fits the bill. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesJen YamatoOct 28, 2023
“FNAF”’ instead spins out of control as it attempts the fool’s errand that has befallen many a video game movie: shoehorning a weird and immersive experience into the bones of Hollywood narrative convention. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsOct 27, 2023
It’s an odd one, indecisive about its tone and intentions. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliOct 27, 2023
As a motion picture (in the traditional sense of the term), Five Nights at Freddy’s is disjointed and ultimately unsatisfying but as part of a larger cog in a cross-platform franchise, it does everything (and more) that is expected from it. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsOct 27, 2023
Five Nights at Freddy’s has most of the right elements for a good post-Amblin kiddy fright-fest, except maybe good dialogue and distinct characters. Watching the movie, one gets the sense that the games’ morbid personality has been sanded down to its most generic jump-scares and banal revelations. Read full review
42
Original-CinThom ErnstOct 26, 2023
If Five Nights at Freddy’s has anything to offer in the way of entertainment, scares, and authentic memorabilia, it was buried beneath the determined pandering to those addicted to being on the inside of the joke. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleAlejandra MartinezOct 30, 2023
With dreary visuals and a lack of real twists or scares, there isn’t much here for a general audience to hold onto. Die-hard fans will be satisfied, however, and for young newcomers to horror, it might just be a perfect scarefest and jumping-off point into the genre. Read full review
40
We Got This CoveredDanny PetersonOct 27, 2023
Five Nights at Freddy's fails at being scary. The premise and setting should've made it an obvious horror win, but some baffling story choices and poor execution makes it feel like a missed opportunity. Read full review
40
The New York TimesNatalia WinkelmanOct 26, 2023
You may chuckle, but it’s hard to tell if the movie is laughing with you. Read full review
40
CNNBrian LowryOct 26, 2023
Like “It,” “Five Nights” wants to milk horror out of something associated with the innocence of childhood, and on that level the quirkiness of the visuals and initial moments of wit likely provide enough of what audiences want to survive, commercially speaking. Even so, the net result is another slice of horror that at best feels a little half-baked. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeOct 26, 2023
A competently made yet maddeningly dull attempt to bring the hit video game to the big screen makes for an instantly forgettable night at the movies. Read full review
40
IGNA.A. Dowd Oct 26, 2023
This big-screen take on the indie-horror sensation has too much plot and not enough of the game's primal security-cam thrills. Read full review
40
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeOct 25, 2023
The closest thing to a decent joke comes (I think) in a closing reference, at one or two removes, to a popular television show of the early 1970s. This bewildering exercise’s only other notable achievement is to make Willy’s Wonderland seem an underappreciated masterpiece. It really wasn’t. Read full review
40
NMEJames MottramOct 25, 2023
At least Scream star Matthew Lillard brings some creepiness into his little screen time. Otherwise, Five Nights At Freddy’s is moribund. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyOct 25, 2023
The longer we spend inside Freddy’s, the duller it gets. Read full review
40
Total FilmNeil SmithOct 25, 2023
A ploddingly predictable, gore-lite yawner. Read full review
40
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyOct 25, 2023
What should’ve been an intricate, twisted, and absurd treat is demoted to generic horror movie sludge, in no way discernible from any of the other spooky titles lining the October release schedule. Read full review
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