Five Nights at Freddy’s grossed $80 million in its opening weekend, the third-biggest debut in horror history (just below the duology It).
Although the film garnered critical acclaim (28% on Rotten Tomatoes), Freddy’s fandom was not deterred at all, which is not unexpected given the franchise’s meteoric rise in popularity over the past decade.
Five Nights at Freddy’s, called FNaF, pronounced “fin-aff,” remains a cornerstone of internet culture (if YouTube has taught us anything, it’s that kids have strangely dark tastes in media).
For Gen Z kids who grew up watching YouTubers react to those games, it’s their bait for nostalgia; Old horror icons like Freddy Krueger are long gone.
But how did the Five Nights At Freddy’s phenomenon start, and why are the games still so popular?
FNaF’s creator, game developer Scott Cawthon, has a wonderful “origin story” for his series. Cawthon, a devout Christian, spent the early years of his career creating games that sincerely reflected his beliefs.
After releasing a household name that featured a cartoon beaver named “Chipper,” Cawthon was devastated to see critics and commentators mock his character’s design as “unintentionally scary,” with some comparing Chipper to a “creepy animatronic. “
After going through a real crisis of faith, Cawthon made the fateful decision to duplicate the terrifying look of his character’s design. Thus was born Freddy Fazbear (in particular, Freddy bears a striking resemblance to Chipper the beaver).
Creepy images of rotten Chuck-E-Cheese animatronics had haunted the internet for a long time, and Cawthon parodied the restaurant, setting his new game in a dilapidated pizzeria.
In August 2014, Cawthon released his first horror game, Five Nights at Freddy’s, the player in the shoes of a security guard tasked with protecting against the murderous animatronics that roam the halls at night.
The first installment is an undeniable task control game explained through limitations; Players can simply move between security cameras, armed only with lights, electric gates, and a limited amount of force to operate them.
These limitations have proven to be incredibly effective in creating tension, and failure is accompanied by a clever preoccupation with jumping. On YouTube, gamers seemed to be reacting to a horror game.
The release of the first game coincided with streaming culture on YouTube, with creators like PewDiePie, Jacksepticeye, and Markiplier gaining millions of perspectives by reacting to Five Nights at Freddy’s, shouting into the camera, and extolling the experience.
Markiplier’s video, titled “WARNING: THE SCARIEST GAME OF THE YEARS,” has since racked up more than 114 million views; In hindsight, the lack of a bloody and creepy environment in the game was perfectly suited to appeal to younger viewers.
Although the enthusiasts didn’t play the game themselves, they shared the experience with their favorite creators; YouTube’s “Let’s Play” wave of videos has proven to be more effective than any marketing campaign.
Following the game’s positive reception, Cawthon took the opportunity to create sequels that subtlety the gameplay and setting, introducing new characters and creating a complex narrative.
By March 2015, Cawthon had already released Five Nights at Freddy’s 3, after releasing 3 games in seven months.
While the first game portrayed animatronics as a generation with murderous tendencies, the aftermath began to paint a more disturbing picture, hinting at a larger story involving missing children, all connected to the cursed pizza chain.
Much of FNaF’s history hasn’t been told to players, but has been evoked through clues and Easter eggs, allowing fan theories to flourish; Think of the frenzied speculation that TV shows like Lost and Westworld have cultivated among the audience and you get the idea.
As sequels continued to be released, fueling more fan theories, art, and fanfiction, FNaF built an oddly dense narrative and intricate timeline, giving the fandom more than enough to chew on.
What started as an undeniable horror game eventually grew into an expanding brand, with episodes rewarding players with a hidden route trail, keeping the fandom engaged and obsessed with finding the game’s secrets.
Since then, FNaF has become an epic, with serial killers, vengeful spirits, and spring-loaded pet costumes with incredibly poor design choices, capable of slicing other people into mincemeat. The original animatronic actors (Bonnie the Rabbit, Girl the Chicken, Foxy the Pirate Fox, and the titular Freddy) have developed sympathetic stories.
The narrative arc of FNaF’s animatronics, from killing machines to tragic characters, still influences today’s children’s horror genre; Stories of humans turned into monsters are incredibly not unusual in YouTube’s storied community, with tragic origin stories projected onto Rainbow Friends’ monstrous antagonists, Poppy Playtime and Banban’s Garden.
In late 2015, Cawthon signed a series of licensing deals that led to the animatronic invasion of Walmart, Target, and Amazon; The effigy of Freddy Fazbear and his friends has been published on Funko pops, Halloween costumes, stuffed animals and a wide variety of products.
Since then, the series has sold more than 33. 5 million sets and has nine official installments and several spin-offs, as well as novels and comics; Like Sonic the Hedgehog, the franchise has grown beyond the simplicity of its first version, morphing into a global complex unto itself.
Now, Five Nights at Freddy’s is officially a horror movie, and the functionality of the film’s cast will spark a flood of sequels.
For fans, that means more story to unpack and more YouTube content; We haven’t looked at the latest from Freddy Fazbear.