The New Five Nights At Freddy's Trailer Promises The Horror Event Of The Year

Cupcake? Attacking people. Foxy? Running like an awkward weirdo in the original game. Springtrap? Oh, baby, he is here, and "Five Nights at Freddy" fans are eatin' good with this newest movie trailer from Universal Pictures and Blumhouse. For the last decade, "Five Nights at Freddy's" (or "FNaF") has been a cultural phenomenon with a stranglehold on the landscape of horror gaming. Created by Scott Cawthon, the point-and-click survival horror game was a simple indie game that gained viral fame and turned into a multi-million dollar franchise. A film adaptation has been in production hell for over five years at this point, but everything we've seen thus far has been proof that this is no ordinary adaptation. It's difficult not to just sit here and completely geek out over this latest trailer, because after years of thinking a "FNaF" film wasn't ever going to see the light of day, seeing something look this promising is worth celebrating.

The film looks to be borrowing from multiple "FNaF" storylines, with the core being the original tale of security guard Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson), who is hired to look over the now dilapidated Freddy Fazbear's Pizza and must survive the night as the resident animatronics Foxy, Bonnie, Chica (and Cupcake), and Freddy come to life and wreak havoc, as they may or may not be possessed by the souls of children murdered by a serial killer named William Afton (who may or may not be an alias of Matthew Lillard's character Steve Raglan). 

All of the previously released trailers have done a great job at building the world of "FNaF," but this latest one is proof that it truly doesn't matter that the film isn't rated R. Move over, Krueger, this is a "one-two, Freddy's coming for you" for a new generation.

Right off the bat, someone needs to send flowers or an Edible Arrangement or a holiday bonus to the Jim Henson's Creature Shop workers who brought the animatronics to life, because these things are INCREDIBLE and genuinely terrifying. No shade to the twin movie "Willy's Wonderland" or the shockingly awesome "The Banana Splits" horror movie, but there's a reason Freddy Fazbear and Co. are the blueprint. But this trailer has it all, from unsettling closed-circuit security camera footage to the electric glow of Freddy Fazbear's showtime stage. The effectiveness of "FNaF" comes from the juxtaposition of childhood joy and abject terror, and the tone of this film seems to reflect that. Hutcherson's Mike Schmidt even has a few good one-liners in here, indicating that the film won't be afraid to have fun with what is admittedly a pretty ridiculous premise for a horror story.

I'm really trying to regulate my excitement here because I've certainly been burned one too many times by killer trailers for subpar movies, but I've got a really good feeling about this one. If you had told me that my most anticipated 2023 horror release from Universal and Blumhouse would be the movie about giant singing robot animals and not the long-awaited sequel to "The Exorcist," I'd think you were crazy. But that's the way the pizza crust crumbles, I guess! It's Freddy's world and we're all just trying to survive it. If you feel compelled to finally dive into the games before the film's release, I've also concocted a handy guide to playing the games in chronological order.

"Five Nights at Freddy's" debuts in theaters and streaming on Peacock on October 27, 2023.