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‘Five Nights at Freddy’s 3’ Review: Toy Story
The appearance and success of both Five Nights at Freddy’s games was certainly unexpected. I remember seeing the first game’s logo and somewhat generic script font and thinking I’d probably never play it. It seemed shallow, a scares delivery system, at best.
But then I saw former Giant Bomb editor Patrick “Scoops” Klepek play it on a stream and get completely freaked out by it, and I saw something I hadn’t before. It was still sort of what I’d first imagined, only way better. It was straightforward, tense, and highly effective at making me scream bloody murder.
However, even though it is a fairly simple game — a point-and-click experience at its most stripped down — the fact is that FNaF provided some of the most purely terrifying moments of last year. The sequel, which appeared in Steam only several months later, provided similarly excruciating jump scares and some added mechanics. More of the same, sure, but way fun.
Released last week, Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 attempts to continue terrifying hapless, desperate night security guards, and — to save the suspense — it totally works. Creator Scott Cawthon attempts with each subsequent game to both tweak the formula and build the mythos surrounding these characters but also create one hell of a scary game.
He has succeeded yet again, and Five Nights at Freddy’s is the most visually appealing, most sinister, and maybe most terrifying of the three.
Normally, players take on the role of recently-hired security guard, who is instructed to keep an eye on the footloose animatronic creatures that provide Chuck-E-Cheese-like entertainment for kids and patrons during the day. The trick is that if they get free, they’ll end up giving you a jump scare the force of which you only see in night-vision commercials for horror movies. It’s YouTube-worthy to see people’s reactions to the first game.
This time around, the setting is not a near-defunct Freddy’s Fazbear Pizza but a horror experience based on the previous Freddy’s Fazbear mysteries. It’s a bit of self-mythologizing, but it totally works for what these games are trying to accomplish. You get the basic set-up with some added wrinkles. Gone is the sort of baffled mid-level manager on the nightly phone call, replaced with a sort of baffled stoner-cum-entrepreneur.
Basically, you are stationed inside the ostensible security station, and you have two major jobs — watch the cameras and reboot the finicky communications tools: audio, camera, and ventilation. Do a good job, and you stave off the furry, googly eyed terrors that wander the facilities. Do a bad job, and, well, I think that’s pretty obvious.
The communications systems themselves are all pretty self-explanatory, save for ventilation. If the ventilation system isn’t reset consistently, one of the animatronics will appear, almost out of thing air, sending you in a hallucinatory, hyperventilating state of panic, which in turn increases your real life terror and tension.
Otherwise, each works in a different way, and neglecting each can bring about a different incarnation of the various monsters in FNaF3. I won’t divulge those here, because sussing out how the various systems interplay is half the fun of the game, but suffice it to say that they do, and the sooner you figure them out, the better off you’ll be.
I do have to stop here and say that, as the player, you’ll mostly be clicking around the screen. There is no exploration to be had, nor is there really anything else “to do” except stare at video cameras and reboot faulty technology.
In essence, you are actually playing the role of an actual security guard, without the glamor and tension of getting out of your chair and walking around with a flashlight.
That being said, the game doesn’t feel lacking with regard to mechanics, at least not to me. It is brief, surely — a perfect playthrough could last as little as thirty minutes — but satisfyingly challenging.
These games are known for being somewhat difficult, but FNaF3 ramps up way faster, to me, than the previous two. It really is about understanding how the systems work and exploiting them in order to deter the animatronics from causing you to soil your Hanes. Still, even then, I managed to make it to the fifth night with only a few hours work, which could be considered wonderful or way too short, depending on how you look at it.
It seems like the game reveals itself to you as you play it, and therein lies most of the fun. As you figure things out, you employ them to essentially prevent yourself from playing the game. You are not interacting with the world in order to actually fight off the ostensible evil; playing the game well entails not encountering the evil at all. The farther you make it without seeing Springtrap or Freddy Fazbear or Foxy the Pirate, the better you’ve actually played the game.
The user interface is less complex than the first (and definitely the second) Five Night at Freddy’s. It feels less like a game of perpetual Whac-a-Mole than the previous ones, but there is still plenty of compulsive clicking to be. I know that sounds sort of bizarre, given that most of what happens is pointing-and-clicking, but the game gives you very little by way of tutorial.
It basically sets up the things you can do but doesn’t divulge what you should do, and so you’ll probably spend plenty of time replaying levels to figure out how to keep the game’s villains from killing you.
What’s (funny and a little sad) is that the stuff I do in-game might not even be helping. I’m constantly clicking, creating these weird rituals for myself, being convinced that it’s actually doing some good, when, in point of fact, it could be doing the opposite.
You can rely on these patterns while the game isn’t difficult, but at a certain point, you’ll be forced to learn what is actually going on behind the scenes and develop a few fireproof strategies, which may or may not work. By the end of the game, you’ll be furiously veering from one side of the screen to the other, repairing systems and clicking through your map progression. It gets all very complicated.
The graphical aspect of Five Night at Freddy’s 3 is way improved on the previous two, but is still specific to the series. The art style is one of the more compelling aspects of the game. It provides a logical progression from the original game, which featured creepy but mostly intact figures, to the current nightmare-inducing versions. They are the hell that I imagine a Toy Story 4 would end up being, what happens when Buzz and Woody are left to rot in the garage for a decade.
What works about the game could also be interpreted as its downside. It improves upon the previous games’ formula, but there is nevertheless a formula here. If you’ve played the previous two games, you might have tired of the shtick by now, but you (like me) might also be utterly ecstatic for another opportunity to dive into this world.
Also, there’s the nature of the scares to be considered here. However, although I’ve largely become inured to the shock of it all, I do have to say that the scares themselves are pretty authentically jumpy-scary. And listen: I know that it’s kind of a formula of misdirection at this point, but I have to say that it’s a pretty effective system at delivering them.
The sound that erupts from speakers / headphones when THE MOMENT happens still sounds like Death personified, and there is no worthy alternative to it in a game I’ve played in a really long time…except, maybe, the first two Five Nights at Freddy’s games.
The Final Word: Like the animals themselves, the formula for Five Nights at Freddy’s might be getting a bit tattered, but there’s still life left in those cold, staring, animatronic eyes yet. Play it if you liked the first two games or need a reason to buy new underwear.
We are now one full month into Spring 2024, which kicked off on Tuesday, March 19 and comes to an end with the start of Summer on Thursday, June 20. This year’s summer movie season has a whole bunch of exciting horror highlights, including A Quiet Place: Day One, MaXXXine, and Alien: Romulus, but let’s hold that particular thought until June rolls around.
We’re here today to talk about Spring 2024 and the many horrors we still have left before the weather gets warmer and we find ourselves in the heat of one hell of a spooky summer.
Here are 12 horror movies you don’t want to miss in Spring 2024!
STING – April 12
Two words: SPIDER HORROR. Writer/Director Kiah Roache-Turner (Wyrmwood) hopes to induce eight-legged terror with his brand new horror movie Sting, only in theaters April 12.
Of particular note, Sting features practical spider effects from 5-time Academy Award Winner Weta Workshop, with the spider in this one inspired by H.R. Giger’s Xenomorph!
In Sting, “One cold, stormy night in New York City, a mysterious object falls from the sky and smashes through the window of a rundown apartment building. It is an egg, and from this egg emerges a strange little spider. The creature is discovered by Charlotte, a rebellious 12-year-old girl obsessed with comic books. Keeping it as a secret pet, she names it Sting.
“But as Charlotte’s fascination with Sting increases, so does its size. Growing at a monstrous rate, Sting’s appetite for blood becomes insatiable.”
BLACKOUT – APRIL 12
Indie darling Larry Fessenden is back with new horror movie Blackout this Spring, Fessenden’s third movie – following Habit and Depraved – to put his own spin on classic monsters.
While Habit was centered on vampires and Depraved was a fresh take on Frankenstein’s Monster, Larry Fessenden’s Blackout is the filmmaker’s contribution to werewolf cinema.
The film follows Charley, an artist whose drinking binges blur with his sneaking suspicion that he might be a werewolf. He distances himself from those he loves and sinks deeper into solitude, his flashes of memory of his nighttime grisly acts manifested through his artwork.
ARCADIAN – APRIL 12
If Nicolas Cage is covered in blood, you better believe we’re going to be watching. Cage gets his own A Quiet Place with Arcadian, a new creature feature coming to theaters April 12.
In Arcadian, which also comes to Shudder later this year, “After a catastrophic event depopulates the world, a father (Nicolas Cage) and his two sons must survive their dystopian environment while being threatened by mysterious creatures that emerge at night.”
Jaeden Martell (IT 2017) also stars in the post apocalyptic monster movie.
ABIGAIL – APRIL 19
If you’re bummed about Melissa Barrera being fired from the Scream franchise, you’ll definitely want to get out to your local theater this month to support Abigail, the new VAMPIRE BALLERINA horror movie from Scream and Scream VI directors Radio Silence.
Barrera stars alongside fellow horror favorite Kathryn Newton (Freaky) in Abigail, which is actually the latest horror movie in Universal’s relaunched Universal Monsters Universe.
In the film, “After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.”
LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL – APRIL 19
One of the most talked about horror movies of Spring 2024 has been the Halloween 1977-set Late Night With the Devil, which has been playing in theaters since its premiere on March 22.
Late Night with the Devil will begin streaming at home on April 19, 2024, less than one month after arriving in theaters. Shudder will be the exclusive streaming home of the movie.
David Dastmalchian (Dune, The Suicide Squad) stars as the host of a late-night talk show that descends into a nightmare in Late Night with the Devil, set on Halloween 1977.
In the found footage-style film that captures a period aesthetic, “A live television broadcast in 1977 goes horribly wrong, unleashing evil into the nation’s living rooms.”
INFESTED – APRIL 26
Spring 2024 is all about SPIDERS – sorry, arachnophobes! – with the previously mentioned Sting being followed by the French creature feature Infested (Vermines) later this month.
What’s particularly exciting about Infested is that its director, Sébastien Vaniček, has been hired to direct the next installment in the Evil Dead film franchise, so this will be our first taste of what Vaniček is capable of within the genre. And the buzz for this one is strong.
In his review out of Fantastic Fest last year, for starters, Bloody Disgusting’s own critic Trace Thurman raved that Infested is “one of the best spider attack movies in years.”
In the upcoming horror film, “Fascinated by exotic animals, Kaleb finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap.”
HUMANE – APRIL 26
The daughter of horror master David Cronenberg, Caitlin Cronenberg is making her own mark in the genre filmmaking space with IFC Films’ Humane, coming to theaters this month.
The film is described as “a dystopian satire taking place over a single day, months after a global ecological collapse has forced world leaders to reduce the earth’s population.”
The wild premise? 20% of the world’s population must VOLUNTEER TO DIE!
“In a wealthy enclave, a recently retired newsman has invited his grown children to dinner to announce his intentions to enlist in the nation’s new euthanasia program. But when the father’s plan goes horribly awry, tensions flare and chaos erupts among his children.”
I SAW THE TV GLOW – MAY 3
Fresh off the haunting and singularly creepy indie We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, Jane Schoenbrun is back with A24‘s I Saw the TV Glow, releasing only in theaters this May.
Meagan Navarro wrote in her Sundance review for BD, “I Saw the TV Glow offers a layered and authentic portrait of identity, wrapped in ’90s nostalgia and surreal imagery that embeds itself deep into your psyche.” Meagan continues, “Schoenbrun delivers a singular vision of arthouse horror that entrances for its fevered dream style and insanely cool imagery.”
In A24’s latest, “Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious TV show — a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen’s view of reality begins to crack.”
TAROT – MAY 3
Originally titled Horrorscope, a much better title if you’re asking me, Screen Gems returns to the big screen with studio horror movie Tarot this Spring, a Tarot-card themed spookshow.
When a group of friends recklessly violates the sacred rule of Tarot readings – never use someone else’s deck – they unknowingly unleash an unspeakable evil trapped within the cursed cards in the upcoming Screen Gems horror movie Tarot. One by one, they come face to face with fate and end up in a race against death to escape the future foretold in their readings.
The hook for this one? Artist Trevor Henderson designed the film’s eight monsters!
THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 1 – MAY 17
Bryan Bertino’s 2008 home invasion classic The Strangers spawns a brand new reboot trilogy this year, with first film The Strangers: Chapter 1 kicking things off in theaters on May 17.
The Strangers: Chapter 2 is expected to follow in Fall 2024.
Madelaine Petsch is the lead of the new reboot trilogy, playing a character who drives cross-country with her longtime boyfriend to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest.
When their car breaks down in Venus, Oregon, they’re forced to spend the night in a secluded Airbnb, where they are terrorized from dusk till dawn by three masked strangers.
IN A VIOLENT NATURE – MAY 31
Slasher fans who have been hungry for a new Friday the 13th movie won’t want to miss In a Violent Nature, which plays out like a Friday movie… entirely from Jason’s perspective!
IFC Films will release In a Violent Nature exclusively in theaters on May 31.
In the film, “When a locket is removed from a collapsed fire tower in the woods that entombs the rotting corpse of Johnny, a vengeful spirit spurred on by a horrific 60-year old crime, his body is resurrected and becomes hellbent on retrieving it. The undead golem hones in on the group of vacationing teens responsible for the theft and proceeds to methodically slaughter them one by one in his mission to get it back – along with anyone in his way.”
Meagan Navarro wrote in her Sundance review for Bloody Disgusting, “In a Violent Nature may offer slasher thrills and a delightfully gory rampage across the wilderness, but the approach captures the carnage through ambient realism. It results in a fascinating arthouse horror experiment that plays more like a minimalist slice-of-life feature with a grim twist.”
THE WATCHERS – JUNE 14
M. Night Shyamalan returns with the new thriller Trap this coming August, but the road to that film’s release will be paved by the feature debut of his daughter, Ishana Night Shyamalan.
Ishana Night directed The Watchers, in theaters from WB/New Line on June 14.
The film follows Mina, a 28-year-old artist, who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. When Mina finds shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers who are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures each night.
Which Spring 2024 horror movies are YOU most looking forward to?
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