A “Five Nights at Freddy’s” or “FNAF” (as the fans know it) movie has hit cinema and digital screens (getting a bizarre simultaneous release on US cable network Peacock), and holy pizzeria the fans are rushing to the box office. It’s now officially horror’s power-studio Blumhouse’s biggest opening weekend movie in its history. But anyone with kids could tell you that they saw this blockbuster coming.

Based on Scott Cawthon’s video game and series of novels of the same name this adaptation has taken 8 years to finally make it onto the screen. Bouncing from studio to studio until Blumhouse took on the project a couple of years ago.

So, the film…

Mike, a troubled young man haunted by the fractured memory of the kidnapping of his younger brother gets a job at a spooky closed-down family pizzeria, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza Place. Soon after clocking-on things start to go whirr, clunk, and bump in the night as the animatronic characters throughout the place appear to be more than meets the eye.

By the way, the involvement of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop in bringing these animatronic characters to life were a very welcome enhancement to the film, CGI would most definitely have been a wrong move here.

For any fans out there, this film relies very heavily on the novels as source material over the video game itself. Often touching loosely on back stories involving the various characters, so there’s enough in-joke nods to satiate FNAF fans. But the plot itself is pretty flimsy but as it’s aimed at younger horror fans that’s absolutely fair enough. Also there’s a bit of fun bloodless gore the kids will love!

The Prognosis:

It’s routinely spooky, the acting is solid, the jump scares are plentiful… that damn balloon boy, geez!!

Look if you’re flying blind going into this then you’re probably going to be a little let down but at the end of the day this film isn’t for you. It’s a fun filmic representation of a beloved horror game and book series that’s aimed squarely at the fans and young horror fans alike.

No doubt that after the success of the first one, there will definitely be more to follow.

• Ryder (13) and Myles Davies (52)