Starring Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio

Directed by Emma Tammi

Universal Pictures, out now

A security guard takes a job at an abandoned pizzeria with a dark past.

It appears that the masklophobes were right along: we should be scared of people in masks or costumes. The four mascots at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria – Bonnie (rabbit), Freddy (bear), Chica (chick) and Foxy (fox) – are not the fun mascots that you’d hope they’d be, rather animatronic killers.

Director and co-writer of the screenplay Emma Tammi takes a stab at transforming the wildly popular video game franchise into a movie, but sadly it’s all a bit plodding and PG-13. Perhaps mindful of the books, comics and toys that are part of the series merchandise, the filmmakers have made a soft horror movie with very little to upset younger viewers. The result is toothless.

The Hunger Games’ Josh Hutcherson is fine as security guard Mike and little Piper Rubio is fun as sister Abby. Mike still has flashbacks from when his brother was abducted when he was 12, he can’t hold down a regular job, and there are questions over whether he is responsible enough to be looking after his sister. Getting a night watchman job at the deserted restaurant is probably not the best idea for someone so mentally fragile, but the robotic characters don’t least take a shine to Abby.

Mary Stuart Masterton and Matthew Lillard show up in cameos, the latter channelling his popular Scooby-Doo association. 2021’s Nicolas Cage-starring Willy’s Wonderland does a much better job at playing up the absurdity of a man trapped with animatronic mascots and is a good 20 minutes shorter. Go seek that instead.

Verdict: Fans of the franchise might get a buzz out of seeing their favourite characters on screen, but we already have one screen horror icon called Freddy and don’t need another.  5/10

Nick Joy