Five Nights At Freddy's (2017 Film)

Five Nights at Freddy's is a survival horror movie, based on the video game of the same name created by Scott Cawthon. The film would take elements from the whole franchise, with some liberties taken as well, and the animatronic characters but be achieved through a combination of puppetwork, actual animatronics, costumed actors, and the occasional use of visual effects.

Synopsis
In 1993, Mike Schmidt, a 19-year old seeks employment with little success. He finds a newspaper ad for a nightguard at the family restaurant Freddy Fazbear’s Diner, a place he used to visit as a child.

Mike is hired on Monday, November 8th, meeting the manager Veronica Maxwell and the day shift guard Steve who used to be nightguard. Mike is disturbed by the animatronics Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, and Chica, and Veronica notes the restaurant faces closure soon following a recent health inspection due to unpleasant smells coming from the animatronics.

Mike starts his first night but falls asleep, receiving a recorded message from Steve who informs him that the animatronics wander at night to prevent their servo motors locking up. Mike awakens afterwards and patrols the diner after seeing Bonnie has vanished on the camera feed, only to find the animatronics are hostile towards him. He discovers Steve’s message, learning the animatronics see him as an endoskeleton and will try to shove him into an animatronic suit. Mike keeps Bonnie and Chica out of the office, eventually trying to escape before 6am, and hides in a supply closet until the end of his shift.

Mike confronts Veronica the next day, learning the animatronics have acted odd since the “Bite of ‘87”, where someone had their frontal lobe bitten off by an animatronic. Veronica admits her hate for the diner, revealing her late father was a nightguard. Mike decides to stay for the second night and is given a shock stick for defence. That night, Steve contacts Mike and informs him of Foxy the Fox Pirate, a disused animatronic who is kept in the closed off Pirate Cove area. Mike assumes Foxy caused the Bite of ’87 judging by his damaged lower jaw.

During the shift, Mike notes a rule list on the east hall rule replaced by a newspaper article mentioning five missing children, but he has to chase Bonnie out of the room using the shock stick. He catches Foxy charging down the hall, only to witness the fox attack Bonnie and drag him away. Mike closes both doors for the rest of the night.

On the third day, Mike researches information on the diner’s history, learning it was originally a family-run diner called Fredbear Family Diner. He discovers the missing children were murdered in the restaurant but their bodies never found. He ask Veronica about the murders, who is shocked by this news, assuming the shareholders covered it up. Before going to work, Mike checks the diner for anymore information and checks on Foxy who acts docile.

That night, Mike learns the diner has been threatened with closure as Veronica said due to sanitation feedback, and the animatronics smelling like “reanimated carcasses” – Mike realising where the dead children had been hidden. Noting the lack of a fifth animatronic, Mike witnesses a golden Freddy costume appear in the stage room, then materialise in the office, vanishing just as quickly. The power goes out, and Freddy finally arrives at the office. Mike plays dead (following Steve's advice) then attacks Freddy with dual shock sticks before fleeing the diner with help from Foxy but is injured in the process.

Mike is told by Veronica to stay home, his shift covered by Steve. Mike later tracks down Gerald Fazberg, son of the diner’s founder, learning the child murderer was a former nightguard, explaining why the animatronics target them. Mike brings up the golden Freddy, learning it was an animatronic at the original diner alongside a golden Bonnie that was “lost” after being used to lure the five children into the backroom where they were killed.

That night, Mike rests at home when Steve sends him a message on his answer phone, only to admit he won’t last the night, followed by animatronic screeches. Mike races to the diner, but finds Steve has already been killed. He encounters Foxy who is able to briefly speak, claiming the children are trapped. Mike takes up the shift again, playing a game of cat-and-mouse with Freddy and Chica while Foxy drags Bonnie away. Freddy tries to lift one of the doors up but it turns 6am before he can get in.

Mike meets Veronica the next day as the police remove Steve’s body, and shut the diner down. Mike tells Veronica his belief that the children are haunting the animatronics and have been murdering nightguards to get revenge. They decide they must dismantle the animatronics to free the souls, returning to the diner at night with Mike under the guise to continue his watch.

Freddy immediately shuts off the lights, but Mike manages to take down Bonnie with his own guitar while Veronica lures Chica into the kitchen and incinerates her with a gas explosion. Freddy corners Mike and Veronica in the office, but they escape to the showroom. Foxy appears to aid them, only to be decapitated by a stranger, identified as the child murderer, who escaped from prison. Freddy chases him, but the murderer smashes his head apart with a sledgehammer. The murderer goes to kill Mike and Veronica, only for Golden Freddy to appear, summoning the ghosts of the other children who pursue the murderer.

Mike and Veronica follow the murderer to a blocked off safe room, revealing the Golden Bonnie was dumped there. The murderer gets into the suit to escape the ghosts, only for the suit's spring-lock mechanism to activate, crushing him like the animatronics had done to the nightguards. The ghosts of the five children disappear, leaving their killer to bleed to death.

A couple of days later, the remains of the children and Steve have been buried, with Mike and Veronica attending. Mike gives Veronica a ride home, with the animatronic suits hidden under a sheet in the back of his pickup truck. Elsewhere, police prepare to remove the murderer’s trapped body from the diner, referring to the suit as “Springtrap”, but lights flicker in the suit implying it is active.

Preferred Cast

 * Asa Butterfield as Mike Schmidt, the newly employed nightguard for Freddy Fazbear's Diner. He has memories of visiting the diner as a kid, but now he is an easily spooked high school graduate who becomes the latest target for the killer animatronics.
 * T.J. Miller as Steve (aka Phone Guy), the guard who works the dayshift and former nightguard. He sends messages to Mike about the animatronics.
 * Felicity Jones as Veronica Maxwell, the manager of the diner. She is a stubborn, argumentative woman who begrudgingly follows the protocols of the diner, but actually hates it, since her late father was a nightguard and was killed by the animatronics.
 * Sharlto Copey as the Child Killer (aka the Purple Man), a former nightguard who murdered a number of children using the Springtrap suit.
 * Jack Coleman as Gerald Fazberg, the son of the diner's founder. He has a share in the business but does not want to be involved running it.

The animatronics Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, and Golden Freddy would be portrayed through costumed actors, puppetwork, or CGI. Such actors like Doug Jones and Brian Steele could portray them.

Story Development
Admittedly, I have never played the games (too chicken to) but have watched enough playthroughs and done research to know much about the storyline. However, the story is very vague and open to a lot of interpretation