Why FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S Director Kept the Movie PG-13

Published: October 30, 2023

Why FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S Director Kept the Movie PG-13

By Movieguide® Contributor

When adapting the popular “Five Nights at Freddy’s” video game franchise to the big screen, the director chose to keep the movie accessible to a younger audience rather than push an R-rated movie.

“I would say not to expect an R-rated version on this one,” said director Emma Tammi. “We’re really happy with how the PC-13 tone landed; it felt like the right fit for this particular film. We’re sticking by it.”

Despite the rating, the movie stays true to its horror genre, with its main focus being on ghoulish encounters. While this aligns with the video game’s plotline, it unfortunately strays by teaming the main character up with ghosts and, at times, painting those interactions in a positive light. A portion of Movieguide®’s review reads:

FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S is a horror movie aimed at teenagers. A security guard named Mike is troubled by the kidnapping murder of his younger brother years ago. Later, his mother died, and the two tragedies led to his father’s death. Now, Mike is taking care of his younger sister, Abby, but he’s having trouble holding down a job. Meanwhile, their morally shady aunt is threatening to sue Mike for custody of Abby. So, Mike takes a low-paying night job at an abandoned Chuck E Cheese knockoff called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. Eventually, the animatronic robots at Freddy’s come alive and target Mike’s sister.

Based on a video game series, FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S is a well-made scary movie. Not everything is explained or makes sense, however. That said, for a simple horror movie, FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S has some provocative, fascinating themes. The movie’s worldview is mixed, though. Mike is heroic and must save his sister. However, part of the plot involves some menacing ghosts who sometimes help the hero. FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S also has four obscenities and lots of scary violence.

This decision is disappointing as the creator of the video game franchise, Scott Hawthorne, is a strong Christian, as Movieguide® reported, and was intimately involved in the movie adaptation. That said, the movie could have certainly taken a much darker, gorier turn—a move that would have been irresponsible given the franchise’s younger fan base.

“Going into production, we knew that we wanted to really stick [to] a PG-13 rating for this movie,” Tammi told GamesRadar+. “It felt like it was important and really exciting to be able to include a younger audience to come see this movie. But we also, of course, wanted to deliver on the scares and at least the implied violence of a kill, even if you don’t see anything.”

“I personally find it sometimes more fun and creative to figure out the way to show the thing without explicitly showing the thing or without graphically showing the thing,” she added, noting, “I was really excited about that rating, to be honest.”

Movieguide® previously reported on the “Five Nights at Freddy’s” franchise:

Game developer Scott Cawthon, known for the popular horror video game “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” announced his retirement from creating video games after he donated to conservative politicians and revealed that he is a “Christian” and “pro-life.”

Cawthon made donations to former President Donald Trump, several republicans, and former Democratic U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii.

Fans of his game, primarily his LGBT fanbase according to GameRant, expressed their outrage at his support of the Republican and conservative voices.