8) Five Nights At Freddy’s (2018)
There have been so many creative horror-survival games released over the past few years, many of which could make for terrifying feature films. One of the most successful has been Five Nights at Freddy’s, a brilliant series of indie games by Scott Cawthon in which players must survive a night in a Chuck-E-Cheese-style restaurant while animatronic animals come to life.
This is such a genius premise that, surprisingly, has not been explored on film before. We’ve had lots of killer doll movies, but never one where seemingly-cheerful animatronic animals start attacking (although the minions in Krampus come to mind). It’s always exciting to hear an idea that the horror genre has not yet beaten into the ground. Sure, a significant reason the games are effective is that we go through the ordeal ourselves, but that could easily be replicated on film with the strategic use of POV shots. Or maybe it could even be found-footage?
Plus, we’ve got an experienced horror director on board: Gil Kenan, the man behind Monster House and the surprisingly decent Poltergeist remake. Kenan has revealed that all of the monsters in Five Nights at Freddy’s will be accomplished with practical effects, explaining on his Twitter that the creatures being real makes them that much more terrifying. He isn’t just interested in the property for the scary creatures, though. Kenan explained that the depth of the game’s storyline is amazing, and the mythology is what makes him most excited about the movie. Finally, he added that the game’s creator, Scott Cawthon, will be involved in some way.
It’s obvious that Kenan is a true fan of this franchise, and he has proven himself to be a talented horror director, so perhaps this could be the first truly great horror movie based on a video game.
Sorry, Silent Hill.