There is something that hits differently when horror movies lean into practical effects. The director of Five Nights at Freddy’s, Emma Tammi, has spoken up after the film’s dominating opening weekend to discuss the animatronics. She went over her mindset of why she wanted to bring the game’s characters to life with practical effects rather than using CGI and more.
Behind the Real Animatronics of Five Nights Freddy’s From the Director
In an interview with IGN, Tammi went over the process and mindsets that went behind making real versions of Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie the Bunny, and other fan favorites. It all had to start between working with Blumhouse and the game’s creator, Scott Cawthon. Quickly, they knew the direction they wanted, which would “pay homage” to the era of ’80s and ’90s horror movies known for spectacular real effects.
The film is set in the year 2000 and we’re flashing back to ’80s and ’90s eras, and I think we wanted to, I particularly and Scott, wanted to pay homage to those time periods and the way that movies were made back then. And Jim Henson’s company couldn’t have been a better partner for that. And if you’re going to work with Jim Henson’s puppeteers and their animatronics, you’re going to want to use as much practically as possible. So our whole VFX approach was framed in terms of supporting what we were doing practically versus replacing it.
Emma Tammi in an interview with IGN
Another aspect was to enhance the experience for the Five Nights at Freddy’s cast as they would be “interacting with these animatronics in real-time.” To do this, they had a roster of puppeteers “getting them up on their feet and having them come to life.” She said that going down this route and hiring these people “was an incredible addition to the talent pool.”
Work hazards can happen when things are real. It was not all puppeteers to bring the animatronics from the Five Nights at Freddy’s video game to the big screen. Robotics were utilized, but it went off the rails when Foxy’s arm had overheated, leading to a small fire. It was quickly put out, and the arm was replaced.
Five Nights at Freddy’s is getting more love from fans than critics. For our review, we gave it a passable 6/10 for what Tammi and the team did in recreating these characters and giving love to the source material.
