Five Nights at Freddy’s Director Addresses That Connection to Scream

Five Nights at Freddy’s, which just wrapped up Blumhouse’s biggest-ever opening weekend, shares some DNA with Scream. Not only does it feature Matthew Lillard, who was a standout in the original Scream, but it’s got that same pop culture-obsessed vibe, drenching its horror in the familiar. The original Freddy’s concept, which plays with the unintentional creepiness of Chuck E. Cheese’s animatronics, feels like it shares some DNA with the movie-obsessed world and characters of Scream.

At the heart of the similarities is Lillard, one of cinema’s most likable character actors but also someone who generally plays characters who just read as a bit “off.” We asked Five Nights at Freddy’s filmmaker Emma Tammi about working with the actor.

Spoilers follow for Five Nights at Freddy’s, in theaters now.

“Matthew is stepping into an iconic character in terms of the lore of FNAF, and he himself is so iconic in the horror genre,” Tammi told ComicBook.com. “But also, the Scooby-Doo franchise. He is just multitudes in and of himself and is so incredibly creative and enthusiastic and wonderful to inhabit this character and really make it something all his own. So we were so lucky to have him. I think his story isn’t over; if we’re lucky enough to make more of these, it has only just begun.”

Blumhouse’s Five Nights at Freddy’s movie largely follows the initial setup of the game, in which a security guard is besieged by malicious pizzeria animatronics come to life. Of course, that’s a little thin; audiences need a bit more than that for a movie adaptation, so the story has been built up around that premise. An official synopsis for the movie released previously shared more info on what roles people would be playing as well as why they’re even in this undesirable situation in the first place.

“The film follows Mike (Josh Hutcherson; Ultraman, The Hunger Games franchise) a troubled young man caring for his 10-year-old sister Abby (Piper Rubio; Holly & Ivy, Unstable), and haunted by the unsolved disappearance of his younger brother more than a decade before,” says an official synopsis for the film. “Recently fired and desperate for work so that he can keep custody of Abby, Mike agrees to take a position as a night security guard at an abandoned theme restaurant: Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria. But Mike soon discovers that nothing at Freddy’s is what it seems. With the aid of Vanessa, a local police officer (Elizabeth Lail; You, Mack & Rita), Mike’s nights at Freddy’s will lead him into unexplainable encounters with the supernatural and drag him into the black heart of an unspeakable nightmare.”

Five Nights at Freddy’s is now playing in theaters and is available to stream on Peacock.