When it comes to the horror genre of video games, “Five Nights at Freddy’s” is undeniably the game with the greatest success story. The first installment released in 2014 was nothing but a simple, point-and-click survival game made by one man, Scott Cawthon. It has since grown into a franchise garnering billions of views across multiple platforms. Propelled by YouTubers like Markiplier and MatPat, who recorded themselves playing the game and its following installments, “Five Nights at Freddy’s” summoned a fanbase of millions.

Its grip on audiences is especially strong due to the “lore” that YouTube channels, especially The Game Theorists, have created. Using small details from each game, YouTubers began to form elaborate timelines, histories and explanations for everything occurring in the game, and people discovered an entire universe. The expansiveness of this “lore” provides the “Five Nights at Freddy’s” movie a challenging task: appeal to both a general audience with no knowledge of the game’s history, as well as the die-hard fans who have watched hours upon hours of content—the ones who have carried the franchise to its phenomenal success. Adding to the difficulties, the movie was announced eight years ago. The stakes for the film, directed by Emma Tammi, couldn’t be higher.

The film starts off strong with a security guard being hunted down and forced into a trap involving razors, very reminiscent of the escape-driven games from the “Saw” franchise. Within those first few minutes it is established that the “Five Nights at Freddy’s” movie will not be holding back on terror. Just like that, when the opening credits commence, it is made clear that the film was made with its fans in mind; there are pixelated animations along with the credits that directly reference primary “lore” theories on YouTube. While the general audience won’t get anything out of it, hardcore fans will likely be able to identify every event depicted and its place in the “Five Nights at Freddy’s” universe. And, impressively, these references carry throughout the entire movie.

The main narrative follows Mike Shmidt, played by Josh Hutcherson, who has been struggling to secure a job. The childhood trauma of witnessing his younger brother being kidnapped has led to relentless nightmares, a need for medication and unpredictable outbursts. It is particularly the instance of him losing a job due to mistaking a man for a kidnapper and beating him up that leads him to a career counseling office. Of course, Mike’s job options are very limited—the only one is a security guard for the abandoned Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria. Even though he initially denies it because no one wants to work whole night shifts, he reconsiders due to his ten-year-old sister, Abby. With Mike’s very poor record and the fact his parents aren’t in the picture, he realizes he needs a job to remain in custody of his sister.

When he assumes the position of Freddy Fazbear’s security guard, his life takes a very sharp turn. Mike is sent on a journey of lucid dreams of children and break-ins leading to slaughter and terrifying interactions between his sister and the four animatronics of the pizzeria. These animatronics — mechanical animals — from the video games are a very large source of fear; they are ginormous, self-controlled and hyper-realistic. You can see the fuzz of their coats, which isn’t even visible in the game. This quality carries through with the rest of the film’s elements—as should be the minimum after this long of a wait. The lighting, sound, cinematography and scripting are all notably well-done. There are connections in the narrative that long-time fans will recognize, but there are also twists for everyone. The ending is sound, yet still leaves space for a sequel.

It isn’t a purely horrific movie leaving viewers in apprehension every second, but what freaky scenes there are certainly are very freaky. From face chomping to a body being split in half, “Five Nights at Freddy’s” pushes the PG-13 rating. All in all, it’s truly an entertaining watch. I can’t speak for people with no previous knowledge of the game, but with the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes staying around 90 percent, it’s clear that non-fans have generally received it well. It also broke several box office records; according to Variety, it has had the highest-grossing opening weekend for Blumhouse, even passing 2018’s “Halloween.” Earning $132 million on its first day, it has had the third-biggest debut for all released horror films, just behind the latest two “It” installments. This alone suggests that the Rotten Tomatoes film critics are misguided in giving the “Five Nights at Freddy’s” movie a 29 percent. Their bias against horror movies never stops shining.

Nina Walder can be reached at [email protected].