Film Theory- The FNAF Movie Just Changed the LORE!
Film Theory- The FNAF Movie Just Changed the LORE!
Transcript
00:00 And what did you draw? A yellow rabbit hitting the subscribe button?
00:03 "They can see you now."
00:04 Well, great! That is the point of the subscribe button after all. Thanks, Abby!
00:08 Finally, FINALLY it's happened!
00:09 After eight agonizingly long years in development hell,
00:12 hopping from studio to studio, director to director,
00:15 The Five Nights at Freddy's movie is finally out for you to go see right now.
00:19 And man, has this been a commercial hit!
00:21 As of the writing of this script, just one weekend into release,
00:24 the movie's made over $152 million at the box office.
00:28 More than seven times its own budget.
00:30 And that's despite being available to stream on Peacock, where...
00:33 Oh, wait! It's also the most viewed movie on Peacock ever!
00:36 Suck on that, my big fat Greek wedding three!
00:38 It's also Blumhouse's most successful opening weekend to date,
00:41 which means that more people are turning out to see Springtrap wielding his knife than Michael Myers.
00:46 Maybe now Hollywood will finally bother to get the name of this thing right.
00:49 "And his other movie, Friday Nights at Freddy's, comes to theaters and streaming on Peacock October 27th?"
00:54 "Five Nights at Freddy's."
00:56 "What did I say?"
00:56 "Friday Nights."
00:57 "It's been eight or nine years since I first met Scott Cawthorn, who created this."
01:01 "Why do we get it wrong?"
01:02 "Five Nights!"
01:03 Or not. Who cares? Forget 'em.
01:05 This thing was made for the fans.
01:06 From Sparky the Dog, to Dream Theory, to...
01:09 "It's just a theory."
01:10 You bet it is, and today we're getting back to those theorist roots.
01:13 Today we're theorizing about the actual movie, and boy is there a lot to talk about here.
01:17 True story, after the movie, I basically locked myself in the room with Lee and Tom,
01:21 the film and game theory creative directors,
01:22 and we busted out our trusty whiteboard to figure out exactly what was going on in the movie,
01:26 and where the story was gonna head in the future,
01:28 'cause there were just a lot of details left hanging.
01:30 What was up with the Balloon Boy figurine?
01:32 How is no one freaked out by the fact that there are bodies in those animatronics?
01:35 Wasn't this like the most structurally unsound table fort of all time?
01:38 That last one, perhaps, the biggest mystery of 'em all.
01:41 Today we're gonna be looking at all the Easter eggs, secrets, and hidden lore from the movie,
01:45 then comparing those to other parts of the franchise, both the books and the games,
01:48 in order to predict where the story of the FNAF 2 movie is gonna go years before they actually make it.
01:53 So, that's our one job for today, but before we get to it,
01:55 I also have to shout out our brand new line of officially licensed FNAF theory wear.
01:59 "That's two jobs."
02:01 Yeah, I guess you're right, Vanessa, it is two jobs.
02:02 Anyway, let me tell you guys, these are some of the most fun, unique items that we've ever done.
02:06 And not only are the designs fun, let's be honest,
02:08 there's also a lot of just FNAF stuff out there in the market,
02:11 which is also why we wanted to create the highest quality clothing out there,
02:14 complete with rubber patches, embroidered detailing, soft teddy fleece.
02:17 This stuff isn't just FNAF merch, it is FNAF apparel.
02:21 Oh, in case you were wondering, every item in this collection had to be approved by Mr. Scott
02:25 Cawthorn himself.
02:26 Look, we're so tight, I even know how to pronounce his name right.
02:28 And in this collection, we've got something for everyone.
02:30 Do you like graphic tees?
02:31 Check out the retro band t-shirts featuring Freddy, Purple Guy, and of course,
02:34 Muuuusic Man!
02:36 You want something a little bit more subtle?
02:38 The all-over prints of the confetti tee and the employee tee will make you look good without
02:42 screaming "I'm a FNAF fan!" in everyone's face.
02:44 If you're in the mood to do some cute FNAF bounding,
02:46 the Chica Cheer Bundles got you covered with a Chica-themed top, skirt with underskirt,
02:50 and high socks.
02:51 And of course, we've got jackets.
02:53 Oh boy, we've got jackets.
02:55 It's not a Theoryware collection unless there are some killer jackets in here.
02:58 And we had fun with this batch.
02:59 You have the FNAF High Varsity Jacket inspired by Chica's anime adventures in Ultimate Custom
03:04 Night, with colorful patches of all your favorite characters down the faux leather sleeves,
03:08 and a class of 1983 embroidered patch on the back.
03:11 For obvious reasons.
03:12 "There is only one thing that could possibly go wrong."
03:16 Yeah, and that's falling in love with another jacket.
03:18 Like our Withered Fleece complete with 3D animatronic endoskeleton detailing.
03:22 That's a Endo02 to be specific, so make sure you put that one on your next timeline.
03:26 And while the outside is nice and soft and fluffy, the inside is waterproof and purple,
03:30 in case you feel like flipping the entire thing inside out and sporting the franchise's
03:33 most notorious color.
03:34 And lastly, probably the most fun piece we've ever done, the Monty Jacket.
03:38 It is faux alligator leather that's glammed out to the max with bright yellow interior
03:42 and sharp metal studs to show that you're the raddest reptile on the block.
03:46 Any guitar playing bunnies better watch their backs when you're wearing this one.
03:49 If any of this has caught your eye and you want to show off both your love of FNAF and
03:52 theorizing, go check out our official FNAF collection over at Theoryware.com.
03:57 That's T-H-E-O-R-Y-W-E-A-R dot com.
04:00 And now with that shameless self-promotion out of the way, let's just hop into the theory,
04:04 shall we?
04:04 So to begin, we should point out that we already do have some vague idea where the sequel's
04:08 gonna head.
04:08 In an interview with Variety, FNAF director Emma Tammy explained that the first movie
04:12 was tied to the first game, so a second film would likely tie into a second game.
04:16 Which, duh, kinda goes without saying.
04:17 But also should probably make our lives easy, right?
04:20 Yeah, not quite.
04:21 As we mentioned in our first prediction theory, the strategy for the movieverse seems to be
04:24 taking iconic bits and pieces from across the entire franchise, games, books, fan theories,
04:29 even hoaxes, and distilling it all down into the most recognizable version of FNAF there
04:33 is.
04:34 That's how we got Mike Schmidt from FNAF 1 hanging out with Vanessa from Security Breach,
04:38 fighting Springtrap from FNAF 3, and saving Abby from getting stuck into a Springlock
04:42 version of Ella from the Silver Eyes novel, with an ending that was ripped straight out
04:46 of the fourth closet.
04:47 It is literally FNAF the smoothie.
04:49 Everything dumped into a blender, chopped up, and then poured back out onto the big
04:53 screen.
04:53 So yeah, while it did follow the same broad strokes as the first game, five nights in
04:56 the FNAF 1 pizzeria with ghost kids in suits, it is definitely not the same story.
05:01 It's also important to note the changes to the story that have been added in.
05:04 One example has to be the time that these movies take place.
05:07 It's widely accepted that the FNAF 1 video game takes place somewhere around 1993, and
05:11 yet in this scene from the movie, we see a date on a security camera that reads April
05:15 6th, 2000, about seven years later.
05:17 Another big example?
05:18 Though we've long theorized that the story of the original FNAF games takes place in
05:22 Utah, that is not the case in the film.
05:24 In the film, during the scene where Aunt Jane is confronting Mike at Abby's school,
05:27 her lawyer hands Mike some family court paperwork.
05:29 If you pause and read the fine print on the documents, you'll find the URL mncourts.gov,
05:34 which is the official website for the Minnesota judicial system.
05:37 Additionally, we can see a phone number with the area code 651, which is connected to the
05:41 St. Paul area and eastern suburbs of Minnesota.
05:44 And get this, I kid you not, there's a small town in this area code named Afton.
05:48 You cannot make that up.
05:50 Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Scott moved the entire movie to Minnesota just for
05:53 that change alone.
05:54 Lastly, there's also this decal on Vanessa's police cruiser, GFPD.
05:59 PD stands for police department.
06:01 That part's pretty darn obvious.
06:02 But then what about the GF?
06:03 Well, honestly, that could stand for any city or township with those same initials, from
06:06 Grand Forks to Glen Falls to Great Falls, but included in that list is Granite Falls,
06:12 just two hours west of St. Paul, whose cop cars, at least according to the website, follow
06:16 the exact same black and white color pattern that we see in the movie.
06:18 Speaking of clues from the cars that are seen throughout the movie, we can also reasonably
06:21 assume that Mike's brother Garrett was kidnapped in the early 80s, based on this shot from
06:26 Mike's dream sequence.
06:27 By taking the rear end of William Afton's car here and reverse image searching for it,
06:30 we're able to identify this as a Ford Fairmont Futura.
06:33 Specifically, the model is coming from between 1980 and 1983.
06:36 You can immediately see the connections here between the unique vertical taillight design
06:40 and the boxy body shape.
06:41 But why then does that matter?
06:42 Well, Mike's brother Garrett is likely the first child that Afton abducted and killed.
06:47 In Mike's dream flashbacks, we very clearly see Garrett holding a toy airplane as he's
06:51 being taken away in the back of Afton's car.
06:53 And where do we see that airplane again?
06:54 When Vanessa reveals Afton to be her father.
06:57 She's holding the same airplane!
06:58 That right there, that is cold.
07:00 Gifting toys from your victims to your daughter.
07:02 But not only is it gross, it's also helpful, because it lets us put together a rough timeline.
07:06 You see, Afton and Vanessa are clearly in a still operational pizzeria in this photograph,
07:10 which means it had to have been taken before the other kids went missing,
07:14 causing Freddy's to shut down.
07:15 In other words, Garrett was the first of Afton's victims that we currently know of.
07:19 And that right there, that's important, because in the games, Afton's first victim,
07:23 and the one most closely associated with his car, goes on to possess the Puppet.
07:27 A marionette-esque character that serves as a protector and guide to all the other spirit children.
07:31 It's the first victim that gives gifts and gives life to the other animatronics after their murders.
07:36 We see this possession happening in FNAF 6's security puppet minigame.
07:39 Notice the tire tracks out there in the rain.
07:41 We see the exact same event from a different angle in FNAF 2.
07:44 Notice that cool purple car.
07:46 From there, the rest of FNAF 2's hidden minigames then show us the Puppet trying to protect the other dead children from Afton.
07:51 And when it can't, the Puppet decides to bring them to life in the form of animatronics.
07:55 "S. A. P. E. D. H. E. M."
08:02 The robotic voice here is spelling out "Save them."
08:05 Does it sound familiar? It should!
08:06 That same robotic voice appears at the very end of the movie's credits.
08:10 "G. O. M. E. F. I. N. E. M. E."
08:16 Once the whole thing wraps, the voice has spelled out "Come find me."
08:19 In the exact same way that the Puppet communicated to the player in the FNAF 2 minigames.
08:24 And who needs to be found in the movie? Garrett.
08:26 See, the fact that they never resolve what exactly happened to Garrett was a big thing that stuck out to me when I was watching this thing.
08:31 After all, it was Mike's entire motivation and his only clear, outright connection to both Afton and Vanessa.
08:36 His fate is definitely gonna come up again in the sequel.
08:39 And all the signs are pointing to the Puppet from the FNAF 2 video game.
08:42 What's more, did you notice the music that was playing during that section?
08:45 It's a music box.
08:46 Another nod to the Puppet, who in the games is kept calm by constantly winding a music box.
08:51 In short, Garrett is possessing the Puppet in this world.
08:54 And here he is literally trying to tell Mike and the audience to come find him in the sequel.
08:58 But stop for a minute and consider the method of Afton's crime here.
09:01 It is different from all the rest.
09:03 He's out in nature.
09:04 He kidnaps Garrett and presumably leaves him alive longer than his normal victims.
09:08 He keeps the kid's toy and then gives it to his daughter.
09:10 They're even in a completely different state.
09:12 Unlike the rest of Afton's crimes, where he just lures kids to the back of the pizzeria and kills them,
09:16 here, things feel premeditated.
09:18 They feel personal.
09:19 And that would align with both the games and the books.
09:21 Where Afton's first murder isn't just a random killing, it's targeted against one person.
09:25 His business partner and the original builder of the animatronics, Henry.
09:29 "Small souls trapped in prisons of my making now set to new purpose."
09:33 "A wound first inflicted on me, but then one that I let bleed out to cause all of this."
09:39 In fact, in the novel trilogy, Afton does the exact same thing that he does in the movie.
09:42 He kidnaps Henry's daughter, Charlie, before ultimately killing her.
09:45 Basically, all signs point to Garrett not just being a random victim,
09:48 but rather to him being the son of Afton's partner and rival, Henry.
09:52 The man who helped Afton build all of the animatronics.
09:54 See, as I was piecing together the details from the movie, I started to notice something.
09:58 The Afton and Schmidt families from the movie seem awfully close to the family structures from the games,
10:03 except in reverse.
10:04 You see, in the game series, we know that Afton has himself three children.
10:07 Michael, crying child, and Elizabeth.
10:09 The oldest son, Michael, plays a prank as a kid which gets his younger brother killed
10:12 in the iconic bite of 1983.
10:14 From there on, Mike becomes obsessed with atoning for his mistake,
10:17 eventually becoming a security guard and releasing the spirit of his brother into the afterlife.
10:21 Then, there's Elizabeth, who eventually gets trapped and dies inside a baby.
10:25 A suit that is increasingly looking to be a springlock animatronic.
10:28 Now, let's check out the Schmidt family over in the movie.
10:30 You have, again, a family of three.
10:32 Two boys and a girl.
10:34 Mike, the older brother, is a security guard who's obsessed with atoning for the time that he got his younger brother, Garrett, kidnapped and killed.
10:40 Then there's Abby, who's nearly trapped and killed inside the Ella suit, a springlock animatronic.
10:45 They literally match one for one.
10:47 Meanwhile, Afton in the movie seems to have himself only one daughter, Vanessa,
10:51 just like Henry had himself one daughter, Charlie, in the games.
10:54 So, if they've switched dynamics, that could make Mike's dad here the representative of Henry Emily from the games.
10:59 "Her mom died, uh, a little while back, and dad, he couldn't handle it so..."
11:04 They leave Mike's dad's fate vague.
11:06 To me, it looks like it was deliberately done in case they ever wanted to bring Mike's dad back into the story in a role similar to Henry's.
11:12 But perhaps most interesting of all, if you look in the background of the employee training video,
11:16 you can see a man who looks very similar to Mike's dad working on the animatronics,
11:20 just like Henry would have done in the games canon.
11:23 This is also, as far as I can tell, an uncredited performance,
11:25 but one look at Mike's dad, this guy from the training video,
11:28 and the way that Henry's portrayed in places like the character encyclopedia,
11:31 it shows a visual design connection between the three of 'em.
11:34 But not only would this connection fit with the established game lore,
11:37 it would also explain why William Afton recognizes Mike.
11:39 Early in the movie, we see Afton have a moment of recognition when he reads Mike's last name.
11:44 "Mr. Mike Osh."
11:45 But according to US Census data, there's around 166,000 people with the last name Schmidt here in the US.
11:52 So either this is just a case of pure movie coincidence,
11:54 or William recognizes not only the last name Schmidt,
11:57 but Mike Schmidt specifically, in the general age range that his partner's son would be.
12:02 That's why he's so sure that this is someone from his past.
12:04 More evidence for this?
12:05 The fact that William knows that Mike has a brother without it ever being addressed.
12:08 "This is perfect. First I killed your brother, now I kill you."
12:12 Sure, we can assume the spirit children told him,
12:14 "Little ones tell me you have a sister."
12:17 or maybe Vanessa,
12:18 but that's a bit less satisfying than him just knowing and taking out his vendetta
12:22 against every member of the Schmidt family.
12:24 And for those of you saying that Henry's last name is Emily,
12:26 it might be, but that's never actually been officially confirmed.
12:29 We've always thought it was a bit bizarre to have as a last name,
12:31 and let's be honest, it could just as easily be Charlie's middle name.
12:34 Charlotte Emily Schmidt.
12:36 But last, let's talk about William.
12:37 You'll notice that I just pulled the line that indicates that the spirits talk to William
12:41 throughout this movie, which is a very important detail.
12:44 In fact, if you notice, they really gave Afton a lot of explicit control
12:47 over what the spirits are doing here.
12:49 See, while he seems to understand what was happening in the games,
12:52 it never seemed like he could outright control the animatronics.
12:55 In the books, it's a little bit different.
12:56 He eventually is able to control the animatronics,
12:58 but not until the last novel of the trilogy.
13:01 Here though, he seems to understand all of it from the get-go.
13:04 They tell him about Abby.
13:05 He understands the importance of the pictures on the wall.
13:07 "What have you done?"
13:08 And as the springlocks in his suit are going off and he's dying, what does he do?
13:11 He basically looks directly in the camera, says his catchphrase,
13:15 "I always come back,"
13:16 and puts on the springtrap helmet.
13:18 Why? What sense would that make?
13:19 Well, it's a pretty clear indication that this Afton explicitly knows how possession works,
13:24 and it involves being completely put inside of the suit like this.
13:27 Putting on that helmet is basically Afton accepting his fate,
13:29 knowing that he'll be back, able to possess the suit and survive.
13:32 So right here, we have ourselves a smarter Afton who is years further in his understanding
13:37 of the spiritual world than either the Afton in the games or the books,
13:40 which leads me to this.
13:42 An animatronic buried in the parts and service room of the pizzeria.
13:45 One that you can't see in the movie,
13:47 but you can see in the behind-the-scenes footage from Doco during his tour of the movie set.
13:51 An animatronic with rounded human skull, silver eyes, and human teeth.
13:55 While this could just be background set dressing, I don't think that's the case.
13:58 If this is truly an Afton who understands the power of agony in granting eternal life,
14:03 if this is an Afton who has gone so far as to build a Freddy torture chair
14:07 for extracting remnant from his victims,
14:08 I'm thinking his experiments with building passable robotic humans has already begun.
14:12 This isn't just me playing the Robot Gregory game again,
14:15 it is the only explanation for the parts and services room to have an animatronic with human teeth
14:20 and realistic human head proportions and eyes.
14:22 And above it, hanging from the top of the shop,
14:24 a robotic hand with five fully articulating fingers and human proportions.
14:28 No other animatronic in this series fits this sort of description.
14:32 Does this mean he's already built a humanoid?
14:34 Or is this just an early phase of his experiments?
14:36 It's unclear, but it does give a bit more credit to Vanessa's bloodless stab wound
14:40 at the end of the movie being more than just an excuse to get itself a PG-13 rating.
14:44 My real guess though is that there's a Robot Garrett walking around,
14:47 and that he'll be the reveal at the end of the movie,
14:49 just like Charlie the Puppet is revealed to be a robot at the end of the fourth closet.
14:53 A world-shattering revelation for Mike as he comes to terms with the nature of his brother
14:57 and his father's weird creations before the final movie
15:00 where he's tasked with having to burn it all down.
15:03 Honestly, the pieces are in place for us.
15:05 Or not.
15:05 All the next movie has to do is drop a Markiplier cameo
15:08 and then show me a clip of Mangle and I'm in.
15:10 But hey!
15:11 One last reminder to check out our incredible, officially licensed FNAF merch.
15:15 Grab 'em while they are remaining...
15:17 Remaining?
15:18 Remnanting?
15:19 Last thing you want is the agony of knowing that they've sold out when you wanted one.
15:22 And as always, my friends, remember, it's all just a theory.
15:25 A film theory!
15:27 And cut!
15:29 [Music]
15:39 [Music]