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Five Nights at Freddy’s is full of references to the beloved game it was based on. The horror from Blumhouse brings the story into the real world as it follows Mike (Josh Hutcherson), a security guard who takes a job overseeing security at an abandoned restaurant. However, just as in the game its based on, things start to get tense when he finds out murderous animatronics come to life every night when the clock strikes midnight. Yikes.
Throughout the new movie, there are loads of cameos and references to the wider Five Nights at Freddy’s world, which covers novels and spin-offs as well as games. But with so many jumpscares and a fair share of gory scenes, you’d be forgiven for not catching them all. Luckily for you, that’s where we come in. We’ve scoured every moment of the new movie to pull out all of the Five Nights At Freddy's Easter eggs and cameos you might have missed.
Of course, it goes without saying that we’re encroaching on spoiler territory from here on out. So make sure you’ve seen the movie before reading any further.
Five Nights at Freddy's Easter eggs
Mike's dream theory book
Throughout the film, Mike is constantly seen reading his book on dream theory as this is how he accesses memories of his missing brother. Interestingly, there is a huge Five Nights at Freddy's theory that suggests the whole game is a dream. The idea is that the only real part of the universe takes place in the mini-games, while the rest is in the mind of a child. This has been debunked a lot over the years, but could this storyline be a fun reference to it?
Blackboard in the teacher’s room
When Mike is called into Abby’s school early on to discuss his parenting situation, you can see some animals on the blackboard behind her. If you look closely, you’ll notice that these feature creatures like Fox and Chick. These are a reference to the animatronics at the restaurant, Chica and Foxy.
Sparky’s Coffee Shop
One of the coffee shops in the movie is called Sparky's Coffee Shop. This is a nod to the animatronic Sparky the Dog, who was part of a huge conspiracy theory in the games. The legend goes that he was a hidden sixth animatronic and screenshots showing him appeared around the internet.
Other game references
This isn't a reference to the Five Nights at Freddy's games, but there are plenty of real games included in the movie too. Some we spotted include the arcade games Do Not Feed the Monkey and Cyclone.
Chica’s magic rainbow
If you look closely at the wall of drawings in the restaurant, you’ll spot a rainbow. This is a reference to Chica’s magic rainbow at FNAF world. This is also what the ice cream shop in the mall is called where Mike is working originally.
Five Nights at Freddy's cameos
Youtubers
Five Nights at Freddy's YouTuber CoryxKenshin appears as a taxi driver in the movie in two crucial scenes. However, if you look closely in some of the photographs too, you'll see cameos from 8-Bit Ryan, Baz, Razzbowski, Dawko, and FusionZGamer too on the Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria’s 'Employee of the Month' board.
Popular gaming YouTuber and the creator of The Game Theorists MatPat appears as the waiter at Sparky’s coffee shop where he drops his signature catchphrase “That's just a theory.” MatPat has truly earned his cameo as he has been dissecting FNaF lores for years and has solved some of the game's biggest mysteries such as The Bite of '87.
Balloon Boy
In the Five Nights at Freddy's post-credits scene, Balloon Boy hops into the taxi. Fans of the game will know he is a major antagonist, but his lore is slightly different. It's not clear if he's possessed like the other animatronics.
Circus Baby
Towards the end of the movie, when Mike is trying to escape from the restaurant, a few more animatronics can be seen. One of them looks strikingly like Circus Baby. She was the mascot of Circus Baby's Pizza World, and was introduced in Five Nights at Freddy's AR: Special Delivery.
Sparky?
During the same sequence towards the end, we also see a dog animatronic. Now, could this actually be Sparky the Dog? As Five Nights at Freddy's fans will know, he's not a real character, but instead an urban myth in the games. But who else could this dog be?
References
Scream
Five Nights at Freddy’s isn’t the first time Matthew Lillard has played a horror villain as way back in 1996 he starred as Stu Macher, one of the original Ghostface killers in Scream. If you look closely you can actually see Lillard, as William Afton, reference the iconic 90s flick in the FNaF movie when he repurposes Stu’s signature “I’ll be right back” line and says “I always come back”, more obviously he uses Ghostface’s trademark knife swipe to clean his weapon after he stabs his victims.
Five Nights at Freddy's arrives in cinemas on October 25 in the UK and on October 27 in the US. It will also be available on Peacock on the same day in the US.
We spoke to producer Jason Blum and director Emma Tammi about the cute but chilling animatronics, the PG-13 rating, and what the game creator thinks of the movie.
For more scares, check out our guides to the best horror movies of all time and all of the upcoming horror movies to add to your calendars.
