Sumith Prasad
Peacock/Universal Pictures’ horror film ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ ends with a startling conclusion to Mike Schmidt’s efforts to find the kidnapper of his brother Garrett. His new companion Vanessa Shelly reveals how Garrett’s disappearance is connected to Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, his new workplace and the home of several haunted animatronic mascots. By the time he learns about the kidnapper’s identity, the latter targets him and his sister Abby. Mike tries his best to protect his sister by seeking help from an unexpected source. Captivated by the eventful climax of the murder mystery film, we have dived into it to explore its nuances. Here are our thoughts about the same! SPOILERS AHEAD.
Five Nights at Freddy’s Plot Synopsis
‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ begins with a security guard getting killed at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. Mike Schmidt loses his job when he beats up the father of a boy, misunderstanding him to be a kidnapper. Mike’s career counsellor Steve Raglan then proposes the security guard gig at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza to the former, only for him to turn the same down since it is a night job. Mike doesn’t want to be away from his sister Abby at night but he changes his mind when their aunt Jane seeks the child’s custody to earn monthly support cheques. Mike realizes that a job is essential for him to remain with Abby, which makes him accept the offer at the pizzeria.
Mike recurrently dreams of his brother Garrett getting kidnapped by an unrevealed kidnapper. He consumes sleeping pills daily and stares at a “Visit Nebraska” poster to keep on dreaming the same, hoping that one day he will see the face of the kidnapper. He continues his ritual at his new workplace, only to see a group of children, who apparently know the kidnapper, running away from him. Mike gets acquainted with Vanessa Shelly, a police officer who introduces him to the animatronic mascots of the place, which are Freddy Fazbear, Chica, Foxy, and Bonnie. When a group of vandals, including Abby’s babysitter Max, get into the pizzeria to destroy the same, the animatronics come alive and kill them.
Since Max is unavailable, Mike is forced to take Abby to the pizzeria. After arriving at the place, she gets acquainted with the four mascots and befriends them. From Vanessa, Mike learns that the animatronics are possessed by the ghosts of children who were kidnapped and killed by a serial killer in the 1980s. The children’s bodies were hidden inside the mascots, which led to the shutting down of the entertainment center and restaurant. Abby’s new set of “friends” include a boy with blonde hair, the ghost of one of the murdered children who also serves as their leader. After witnessing Abby’s strange relationship with the mascots, she asks Mike to not take her to the pizzeria anymore.
Around the same time, Vanessa learns about Mike’s kidnapped brother Garrett. He follows the police officer’s instruction by having Jane over to babysit Abby while he is away at work. However, the boy with the blonde hair shows up at Mike’s house as “Golden Freddy,” a variant of Freddy Fazbear at the pizzeria. Golden Freddy then takes Abby to the restaurant. Meanwhile, Mike consumes sleeping pills and forces himself to dive into his dream. He meets the group of children again, who offer him an opportunity to stay in the dream with Garrett in return for Abby. He decides against choosing the same and opens his eyes, only to realize that he is locked up on a chair with a murderous torture device getting nearer to him.
Five Nights at Freddy’s Ending: Who is the Kidnapper? Is He Dead?
Mike’s efforts to find out who kidnapped his brother Garrett come to an end when Vanessa reveals the latter’s identity. The person who abducted the boy is none other than her father William Afton, the owner of the pizzeria. Mike already knows Afton as Steve Raglan, his career counselor. The man is the serial killer who kidnapped Garrett and five other children, only to kill them. He then hid the bodies inside the animatronic mascots of his pizzeria since they were the last place anybody would have looked for the missing children. When the mascots got possessed by the murdered children, Afton started to control them with a Spring Bonnie suit.
Even after the serial murders of the 1980s, Afton hasn’t been satisfied with the blood spree he had committed. He keeps the pizzeria shut down, but not destroyed, as a murder ring for him and the animatronics he controls. The possessed mascots blindly follow him without realizing that he is the person behind the murders of the children who inhabit them. Their victims may include the homeless and the estranged who end up in the closed entertainment center, in addition to the vandals and Mike’s predecessor. His murderous impulses reawaken when Abby and Mike become acquainted with the animatronics under his control.
Afton tries to kill Mike and Abby using the mascots at his disposal but his plans go awry when Vanessa interferes with the same. She distracts her father by threatening to kill him. Mike, at the same time, remembers that Afton controls the other animatronics. He realizes that the killer does the same without revealing that he murdered the children. Mike instructs Abby to draw the “yellow rabbit” killing the children for the possessed mascots to learn that Afton put an end to the kids’ lives. Freddy and other animatronics turn against the serial killer, only for the cupcake animatronic to trigger the spring locks in Afton’s suit, which pierces through his body.
Afton gets locked up in one of the rooms at the pizzeria, with bleedings that slowly kill him. He loses not only his control over the animatronics but also the dead children’s loyalty, which leads the boy with the blond hair to banish him into the room and lock the same up. Afton is expected to die slowly as the mascots may make sure that nobody will enter the pizzeria to help him.
Do Mike, Abby, or Vanessa Die?
Mike and Abby’s lives get saved by Vanessa, who fights her father to protect them. However, Vanessa is in a coma after getting stabbed by Afton. Ever since knowing that her father is a serial killer, she has been asked to stay silent. Afton has been expecting her daughter to keep the new additions to the pizzeria in the dark and kill them if they ever come close to the truth about him and the murders. His expectation that his daughter will stay loyal to him, like the possessed animatronics, changes when she points a gun at him.
Afton’s homicidal impulses are too strong for him to differentiate Vanessa, his own daughter, from his potential victims. That’s why he unflinchingly stabs her, likely the same way he killed Mike’s brother Garrett and other children. Vanessa puts her life on the line to buy Mike and Abby enough time to turn the mascots against her father. Although she is stabbed severely, Vanessa is expected to survive the possible near-fatal wound. Considering that Mike and Abby succeed in taking her to adequate medical care in no time, they may have saved her life.
Mike’s determination to not lose another sibling plays a pivotal role in saving the life of Abby. He has been immersing himself in the pain of losing Garrett over and over to find the kidnapper by dreaming of him, which shows how much he blames himself for his younger brother’s disappearance. He wouldn’t have been able to forgive himself if Abby’s fate didn’t differ from Garrett’s. That can be why he decides against reuniting with Garrett by sacrificing Abby.
Does Mike Lose Abby’s Custody?
No, Mike doesn’t lose Abby’s custody. When Jane makes it clear that she wants her niece’s custody, Mike tells himself that he is not fit for the role of a guardian. It isn’t a surprise that he doesn’t believe in himself when he has been blaming him for Garrett’s tragic fate. However, Mike doesn’t want to hand Abby over to Jane because the little girl hates their aunt. He signs up for the job at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza only to make sure that he will not lose Abby’s custody, which will separate them both. Mike remains with his sister with the help of one of Abby’s new “friends.”
When the boy with the blonde hair arrives at Mike and Abby’s house, as Golden Freddy, to take the latter to the pizzeria, he encounters Jane. To make sure that the woman won’t end up being an obstacle on his path, Golden Freddy kills her off-screen. With Jane out of the picture, Mike can finally be relieved that he will not lose Abby to anyone. The life-threatening experiences at the pizzeria bring them closer as well. Mike realizes that he shouldn’t ignore what Abby holds close to her heart. That’s the reason why he considers taking her back to the pizzeria to meet her friends.
When Abby tells Mike that she is concerned about her friends being lonely, he makes an effort to understand her. Rather than stopping her or invalidating her feelings, Mike perceives her viewpoint and accepts the same as a good guardian.
Read More: Where Was Five Nights at Freddy’s Filmed?
