Headscratchers / Willy's Wonderland

• Considering her name, why is Siren Sara a fairy instead of a mermaid?
  • Possibly because Sirens aren't Mermaids. They are supposed to be Bird People, and while Sara is not a Bird Person either, she's at least closer when compared to a mermaid, since she is a Winged Humanoid.
  • Another possibility is that Jerry Robert Willis and his crazy, cannibalistic cohorts just didn't care about making sure their mythological creatures were properly named.
  • It could be Fridge Brilliance; maybe it's not about her being itself, but her personality. In mythology, sirens are evil creatures who would bait sailors and drown them. Maybe Sara's faux cheerful nature was her way to ease people, letting their guard down before murdering them.
  • Sara looks to me like a ripoff version of Disney's Tinkerbell. Maybe calling her 'Siren' (besides being alliterative) was meant to throw Disney's notorious legion of lawyers off the scent, while her appearance added a drawcard for the kids?
• Why did the sheriff seem so desperate to have the Janitor die even after he killed almost all of the bots?
  • Willy is shown as significantly more of a threat than his cohorts, so it's presumed she didn't think even the Janitor could stand up to Willy and would only make him angrier (and thus more liable to lash out on the town she's trying to protect).
  • In the flashbacks it's shown that the Sheriff was the one who brokered the deal with Willy and Co and so has been spending the following 25 years luring an untold number of victims to their deaths as their willing accomplice, all the while justifying it to herself as a necessary sacrifice to keep Hayesville safe from their predations. As a result, it's implied that when she saw the animatronics she had viewed as implacable murder machines being easily reduced to bags of rubbish by the Janitor, she went a little potty, doubling down and running away from her guilt instead of coming to terms with the possibility that all the horrible things she'd helped commit over the years had been All for Nothing.
• Why not just burn the place down? Just burn it down during the day when the animatronics are 'sleeping', and have a posse of locals with shotguns ready to blast them if they try to break out since they're weak enough to be beaten to death with a stick.
  • Seriously, the mass deaths ten years ago is exactly the sort of thing that usually triggers a mob with burning torches and pitchforks.
  • In an abusive relationship, even if the abuser somehow loses power or the victim has the chance to take control, the victim is often so broken by past abuse they can't muster the strength to fight back. The animatronics dealt such a devastating toll on the townsfolk ten years ago, the townsfolk can't fathom standing up to their abusers.
    • The dynamic is completely different here. They're not domestic abusers and the town isn't an individual in a relationship with them; none of the many parameters needed to cause this psychological reaction are at play.
  • One could also chalk it up to it being easier to be corrupt than use any common sense.
  • The scheme is being headed by a corrupt rich person and a small town sheriff in the American south. She's also abusive to the girl she "adopted" in a deeply illegal manner, to the point of handcuffing her to a home appliance. Getting on the bad side of a cop like her, especially with a rich person's direct backing, is a good way to die.
• Why did the Sheriff even call for out-of-town backup in the first place?
• According to Liv the place was built in 1996, but in Willy's jingle, they've been "proudly serving families" since 1984. So, which is it?
  • It seems to be a franchise, so perhaps Liv meant this specific branch was built in 1996.
  • This is lampshaded in the comic, where you can read the lyrics of the song with notes from Willy with the two dates with question marks, apparently it was a random number to give credibility to the place.
  • Both. It's stated that the guy who possesses Willy was not just the owner of the restaurant, but is also the founder of the franchise. This falls right into Fridge Brilliance, because some serial killers in the past have often killed victims in multiple states in order to avoid being caught. If the franchise founder started in 1984, then after committing several kills in one state and the police start to notice, he probably relocated to open another franchise restaurant elsewhere, committed more kills and then relocated again after police starting to look into there. This may sound weird, but when you take into account that the film is technically a parody of Five Nights at Freddy's, it makes sense because the same thing happens with the original games (as one of the founders was a serial killer and has multiple Fazbear Pizzerias that he would target victims at).
• Why were the Animatronics not even trying to assault The Janitor while he is on his break?
  • Probably either Rule of Funny, Honor Before Reason, or Suicidal Overconfidence.
  • Alternatively, they've seen how brutal he is when they try to strike while he's working. Imagine what he'd do if they interrupted his break. Much like how they're trapped in there with him, it's not just his break. It's theirs. They have a chance to regroup, plan, and try to survive the next round.
• Why does Siren Sara blow herself, Tex and Lund up? They're technically supposed to be working together.
  • She's half-dead, her entire gang is dead, and the two idiots who sent their killer in are right there. Proxy revenge.