"Come Play": A Timely, Terrifying Tale of Longing, Loneliness, and the Lack of Connection {Movie Review}

As a mother of a young son first and a genre writer second, I’m always astonished at how far in either direction I sway where there are children concerned in horror movies. Come Play, written and directed deftly by Jacob Chase, brings us a timely and emotional tale of longing, loneliness, and the lack of connection in a terrifying way. 

The film opens on Oliver, a young boy glued to his phone. Even here, so early in the film there’s a pang of guilt here, the “who’s really watching our children” guilt. Like most children Oliver’s age, the warm glow of an electronic is taking the place of making true human connections. Making it more and more difficult for our children to reach out and develop meaningful relationships, recognize social cues and detach to focus and be present. With Oliver, played sensationally by Azhy Robertson, who you may remember from Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story, his electronic device isn’t as much of an escape as it is his sole tool to communicate with the outside world. 

As we settle upon Oliver’s smiling face, fully engrossed in a Spongebob Squarepants episode, it’s clear we are looking through the phone from the other side as an ominous voyeur. We’re dropped into the story quite quickly as Oliver sees something new on his phone, an introduction to a digital story called Misunderstood Monsters and we meet the monster of the story, named Larry. As Oliver reads about Larry’s lament for a friend, the mood changes and Larry has found a way in.

It is in this first fifteen minutes of the film that we grasp that Larry is hell bent on making sure that his quest for a friend be completed as the first series of haunting and poltergeist takes place with Oliver’s mother comforting her son from an unknown fear. 

Gavin MacIver-Wright, Azhy Robertson, Winslow Fegley, and Jayden Marine in Larry (2020)

The home life, in this film, is far from cohesive. Civil, yes, but with an anvil hanging above their heads. Oliver’s doting mother Sarah played by Community actress Gillian Jacobs, and his aloof father Marty, played by John Gallagher Jr. are terse and tense. The dissolution of the marriage is clear in actions and in setting, and it is in this setting where Larry takes hold. 

Oliver’s an outcast at school. He is bullied by an old friend, Byron, whose physical falling out with Oliver has not only affected Byron as a whole but Sarah’s relationship with Byron’s mother, outcasting her as well. As the bullies center around a noncommunicative Oliver and leave him in a dangerous situation, Oliver begins to retreat inward even more. It is only after his father, Marty, has his own encounter with a copy of Misunderstood Monsters, when he brings home a lost tablet to Oliver that things really start to go down-hill. 

Larry begins to permeate the household, wreaking havoc on Oliver’s sanity and safety as well as the safety of others. On the night of a forced sleepover with his school bullies to try to repair a friendship, Larry comes to light and shows himself, mentally damaging a child in the process. Sarah has her own experience with Larry and begins to understand how much danger her son and those surrounding him are truly in. In this race against time, Sarah must confront her own fears and shortcomings to protect her son from a terrifying creature who will not leave this world without her son. 

John Gallagher Jr. in Larry (2020)

“This film really does speak about connecting and how we lose sight of that when other things are going on and we’re never too far away from our technology. But are we really connecting at all or just going through the motions?” Chase discussed on the role of connection in the film.  

The film explores uncomfortable family dynamics and disbelief but centers Oliver's character beautifully and earnestly. We become engrossed and invested quickly in this family and Oliver’s safety and his fight to stay out of Larry’s world. The sound and monster design are top notch here as well is the magnificent performance by young Azhy Robertson. 

You can watch my recent interview with Come Play director Jacob Chase here.

Come Play is in theaters on October 30th just in time for Halloween!     

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Author

Mo Moshaty is a genre screenwriter, podcaster and producer. She splits her time between London and Upstate NY (while not in a global pandemic). As a Screencraft 2020 Quarterfinalist, Mo is currently working on bringing her Horror anthology television series, based on her short story collection, "The Chasm and the Caveat," to life as well as delving into horror short and microfilm production. Mo is the host of the upcoming HorrOrigins podcast and Lockdown Happy Hour, a global online collective of writers and creatives in addition to being a co-founder of New Shade Brigade, a collective working to bring marginalized, under-represented, LGBTQIA and disabled creatives together to collaborate internationally. ​