Come Play (2020)

 

 'Come Play' was written & directed by Jacob Chase and stars Azhy Robertson as a young autistic boy named Oliver who discovers a mysterious storybook app on his tablet one night. It tells the tale of a lonely monster named Larry who seemingly only desires young Oliver for a friend. However, Larry's hauntings and behavior begin to grow more violent and aggressive as the creature stops at nothing to take the boy at any cost.

The film began as a short, simply titled 'Larry' by Chase and was an effective little chiller but stretching out to a full feature has given the story more depth and a stronger foothold on what the director is trying to convey. Being a film produced by Amblin Entertainment, a company founded by Steven Spielberg it's easy to figure out that 'Come Play' will likely follow the similar trappings of 'Poltergeist' or 'Super 8' or even perhaps a bit from Jennifer Kent's excellent 'Babadook' film, but it also inputs a lot of strong themes of its own about friendships, parenting, children in need of guidance and help, and a lack of communication and companionship in an era of modern technology where we only look at our screens but not each other.

That goes a lot deeper than I ever expected for your usual horror flick these days but Jacob Chase has shown he can give you the same horror experience and make it mean something as well. The stand out here of course is the young Azhy Robertson as Oliver who was previously seen in the Oscar Nominated film 'Marriage Story'. Playing people on the Autism Spectrum is more difficult than people give credit to and as someone on said spectrum I was impressed with his accuracy while still giving the character more layers beyond his condition. You can see and feel Oliver's emotions and thoughts without Robertson saying a word and is one of the strongest child performances this year.

I also have to give a huge thumbs up to the special effects crew from the Jim Henson Puppet Shop, who provided an amazing mixture of computer effects and practical puppetry for Larry. While much of him is in shadow, when they do show him off it's quite the feat with that creepy creaks and moans he makes but also they show off that the creature does indeed mean no harm in some sense as it shows some sympathy as well.

'Come Play' may come off as a by the numbers ghost thriller on the surface, but it's so much deeper than that. It's a thought provoking film that also delivers the right amount of eerie atmosphere and thrills to satisfy horror fans looking for something a bit different this Halloween.

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