Come Play would be good as your kid’s first horror movie, especially if your kid happens to be a complete pussy. Gore? None. Bodycount? Zero. Creepy atmosphere? Fuck off with that. Cheap jump scares that can be seen coming from a mile away? Oh, you betcha. But if you are terrified of lights turning on and off, then welcome to thunderdome. I was recently asked what was wrong with modern horror films and I wish that question had waited until after I had seen Come Play so I could simply have had that person watch this goddamn thing. This movie is safe, tame, boring trash that would have been rated G in 1985 and mocked by kindergarten kids
If you have seen The Babadook, then you have already seen Come Play. You just have to substitute an app for a book and you have basically the same goddamn story. A lonely autistic kid discovers an app on his phone that tells the story of Larry, a monster that just wants to be your friend. Larry, naturally, turns out to be quite real and wants to pull the kid into his world within the app. It’s worth noting that Larry was somehow created by the mass of human loneliness created by modern people staring at screens all day instead of actually interacting with each other. Considering that this was filmed pre-pandemic, this is an interesting case of accidental relevance.
Unlike The Babadook, the child actor in this is actually quite good and not migraine-inducing (seriously, watching The Babadook is a more efficient form of birth control than swallowing because you will never want children again after listening to that kid shriek like an angry cat playing a violin for two hours). Unlike The Babadook, which is a movie that I don’t even like, Come Play features nothing in terms of atmosphere or creepy character design. Larry looks like a computer-generated mix of Slender Man and Pumpkinhead if Pumpkinhead looked like garbage and spends the film lurking in corners and making the same jagged movements that all modern monsters are oddly required to make. His reign of terror amounts to turning lights on and off and ruining a sleepover, so no need to worry. He doesn’t hurt anybody or anything, so you can rest assured that nothing scary or graphic will ever happen. Because that’s what I like in my horror films.
I also want to comment on the ending, so Spoiler Alert, I’m going to ruin the ending of Come Play. The mother decides to sacrifice herself and take her son’s place with Larry. You might think that she does this after exhausting all other options, but nope. This is her Plan A. There is no attempt to fight back against the monster. Fucking none. Nobody tries to stab him or burn him or shoot him. Self-sacrifice is the only option that is ever explored. This may have had more weight if 1. Anyone had literally tried to do anything else and 2. The villain had ever established itself as an actual threat. As it stands, this is perhaps the laziest and least impactful act of self-sacrifice ever filmed.
I will, however, give credit to the child actors and the way that the kids are written. Child actors can easily ruin a film, but these kids are all very good and bring more credibility to the proceedings than the film deserves. The film also avoids the modern cliché of a bullying subplot and actually brings some substance to the dynamics between the kids, which is refreshing. Honestly, I would like to see these kids in a better horror film. Maybe one with an actual threat.
The only possible purpose of this film is as baby’s first horror movie, but, parents, you have better options. I’m also always fascinated by the evolution of the ratings system and I’m baffled by the fact that this is rated PG-13. For what? In the 70s and 80s, this would have been rated PG or even G. Poltergeist, from 1982, is a far, far more frightening film and its rated PG. Jaws is rated PG. Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (from 1969) is far more graphic than this and its rated G for fuck’s sake. Stop the watering down of kid’s horror films and show your kid Poltergeist as their first horror movie. End the madness, prevent more crap like Come Play and raise them right.
Image By: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Come_Play#/media/File:Come_Play_poster.jpg
