The most terrifying creatures are frequently those that lie beneath our human skin – our doubts, phobias, and heinous characteristics. The film we are talking about today brings this to light, and it does so in a way that can only be appreciated firsthand! Come Play, directed by Jacob Chase, is a feature-length adaptation of the same director’s short film ‘Larry’ [2017].
It tells the story of a lonely creature who uses a screen to find a friend; how far will it go to acquire what it wants? ‘Come Play,’ which combines horror and current technology, is jam-packed with intriguing features and far more than your typical haunted house film!
On the outside, the plot revolves around a small youngster who communicates through his phone. Terrors erupt, however, as this interface gadget transforms into a portal to a monster’s domain.
The film covers parallel universes, creatures that creep up on their victims, family ties, friendships, and technology as a villain as events unfold. With its directing, spine-chilling audio-visual effects, and a promising ensemble that includes Gillian Jacobs and John Gallagher Jr. in major parts, the film explores the ‘techno-horror’ genre and keeps one on the edge of their seats.
Don’t Let Him Out – Come Play
The movie opens with a young child, Oliver, distractedly staring at the screen while an episode of SpongeBob plays. The screen fades to black as the opening scene comes to an end, with an eerie background score. Oliver suffers from an autistic spectrum disorder and uses his phone majorly to communicate with others. Interestingly, the character of Oliver is structured from the filmmaker’s own experiences with the special children his wife works with.
As Oliver finds his phone, the screen appears to display what seems to be a titular page for a comic or a graphic story. Flipping through the pages, he learns about Larry- “the misunderstood monster” who just wants a friend.
The more he engages with the story, strange things begin to occur, as the lights start flickering, and the power goes out. Panicking, the child hides under a blanket with the only source of light his phone as the voices keep intensifying.
Tension builds up and the eerie background noises only add to the horror. Incidentally, the director designed haunted houses before turning to movies, which explains why the movie perfects such a background score that adds to the fright.
Oliver sneaks a glance at the door to find a creature approaching him and ends up in a fit of panic. He snaps out of it when his worried mother shows up to check upon him. Oliver tries to communicate what he witnessed, however, she brushes it off as just a nightmare. Their dynamic is reminiscent of The Babadook [2014], a classic horror film with a similar mother-son duo and monsters lurking around the house. It has a similar premise of the child trying to explain the monster’s presence to his mother.
Oliver’s ‘nightmare’ causes added tension to the parents who are struggling to make ends meet, while also taking care of Oliver. Their marriage is under a lot of pressure, to the extent that Marty leaves their home.
Cut to the next day at school, Oliver is accused of receiving special treatment over getting to use his phone during class by his classmates. Clearly, he is shunned away in class and does not have much support from his peers. In fact, his classmates lure him into a field and try to get rid of his phone. They tease him, bring up his autism and bully him before abandoning him.
At night, Marty discovers a tablet at Lost and Found at work, he turns it on, and it causes the lights to flicker and the power goes out. It is this scene that was the basis of the 2017 short film ‘Larry’, and is the premise upon which our entire movie is built upon.
Such scenes are frequent throughout the movie as it continually uses technology as a medium that triggers the monster, as we see lights flickering whenever one comes in contact with the tablet, or any device with a screen. It also serves as a medium where one can actually see Larry, as Oliver catches glimpses of Larry through the tablet’s camera.
Marty gets the tablet home for Oliver anyway, who starts using it to communicate with others. However, it starts talking back to him and switches into Larry’s story.
Meanwhile, out of concern for Oliver’s social well-being, Sarah organizes a sleepover with her friend’s son and his friends. They turn out to be the same boys who bullied Oliver. As the night progresses, the children invade his privacy, looking into his things. As they find the tablet, they start to read the story of Larry despite Oliver’s protests. As they take Larry’s name, the lights start flickering and the power eventually goes out.
We later discover that this is because the monster uses electricity to connect outside its realm. As they continue reading it, Larry manages to appear and attacks Byron, one of the children. Oliver spots Larry only through the tablet camera, the only means to discover Larry’s location. Distraught, the children go away and Oliver attempts to tell his mother about the monster.
Sarah however does not believe him and starts changing the lightbulbs when she finally starts to notice the strange things taking place in the house, the sudden noises, and growls, the flickering of lights, all due to the tablet that is featuring Larry’s story. There can be parallels established between the movie and the widely popular show ‘Stranger Things, where the presence of monsters causes the lights to flicker and also use these lights to communicate with Upside Down.
Sarah finally believes her son through the tablet, Larry tells Sarah that he intends to “take him [Oliver] away” through the tablet. Bryon, the child that was attacked by Larry finally opens up about it, and confesses that the monster almost wanted to kill him.
Hearing this further convinces Sarah to leave the house, and she rushes with Oliver to escape, leaving behind all their devices. However, things do not go as per their plan at the very last minute. Oliver ends up switching the tablet on and follows Larry around the house. Larry tries to lure him in, asking him to come closer, and almost succeeds before Sarah interrupts him and saves his life.
Later, Sarah stresses the whole situation and how Larry actually exists, but Marty refuses to believe this as the truth. However, he laughs it off. Instead, he insists on taking Oliver to his night shift during which he himself tries to read Larry’s story. This awakens Larry once again, who tries to attack them. Sensing his presence, Oliver tries to touch Larry, when he tries to attack Oliver, and Marty finally believes his wife.
They brainstorm over ways to cut contact from the alternate realm and destroy the tablet. As the camera pans towards the tablet, one experiences a glimpse through the window into the other realm, and Larry screams through the screen as the tablet and his connection is destroyed.
Yet another day passes, and Marty experiences Larry’s presence at his workplace. He reads through the comic “Larry will not stop until he has a new friend” which establishes that Larry will keep coming again and again for Oliver. The scene turns eerie, as the monster attempts to block Marty from reaching home, first locking him inside the cabin and then chasing Marty on the streets, traveling through electricity, and finally attacking Marty inside his own car.
As the scene redirects to the house, Sarah gets a phone call informing her of Marty’s injuries at the hospital. The TV, that is playing SpongeBob, starts to flick through channels, as the dialogues on-screen form words and sentences. This is Larry’s attempt to communicate his loneliness to Sarah and Oliver.
Finally, the screen displays Larry’s entire story up to the end. As it reaches the end, the scene goes haywire with flickering lights. Sarah loses her calm, and snaps at Oliver, hurting his feelings. This gives Larry enough time to assume his physical form and the mother-son duo tries to leave the house, only to find the monster chasing them. Hiding under a bed together, there is a moment of honesty between the duo.
As they discover that Larry needs electricity to survive, they destroy all their electronics and they escape to a field with no signals. Their hopes of being able to get rid of Larry are, however, futile as Larry almost traps Oliver. Right when Larry is about to take Oliver’s hand to accompany him to the alternate realm, Sarah replaces him and sacrifices herself instead.
They share a moment, before Larry turns Sarah into one of his own kind and they both vanish, leaving a terrified Oliver alone. As the movie skips further in time, we learn that Marty and Oliver survived. They work more towards Oliver’s therapy, and it seems that the father is finally getting more involved in their lives.
As the movie comes to an end, everything seems back to normal. But that is far from the reality, and too optimistic to hope for. In the last frame, the lights begin to flicker yet again, as Marty views a happy Sarah, reunited with Oliver as the screen fades to black.
Larry – Understanding The Misunderstood Monster
In its first appearance, we learn that Larry is a misunderstood monster, that he is just lonely and wants a friend. Larry draws his energy from relying on technology and screens to be able to connect to his victims, or ‘friends’. He makes his way into Oliver’s smartphone and uses this to access this dimension.
Yet another thing that sets Larry aside from other monsters is the fact that he isn’t visible to the naked eye for almost the entire course of the movie. One has to use a screen to be able to spot him, making it terrifying for the victim to move around knowing full well they could run right into the monster at any time.
The background noises of him tinkering around, running, screaming, and crashing into things only makes it even more terrifying. For instance, in the scene where Oliver tries to navigate Larry’s presence using a laser measuring tool and realizes the monster is right in front of him before he gets attacked.
Larry assumes his physical form only at the very end, after developing a lot of tension and suspense regarding his appearance. He appears to be a slightly skeletal creature with a deformed human physique, bones protruding out of the skeletal figure, and pale skin.
The director’s past experiences with designing horror props really contribute to the monster’s realistic movements. Larry also seems to have the ability to form emotions and feel things, which isn’t something that can be said about most monsters. His ability to process emotions, and seek out ‘friends’ only make him all the more terrifying.
Why you should watch ‘Come Play’
Come Play explores themes of horror mixed with technology, paired with the thrill of a monster that inhabits a connected realm makes it a thoroughly enjoyable watch. The movie also does, if not the best, then at least a decent job of portraying autism spectrum disorders. With its eerie background score, jump scares, and visuals, ‘Come Play’ is everything one wants in a horror film! It is also worth a mention that the scenes are not too gory, making it an enjoyable watch even for the faint-hearted.
The audio effects are commendable, and help amplify the horror factor to a great extent. The actors do an incredible job and with a runtime of 96 minutes, the movie is perfectly paced and manages to keep the audience interested throughout. Every scene sets the tone for the next one, and every tiny detail can lead to something big. Moreover, though the movie has its cliches, the ending is very refreshing and concludes the movie on a rather bittersweet note. If you enjoy horror mixed with technology, then ‘Come Play’ is right up your alley.