Come Play: In solid horror debut, a demon in a smartphone gives new meaning to the term 'malware'

By Jim Slotek

Rating: B

The horror film Come Play, the feature debut of writer/director Jacob Chase, is in many ways derivative. But it’s derivative of some pretty effective predecessors.

The idea of a demon entering the world via a child and some form of entertainment or diversion was the catalyst of The Exorcist (an Ouija board), The Ring (a VCR tape) and The Babadook (a kids’ book), to name a few.

Gavin MacIver-Wright, Winslow Fegley, Azhy Robertson and Jayden Marine find things online they shouldn't.

In Come Play, which is based on Chase’s acclaimed horror short Larry, an intelligent but non-verbal autistic child named Oliver (Marriage Story’s Azhy Robertson) can claim a smartphone as his best friend. It allows his participation in school via a speech app, and it fills his free time with endless episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants.

Around him, his “neuro-typical” world is troubled. His parents Sarah (Community’s Gillian Jacobs) and Marty (John Gallagher Jr.) are on the verge of divorce. Meanwhile, there is talk of a friendship of Oliver’s that ended for unclear reasons.

Amid this unsettled atmosphere, an online book called The Misunderstood Monster begins appearing on Oliver’s phone, telling the tale of a monster named Larry who just wants a friend. Make that, desperately wants a friend, in the worst way.

If Chase really wanted to play with our heads, he might have made it unclear whether Larry is real or a manifestation of Oliver’s loneliness (a frustrated Sarah complains he has never looked her in the eye in his entire life). 

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But no, Larry, as depicted, is clearly real. Once connected to our world via LCD screens, he invisibly pops lightbulbs, moves furniture around and works his way up to much more impressive acts of destruction.

Narrative cohesion isn’t the strong suit of Come Play. The provenance of tall, boney Larry is ambiguous, and the sentimental denouement confuses matters even more. 

But given the tendency of most horror films to over-explain, this isn’t a deal-breaker of a criticism.

Come Play’s real strength is its child cast, headed by Robertson’s adult-level acting performance, perfectly capturing the fearful pull-in-all-directions frustration of being Oliver.

But it’s the supporting child cast that also lifts the film (an aspect that probably had a lot to do with the participation of Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners in this project). As the film begins, there’s a bullying scene that suggests a stereotypical approach to school life (and maybe a potential target for a vengeful Larry, once he gets his feet on the ground).

But the “bully,” Byron (Winslow Fegley) turns out to be Oliver’s confused ex-friend, lashing out. And the heart of the film, despite efforts to focus on the mother-and-son relationship, is the boys’ discovery of the interference of adults in their lives. Loneliness is everywhere, it seems, and Come Play is always just a little extra thought away from being about more than a monster.

It’s a subtlety that eludes the adults. Jacobs and Gallagher’s characters are already so estranged at the beginning of the film, that we really don’t get a sense of how Oliver’s life had been as opposed to how it is now. Their chemistry is almost non-existent, and their brittle interaction is the closest the film comes to being expositional.

Visually and mood-wise, Chase has a sure hand. Larry’s electrical carnage is a pretty effective (and inexpensive) effect. And the means by which he can be seen, the lens of a smartphone or tablet camera, is unsettling and of-the-moment.

The lesson: Monitor your kids’ screentime, and beware of SpongeBob SquarePants.

Come Play. Written and directed by Jacob Chase. Starring Azhy Robertson, Gillian Jacobs and John Gallagher Jr. In theatres across Canada (where open), Friday, October 30.