Come Play starts off in a rural neighborhood with Oliver, who happens to be autistic and non-verbal, and his mother Sarah and his father Marty. To communicate with others Oliver uses his phone in order to speak, which causes him to seem like an outcast and get bullied as he retreats to mainly using his phone to pass the time. His parents are constantly fighting because Marty works all the time trying to make ends meet but Sarah needs his help to raise their son. One night Oliver sees a story book he cannot exit out of on his phone called Misunderstood Monsters, a Children’s Story. The story depicts a creature named Larry who just wants a friend. As Oliver keeps swiping the virtual pages his night light dies and his lamp stops working. Oliver hears strange noises in the hall but shrugs it off and uses his face filter app to distract him. When he does this the skeleton face meant to sense his face and make Oliver’s face into a skeleton went onto something he could not see.. Throughout the movie Larry appears several times, always using the Misunderstood Monster’s lure since in order to use electronics fully and become real to find a friend, the story must be completed. Once Larry becomes real he goes after Oliver in his need to hold someone’s hand and take them back with him through the screen. As Larry reaches his hand out for Oliver, Sarah, Oliver’s mother, in a heartwarming moment, takes Larry’s hand instead, saving her son. For the first time, Oliver looks his mother in the eye, having not been able to because of his autism, before she is taken back with Larry. The last scene depicts Marty the dad hearing noises in his living room and seeing his son being twirled around in the air. He panics for a moment thinking it to be Larry but as he pulls out his phone to see the creature he sees Sarah. With the last words to end the movie “I will protect you”…

It is rare for a horror movie, putting Quiet Place aside, to be this scary yet heartwarming. This bitter sweet movie showed a horrifying monster that you couldn’t help but feel some sympathy for. Because deny it or not everyone has felt lonely just as Larry feels. The jump scares, even the ones you know are coming, aren’t any less frightening. For those horror movie lovers who want the fear yet want there to be feelings, emotion, and plot behind it all I suggest Come Play. The acting was spot on even by the young actors playing the kids. Jacob did an excellent job in the casting of Gillian Jacobs, John Gallagher Jr., Azhy Robertson, and Winslow Fegley as they fit the roles to a tee. Out of ten I would give this movie an eight and a half for the jump scares that actually make you jump and the bitter sweet moments everyone needs.