"Come Play" Set to Captivate Moviegoers
Halloween movie uses plot and suspense to fascinate fans of horror genre
By Saya Fujii
Halloween movie uses plot and suspense to fascinate fans of horror genre
By Saya Fujii
With Halloween right around the corner, we all want a fun horror movie to watch with our family. “Come Play,” which opened over Halloween weekend, is a horror movie directed by Jacob Chase and starring Azhy Robertson.
When I first watched it, I had no idea what to expect since I don’t often watch horror movies, but I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself really enjoying it. Throughout the movie, I was completely immersed, and my eyes were glued to the screen throughout.
The main character in the PG-13-rated “Come Play” is a young boy named Oliver, and he’s a unique protagonist because he has autism and cannot speak, so he uses an app on his phone to communicate with other people. This means he spends a lot of time using screens, and not as much with other people, which makes him an easy target for Larry, a monster who seeks to be his “friend” and will never let go. Throughout the movie, Oliver and his parents try to escape Larry and experience many struggles along the way, touching on themes of child-parent relationships and the importance of friendship.
This movie is a horror movie, but it isn’t full of cheap jumpscares and scary, dark scenes. I feel that there is a perfect balance between horror and non-horror scenes, and there’s an actually engaging story to follow. Due to the focus on plot, you can understand how each character feels and it creates a better connection to the characters, which balances well with the horror in the movie. That being said, if you’re looking for an extreme, exciting thriller to make you jump in your seat, this may not be the movie for you.
Overall, the acting in this film was pretty good. The main actors aren’t super well known, but they did quite well with capturing the emotions and thoughts of their characters. As expected of horror, some people make pretty stupid decisions, but it doesn’t impact the believability of the main plot and it does enhance the horror. Azhy Robertson, who plays Oliver, was good at showing the audience his emotions without really using facial expressions, playing the part really well. Gillian Jacobs, who plays Oliver’s mom, did great at capturing the feelings and thoughts of her character.
Throughout the movie, it was very clear that she loves Oliver and just wants the best for him. A couple times, her character wishes Oliver could be “normal,” but I could tell she didn’t really mean it and was just really frustrated. It is important to know this since it makes her line at the end mean a lot more.
A part that didn’t stand out as much was the cinematography, even though it was quite good and mostly kept me engaged. They didn’t try to be too creative which worked well, making the movie feel more grounded and allowing the audience to feel they’re in the scene themselves, which is important in horror. However, there were a few parts where some variability could have worked out well.
The most effective techniques were the long takes, mostly used in the scary parts. An example of this is when Oliver and his mom are hiding behind a narrow wall. The camera shifts left and right, giving us a view of Oliver and his mom hiding, with both the camera and the characters slowly straining to see where the monster is, making us feel like we are right there with them. Something that I didn’t really like was that all of the scary scenes are too dark, nearly pitch black. I know that horror movies use darkness to set the tone and mood, but it was a little hard to see in some parts and I feel that it could have been done a little better. There were also multiple shots from Larry’s perspective, which were executed very well and added a lot of suspense. The horror aspect of the film was done great, and took much more of a slow burn approach. There are several scenes that make us jump in our seats a little, but none are too bad. They don’t resort to gore or jumpscares, and instead build suspense and anticipation that makes the audience uneasy. The music and sound effects play their part too, building up in a way that makes the audience feel like something could happen any minute, and then the scene strikes.
If what you’re looking for is a scary movie to watch on Halloween with your family, “Come Play” is definitely a good choice. It has the right amount of suspense along with a solid storyline and characters, a relatively satisfying ending and even with a few flaws, it’s an exciting and enjoyable movie, with its theme stressing the importance of friendship and never being alone.
“Come Play,” starring Gillian Jacobs and Azhy Robertson, is now playing in San Jose at the West Wind Capitol Drive-In, and in select theaters nationwide.
When I first watched it, I had no idea what to expect since I don’t often watch horror movies, but I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself really enjoying it. Throughout the movie, I was completely immersed, and my eyes were glued to the screen throughout.
The main character in the PG-13-rated “Come Play” is a young boy named Oliver, and he’s a unique protagonist because he has autism and cannot speak, so he uses an app on his phone to communicate with other people. This means he spends a lot of time using screens, and not as much with other people, which makes him an easy target for Larry, a monster who seeks to be his “friend” and will never let go. Throughout the movie, Oliver and his parents try to escape Larry and experience many struggles along the way, touching on themes of child-parent relationships and the importance of friendship.
This movie is a horror movie, but it isn’t full of cheap jumpscares and scary, dark scenes. I feel that there is a perfect balance between horror and non-horror scenes, and there’s an actually engaging story to follow. Due to the focus on plot, you can understand how each character feels and it creates a better connection to the characters, which balances well with the horror in the movie. That being said, if you’re looking for an extreme, exciting thriller to make you jump in your seat, this may not be the movie for you.
Overall, the acting in this film was pretty good. The main actors aren’t super well known, but they did quite well with capturing the emotions and thoughts of their characters. As expected of horror, some people make pretty stupid decisions, but it doesn’t impact the believability of the main plot and it does enhance the horror. Azhy Robertson, who plays Oliver, was good at showing the audience his emotions without really using facial expressions, playing the part really well. Gillian Jacobs, who plays Oliver’s mom, did great at capturing the feelings and thoughts of her character.
Throughout the movie, it was very clear that she loves Oliver and just wants the best for him. A couple times, her character wishes Oliver could be “normal,” but I could tell she didn’t really mean it and was just really frustrated. It is important to know this since it makes her line at the end mean a lot more.
A part that didn’t stand out as much was the cinematography, even though it was quite good and mostly kept me engaged. They didn’t try to be too creative which worked well, making the movie feel more grounded and allowing the audience to feel they’re in the scene themselves, which is important in horror. However, there were a few parts where some variability could have worked out well.
The most effective techniques were the long takes, mostly used in the scary parts. An example of this is when Oliver and his mom are hiding behind a narrow wall. The camera shifts left and right, giving us a view of Oliver and his mom hiding, with both the camera and the characters slowly straining to see where the monster is, making us feel like we are right there with them. Something that I didn’t really like was that all of the scary scenes are too dark, nearly pitch black. I know that horror movies use darkness to set the tone and mood, but it was a little hard to see in some parts and I feel that it could have been done a little better. There were also multiple shots from Larry’s perspective, which were executed very well and added a lot of suspense. The horror aspect of the film was done great, and took much more of a slow burn approach. There are several scenes that make us jump in our seats a little, but none are too bad. They don’t resort to gore or jumpscares, and instead build suspense and anticipation that makes the audience uneasy. The music and sound effects play their part too, building up in a way that makes the audience feel like something could happen any minute, and then the scene strikes.
If what you’re looking for is a scary movie to watch on Halloween with your family, “Come Play” is definitely a good choice. It has the right amount of suspense along with a solid storyline and characters, a relatively satisfying ending and even with a few flaws, it’s an exciting and enjoyable movie, with its theme stressing the importance of friendship and never being alone.
“Come Play,” starring Gillian Jacobs and Azhy Robertson, is now playing in San Jose at the West Wind Capitol Drive-In, and in select theaters nationwide.