Review of Come Play (2020) by Thequietgamer — 20 Nov 2021

A wonderful allegory for the dangers our current technological age can possess to the strange and discarded. The parents of a young, lonely autistic boy have their lives turned upside down when a mysterious creature living in the world behind the screens of our tablets and cellphones (acting as an obvious metaphor for pedophiles) begins to pursue their son with the intentions of making him its "friend." Something that only begins to appeal to the child because he doesn't have any.

The idea of most of the frights being viewed through the lens of an iPad camera is admittedly a pretty goofy one. Yet, the ways Come Play makes creative use of our always online, app-centric culture ensures that its jolts and jostles are consistently exciting, if not terribly scary. Then there's the monster itself to consider, which is freakishly designed in appearance and shows hints of some particularly compelling attributes that could be expanded upon in a sequel.

The aspect I think most viewers will potentially take the biggest issue with will be in the film's representation of someone with ASD. It is a quality of the character that seems to have only been included to make the kid difficult to deal with. However, even if it was meant for nothing more than to service the plot by making certain interactions more believable it is at least effective in that regard. A big problem this genre typically runs into in movie form is that the actions of those onscreen can often come off as nonsensical to the audience even if the writer(s) had a good reason for them that was simply poorly communicated. Here though the presence of this condition allows for a constant sense of context or reasoning behind certain behaviors that would otherwise be questionable. So there's never a moment where you're forced to engage your suspension of disbelief.

While far from the nightmare fuel I was hoping for, there were enough thrills and a surprisingly emotional ending to make this the type of fun, feel-good horror I can appreciate regardless. It's centered around an original, interesting, and well executed concept that allow it to stand out from the crowd and give it a unique way to portray its themes. Overall creating a solid case for why this is worthy of being one of your next watches.