'Come Play' with a creepy creature that invades your smartphones
It is pandemic era's weekend, and most of us are busy scrounging the internet for that one film that is going to keep us awake all night. Sadly, there are only few that inculcate fear. Most make do with jump-scares and Hollywood, I dare say, is getting really predictable with each outing. But a creature that invades your smartphones...is that scary enough?
It has the 'Hush' criminal, John Gallagher Jr., as lead
Come Play deals with that. John Gallagher Jr., who has worked in several genre-bending horror films, plays one of the important characters. When asked what piqued his interest, "predominantly practical special effects," he said. "The thing that really sold me on the deal...was when he told me that they were gonna be using predominantly practical special effects. That's such a rarity (sic)," he said.
Director Jacob Chase has based it on his short film
The film narrates the story of an interaction between an autistic child, Oliver, and a creepy entity that somehow gets itself heard and felt through smartphones. Oliver uses digital devices to communicate with his parents and that is how the monster finds a way to sneak in the child's tablet. Jacob Chase has directed the film, based on his 2017 short film Larry.
The film uses cartoon character Spongebob's references frequently
Larry is a ghastly creature that shows its true self after luring a security guard into its pretense of friendship. This 3-minute-long film was acclaimed by fans and critics enough for Chase to work on a feature-length adaptation. The film uses cartoon character Spongebob's references frequently. So much so, that the child once uses a Spongebob scene to apologize to his classmate.
Azhy Robertson, who plays Oliver, was recommended by Steven Spielberg
Since the film is based on a child "who's non-verbal," Chase sought help from his wife, who has been working with the autism community. "My wife works with kids on the spectrum. So I had sort of had a window into this world," he narrates. Chase had auditioned several autistic children for Oliver's role but chose Azhy Robertson, who was recommended by Steven Spielberg.
