Come Play

It's as if someone put the Slenderman meme, the scary girl from The Ring franchise, The Babadook and a few others through a woodchipper and sprayed the resulting mulch on to the screen.

There was so much fun to be had along the way. Chase takes his story much too seriously to entertain that proposition. It's suffused with an atmosphere of dogged naturalism, rooted so firmly in the everyday that fun might well be a foreign word.

Chase turns up the volume and relies on jump scares to build the mood, but the frights barely leap out of the screen.

"Come Play" comes alive with impressive, old-school production design and simple direction...

A Babadook knockoff for parents who are worried that their kids are spending way too much time staring at screens.

"Come Play" is merely serviceable, and leaves you with the feeling that a much better game was lost in the shuffle.

Unlike the films it tries to draw upon, Come Play lacks the deep world-building and characterisation it needs to keep viewers intrigued.

Even though he cannot speak, Oliver is exceptionally clever, fun, and brave, something I believe most of today's society doesn't think autistic kids can be.

Seeing as the movie is all about the ups and downs of family life, Come Play is made with parents and children in mind. It's not exactly a fangless gateway horror, though, since a few sequences boast imagery far too intense for the younger crowd.

I’m happy to report that the movie does have its decent share of good scares and creepy moments. Unfortunately, they’re practically equaled by the amount of goofy moments and dubious dialogue.