Come True Review (2021)
Guaranteed to haunt your dreams
Come True, the latest offering from director Anthony Scott Burns (Holidays, Our House), covers a lot of territory seasoned horror fans will no doubt be familiar with. It’s a throwback thriller about a mysterious sleep study and a troubled young girl who wants to get to the bottom of the graphic nightmares she has. It also showcases Burns’ ability to wear multiple hats, as he’s also the cinematographer, screenwriter, visual effects expert, and editor of the film. (He even co-composed the score under a pseudonym.)
Come True stars Julia Sarah Stone as young Sarah. Although the details of the situation are never fully explained to the audience, Sarah’s having trouble at home and often doesn’t sleep there. Instead, she crashes at friends’ houses or sleeps in places as random as the local playground’s kiddie slide. When an opportunity to participate in an ongoing sleep study presents itself, Sarah sees it as a guaranteed place to sleep for a while and jumps at the chance.
But, of course, something doesn’t quite seem right about the study right from the get-go. Sarah is an active dreamer who often has nightmares about menacing figures. However, the researchers are suspiciously mum when it comes to disclosing what they’re really looking into with their study. Then there are Sarah’s increasingly frequent run-ins with a stranger named Riff (Landon Liboiron). Riff eventually even turns up at the sleep study and happens to be the only one willing to let Sarah in on what’s really going on.
Come True is probably best described as atmospheric, similar in style to movies like Mandy or The Pond. It’s filled with hypnotic sequences that feel very much like drug trips or fever dreams. Surreal imagery abounds, especially when the viewer gets a glimpse into Sarah’s nightmarish dreamscapes. (They’re populated by grim-looking creatures with bald heads and a penchant for adopting unnatural postures, among other things.) Sarah’s prone to experiencing half-awake reveries that are just as strange, as well, which makes it hard to tell at times whether something, in particular, is real or imagined.
Sarah’s bad dreams aren’t the only things about Come True that are a bit unsettling, either. Riff’s growing obsession with the teenaged Sarah feels a bit inappropriate at times, especially when you consider that he has total access to what goes on inside her head. Burns highlights some of the film’s unsettling themes with some reasonably impressive biomechanical effects, as well, some of which will send chills down your spine. Stone’s performance as Sarah is also complex and nuanced, as are several of the other supporting performances, so it’s easy to get lost in the bizarre world Come True presents.
However, the film never entirely turns a corner from mysterious obliqueness to clarity, and that’s somewhat frustrating. Burns is well aware that this type of movie comes across best when it doesn’t spell things out or give the audience answers to all their burning questions. But Come True perhaps plays its cards a little too close to the vest. There are plenty of details and unusual images to keep you interested, but little to no clarification about the big picture. The finale comes complete with a final revelation, but it doesn’t entirely land on the level Burns likely had in mind.
All in all, Come True brings some fascinating visuals to the table, but there are many aspects of the actual storytelling that could use some work. If you’re the type of genre fan who can overlook a plotline that doesn’t always scan and never quite answers your questions, this is worth seeing for the imagery alone. No, it’s not the next big modern classic, but it’s certainly entertaining enough to hold your attention the next time you’re in the mood for something new.
