Come True [2020]
“So, we really just show up and… sleep?”
In a brief discussion about 2018’s Hereditary, I mentioned the sort of “modern renaissance” that I think the horror genre is currently experiencing. While we’ll never be rid of the corny, slasher nonsense films that popularized a lot of the thrill behind the genre [nor is there anything wrong with them], that style of horror is, by and large, being replaced in the popular media. In its place we’re getting smart, savvy, and terrifying films, rather than horrifying ones. A distinction that this stunningly stylish work by second-time director, Anthony Scott Burns, makes… well, terrifyingly clear.
Come True is a story about Sarah Dunne: A teenager who’s become estranged from her home for some reason and has taken to sleeping in a nearby park, rather than her bed. She attends school, has a close friend named Zoe, and is an otherwise normal high-school girl. Otherwise normal… save for the horrifying shadow creatures that haunt her dreams. When she stumbles across a sleep study, she sees an opportunity to sleep in a warm bed and make some cash while doing it. What is it that they see, however, and what is it that they want with her?
Viewer beware, if you have any kind of fear of sleep paralysis, shadowy figures in the dark, or are generally easy to unsettle, Come True is a genuinely uncomfortable experience. It’s not horror as we’ve come to know it. There’s no shape shifting monster to fight or machete wielding killer to run from, there’s just… s o m e t h i n g. And it’s watching you, it’s with you, and it wants you.
There’s really not much like Come True out there in terms of style, vibe, or atmosphere. In some ways it’s almost a Lynchian experience, where the plot follows a kind of dream-logic that you’re either on board with or your not… but it’s a little more grounded than that. In some ways it has that same unsettling air of The Ring, but it’s much more oppressive, omnipresent, and strange. And, in some ways, it has the same scifi trappings of Possessor, but it doesn’t rely on gore, shock, or dramatic intensity to weave its way into your bones. Weirdly, the closest thing I would compare Come True to [in terms of general energy] is Nicolas Refn’s 2011 masterpiece, Drive. There’s a kind of dark lambency over the whole production that is supremely haunting, extremely effective, and infinitely compelling.
This is absolutely what I would categorize as a “weird” film and, as such, it’s one that I think a lot of people are going to feel let down by. Though, I think that those same aspects that are going to irk some viewers, are also some of my favorites. You really just have to let this film wash over you, let it happen, experience the s o m e t h i n g as it comes, and then sit and think about it in the end. Come True plays off an interesting combination of Jungian and mystical concepts that may pass many viewers by [I know they certainly did me] but, if those viewers take the time to look into the meanings of these things, I think they will find a true brilliance in Come True’s DNA. While definitely “weird”, the film is not strange just for the sake of being strange, there’s a purpose, there’s a motive.
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This is one of the articles I read after watching the film, and my favorite of them.
What Did It All Mean? - This Is Barry
A work of passion unlike most others, Come True is one of the spookiest films I’ve watched in a very long time, and one of the most intriguing. From it’s terrifying nightmare sequences, to the weird, almost flexible feeling of its world, Anthony Scott Burns is a director that has something incredibly special to share in the realm of filmmaking. This is a movie that doesn’t really care if you get it — it’s alive either way and it’s meanings and sub-texts are strong and true; they don’t exist “if you want them to”, they do, truly exist. It’s very clear that this was made with an impressive amount of care and precision, something we’re seeing more of in the horror genre, and I believe this wasn’t a mistake or the proverbial “lightning in a bottle”. The film is too intentional, too thoughtful, for that, and I’m genuinely excited to see what Burns makes moving forwards.
So, get your blankets, turn off [on] the lights, and get ready to be studied by something that you almost certainly hope doesn’t Come True.
“Don’t you ever feel like… you’re seeing something that you’re not supposed to?”
