Is Come Play Scary? The Verdict and the Whole Plot
Somewhat, 4 out of 10. It's a PG-13 creature feature about a monster that lives in a tablet, and most of the fear is in the dark.
🐱THE SCARE SIGNAL
SCARE SCORE
4 /10
🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
DREAD LEVEL
Medium
You'll look at your tablet a little differently for a night.
DOG
Dog: fine
fine, no dog dies.
Ruling: It has a monster in a tablet and a lot of flickering lights, and most teenagers will be fine.
Come Play runs ninety-seven minutes. Larry is a lonely monster who arrives through an e-book on a boy's tablet, and his approach to making friends involves a lot of flickering lights.
The premise, briefly
A lonely, non-verbal boy named Oliver finds a mysterious e-book on his tablet about a monster who wants a friend, and the monster soon starts using his devices to reach him.
How much do you want to know?
🐱
The verdict above is spoiler-free. Everything below, including the ending, stays hidden until you pick a depth.
🐱CUT TO THE CHASE
How it ends
Larry takes Oliver into the woods, and Sarah gives herself up in his place. Larry turns her into a spectral figure and drags her into a phone screen. Oliver ends up living with Marty, and one night Marty sees Oliver playing with Sarah's ghost, who says she will protect him.
The scene you're dreading
Near the end, Larry catches Oliver and takes him into the woods, and Sarah steps in so Oliver doesn't have to take Larry's hand. Oliver looks her in the eye for the first time just before Larry pulls her into a phone screen.
The dog
No dog dies in Come Play.
It's a PG-13 monster story with a sad ending, but Sarah stays with her son as a ghost.
THE SHORT VERSION IS HIDDEN
How it ends, the scene you're dreading, what happens to the dog, and the bottom line. About twenty seconds to read.
What actually happens
An e-book nobody ordered
Oliver is a young boy with autism who doesn't speak, and he uses a tablet and a smartphone to communicate. His mother Sarah looks after him while his father Marty works long hours, and their marriage gets so strained that Marty moves out. One night Oliver finds an e-book on his tablet that he has never seen before, called Misunderstood Monsters. It is about Larry, a lonely monster who is looking for a friend. As Oliver starts reading, the lights in his bedroom flicker. At school his classmates bully him, which leaves him lonelier and hungrier for a friend of his own.
Sarah arranges a sleepover to help Oliver make friends and invites three of the classmates who bullied him. One of them reads Larry's story from the tablet, the lights go out, and the boys see Larry lurking in the dark on the tablet's camera. Byron goes to look and is attacked by something they can't see, and the boys blame Oliver. In the days after, Sarah starts noticing Larry too, and Larry tells her through the tablet's microphone that he wants to take Oliver away. Marty then brings Oliver along to his overnight parking lot job. Larry, a pale skeletal creature, follows them, and when Marty sees him lift Oliver off the ground he finally believes Sarah. Larry comes from another dimension and wants a human friend to join him there, so they smash the tablet to keep him from coming out.
A friendship repaired by an app
Byron is traumatized, and he tells Oliver that Larry is to blame, not Oliver. The two used to be good friends until their friendship ended and their mothers stopped speaking too. Using the app on Oliver's phone, they talk and find out why: Oliver's mother told Byron that Oliver didn't want to be his friend. They make up and become friends again at school. That night, at work, Larry's story shows up on Marty's phone. After Marty scrolls through it, Larry appears and attacks him for protecting Oliver. Marty drives away but is injured, and he ends up in the hospital after the creature startles him.
A television with a second purpose
Larry keeps tormenting Sarah and Oliver to make them finish his story. When they refuse, Larry writes the ending himself, cuts the power and steps out of a television, which works as a doorway to his dimension. Sarah and Oliver hide while he searches the house. Oliver says the word "field" and persuades Sarah to run to the field where he was bullied, since there is no electricity there. Oliver's discarded phone is in the field, though, and Larry follows through it. This is the scene people dread most. Larry catches Oliver and takes him into the woods near the end of the movie. Oliver is about to take the monster's hand when Sarah steps in and gives herself up. Oliver looks her in the eye for the first time, and Larry turns Sarah into a spectral figure and drags her into the phone screen, leaving Oliver grieving.
The ending, explained
Some time later, Oliver is living with Marty, who has become more involved in Oliver's therapy. Then the lights go out again one night and there are noises downstairs. Marty picks up a tablet and sees Oliver playing happily with Sarah's ghost. Sarah tells her son that she will protect him, and Marty smiles. Oliver and Byron are friends again, and Sarah is gone from the living but still looking after her son.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether there is a scene after the credits in Come Play.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Come Play scary?
Somewhat. Come Play is a 4 out of 10: a PG-13 monster story with flickering lights, a tablet-based creature and a sad ending, and most teenagers will handle it fine.
How does Come Play end?
Larry takes Oliver into the woods and Sarah gives herself up, so Larry drags her into a phone screen. Oliver moves in with Marty, and one night Marty sees Oliver playing with Sarah's ghost.
Does the dog die in Come Play?
No, no dog dies in Come Play.
Is there a post-credits scene in Come Play?
Nobody has confirmed whether Come Play has a scene after the credits.
Who is Larry in Come Play?
Larry is a pale, skeletal creature from another dimension who wants a human friend to join him there. In Come Play he reaches Oliver through an e-book called Misunderstood Monsters and then through phones and screens.
BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION
The whole plot of Come Play is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.
You don't have to read Larry's story to know how Come Play goes. Install Scaredy Cat and it will blur horror before you see it.
