Come True Parent Guide

Sarah (Julia Sarah Stone) has had a busy year. She has turned 18, run away from home, and been suspended from school for two weeks for an incident that was very clearly not her fault. Worse, she’s been plagued by nightmares in the little sleep she can snatch in public playgrounds. Things seem to be looking up, however, when she finds and enrolls in a university sleep study – all she has to do is turn up, sleep in a strange monitoring suit, and get paid. But as with anything that sounds too good to be true, it is, and things begin to spiral out of control and further into her nightmares for Sarah.

I’ll start with the high points, for a change. For a small-budget, local film, Come True has remarkably good production values. The production team focused their effects where they would hit the hardest, and that is in the nightmare sequences – which, true to intent, are highly unsettling. The cast is also talented, especially Julia Sarah Stone, who I would love to see in more films. She has a way of conveying tension which I thought worked brilliantly in this kind of movie.

On the downside, the ending is absolutely stupid. And I do mean absolutely stupid. It feels like they had two or three ideas and, rather than picking one, just ran all of them together sequentially. Frankly, if they’d ended the movie ten or fifteen minutes earlier, I would have had fewer complaints. It’s a shame, because I had actually really enjoyed the movie to that point. It was creepy and different, disturbing without being gory, and just plain interesting.

As with most horror films, this isn’t a great pick for kids – the imagery is deeply unpleasant, and unless you really enjoy dealing with the nightmares, maybe don’t pick this one for family movie night. There’s also a good chunk of profanity (another non-starter for family viewing) and two sex scenes. Although there’s no sexual nudity, there are also depictions of revenge porn, which might make a good cautionary tale, but is also unpleasant to watch. For such a delicate topic, I thought it was surprisingly well-handled, but that doesn’t make it kid-friendly.

There’s a well-made horror movie in here if you’re willing to turn it off before the credits roll. Trust me, calling it quits early will save you some frustration – especially if you already liked the first 90% of the flick. But even if you stick out the multiple (and increasingly bad) endings, there are eerie visuals, clever casting, and a neat soundtrack throughout. My advice? Maybe give this one a miss if you’re already having weird nightmares. Or just don’t watch it right before bed – unless you enjoy that kind of thing. Weirdo.