Focus Features has released the trailer for Come Play. The horror movie stars Gilliam Jacobs (Community, Love) alongside newcomer Azhy Robertson. It is set to arrive in theaters this fall, which is a relative rarity this year, even as theaters begin to reopen their doors. Billed as "a terrifying new vision in horror," it is poised to be, somewhat by default, the big screen Halloween horror movie of 2020. As we can see from the trailer, it looks to be bringing a lot of familiar supernatural horror beats, with a little bit of a twist utilizing modern technology.
The trailer opens up with a young boy who is having trouble fitting in at school and making friends due to his Autism. But he soon makes a rather unwelcome friend in the form of a monster under his bed. Naturally, his parents are skeptical of this creepy being, who we come to find is named Larry. Things get especially messed up when a whole group of young kids at a sleepover learns of Larry. He sort of looks like one of the monsters from the Cloverfield universe had a baby with The Crooked Man from The Conjuring 2.
John Callagher Jr. (10 Cloverfield Lane, The Newsroom) and Winslow Fegley (Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made, Fast Layne) co-star. Jacob Chase, who has worked as an editor for a number of years, makes his feature directorial debut. Chase also penned the screenplay. Alex Heineman and Andrew Rona serve as producers. It is based on Chase's 2017 short Larry. A similar situation emerged a few years back when David F. Sandberg's Lights Out was released in 2016. It was also based on one of Sandberg's shorts. That proved to be a very successful move for Warner Bros./New Line at the time.
Come Play centers on Oliver (Azhy Robertson), a lonely young boy who feels different from everyone else. Desperate for a friend, he finds comfort in his cell phone and tablet, which are ever-present in his life. When a mysterious creature uses Oliver's devices against him to break into our world, his parents (Gillian Jacobs and John Gallagher Jr.) are forced to fight to save their son from the monster beyond the screen.
Originally, the Halloween movie season was going to have some heavy-hitters. Most notably, Halloween Kills, which had been scheduled for release in October. Given how well 2018's Halloween did, that was expected to be this season's big winner. However, Universal Pictures recently delayed the sequel a full year to October 2021. Meanwhile, back in May, Focus Features shifted Come Play out of its original July date into October. It is now in place to rake in whatever Halloween season box office dollars are available. Though right now there is still a lot of unknown when it comes to figuring out how much a movie can make in the current environment. Come Play arrives in theaters on October 20 from Focus Features. Be sure to check out the new trailer for yourself.
