Film Review: Come True (2020)

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SYNOPSIS:

“High school student Sarah (Stone) is at her lowest point yet when she runs away from home and finds herself with no one to rely on and struggling with recurring nightmares. She chances upon a university sleep study that offers the promise of safety and money and brings her an unexpected friend and confidant in the overseeing scientist Jeremy (Liboiron). But there’s something curious about proceedings and being under observation seems to make Sarah’s disturbing dreams even worse. As the darkness begins to close in, it’s soon clear that Sarah has unknowingly become the conduit to a horrifying, new discovery…”

REVIEW:

IFC Midnight presents: Come True. Come True was directed by Anthony Scott Burns and written by Anthony Scott Burns and Daniel Weissenberger.

Sleep is something we all need. Some people require a lot of sleep and some people only need a few hours. For example, I remember growing up, my mom barely slept, she still doesn’t sleep much. She would be up at 5 or 6 am and then go to sleep at 2 or 3 am. Most people need 8 hours of sleep or more. Some people even take naps. I, myself have never been a napper or much of a sleeper. Night time and darkness can serve as a catalyst for those of us that don’t sleep. Our creative outlets come out at night and for some people things like nightmares, sleepwalking, sleep paralysis and the loneliness of the night can be overwhelming.

Come True brings those fears to the surface. They seep out from the night. The opening image is stunning. Sarah (Julia Sarah Stone) is sleeping in a playground. She ran away. She woke up from that beautifully terrifying image that was in her nightmare. Sarah goes home and then goes to school. She seems scared to go to sleep. Sarah responds to a sleep study. Sleep studies are fascinating. Sarah heads in to try the sleep study.

Sarah is going to stay at her friend Zoe’s (Tedra Rogers) house. Her nightmares are dark and intense. The nightmares are not overdone if that makes sense. There is an emptiness and pure terror about these dreams Sarah is having. It’s very sci-fi and different. Is it a dream? Is any of this really happening?

They move through the various cycles including the anima and animus from the persona and so on. The “theory of the collective unconscious.” There are six people total participating in this sleep study. They put them in a sleep suit that looks like a fashionable futuristic space outfit. I had a sleep study done and they attach all these wires to your head and body. It’s weird. Emily (Caroline Buzanko) is Sarah’s roomy along with Peter (Orin McCusker),

Dr. Meyer (Christopher Heatherington) is watching them sleep. He talks about the patterns and what to expect. Dreams/Nightmares are powerful at times. They can reveal fears and horrible events. They can reveal good things, sexy dreams, wants and needs, atmosphere. Dreams can be endless. Sarah goes to a horror movie. Over the years as soon as I mention I love horror, I hear, “how do you sleep after watching THOSE movies?”

Sarah’s dreams seem worse than any horror film. Her roomy Emily didn’t show up after a few days. Sarah has some scary experiences and she threatens and to quit unless they tell her what’s going on. They can watch the dreams. It gets weirder and weirder. Come True is trippy. Sarah wants explanations and she thinks having someone else digging around in her head isn’t right.

She does come back though. The shadow is from what I learned and understand, it’s sleep paralysis, when you can be awake and see something and not be able to move, talk or get that shadow away from you. Over the years, I met a lot of people that have had a sleep paralysis “demon.” Someone or something that taunts and torments your dreams. I know we also think of shadow people as those shadowy figures we see in the dark or even broad daylight.

It can be tormenting. Riff (Landon Liboiron) is trying to help Sarah. Riff works with Dr. Meyer. They can see the dreams they are having with the machine a “neuroscientist” created. So, these doctors can see images or figures in your dreams. Sarah learns more and the shadow part is sort of that sleep paralysis, the demon that lurks around. They can see the image in Sarah’s dream. All of them are dreaming now and a few of them seem to be seeing the same lurky, horrible figure.

The darkness in the movie is perfect. The editing is great. This cast does such a good job.

Sarah bails, Dr. Meyers is being weird, and Riff is out looking for Sarah. Come True is slow-paced but it needs to be this way to tell this story. They find Sarah and take her back to the sleep study. It gets a little wild now. Sleep is something we all need. It’s a scary thing. When you close your eyes and go to sleep. I would recommend that you check out, Come True.