NIGHTSTREAM 2020: Come True
NIGHTSTREAMA shadowy figure stands at the edge of the bed. They don’t speak, but their intentions are clearly malicious. In the bed, a helpless soul stares at the figure, eyes wide open, but mind not quite awake. They are immobilized by fear, sleep, or some combination of the two. This frightening scenario is the primal fear that Anthony Scott Burns’ twisty sci-fi horror film, Come True, taps into.
The inability to control sleep, or, more precisely, the dreams and nightmares that come with it, is the deep-seated human fear that Sarah (Julia Sarah Stone), a runaway, comes face to face with when she decides to participate in a mysterious sleep study. Even before she allows vaguely motivated scientists to poke around in her brain, she is troubled by nightmares involving the shadowy figure. These nightmares take place in a sort of dreamscape, a trippy plane of existence that is one of the more creative inventions (production design-wise) of the movie.
Given that Come True is a low-budget sci-fi offering, it’s unsurprising that much of the film takes place in sterile hallways, blocky buildings and sparse white rooms. Despite an interesting use of colour, particularly with shades of purple and a sickly green, the overall aesthetic is bland to say the least.
What Come True lacks in cinematic freshness it makes up for with buckets of nightmare-inducing imagery. Aided by a pulsing electronic score from Burns, Pilotpriest, and Electric Youth, the dreamscape that the film consistently returns to is a truly freaky place to be. The shadowy figures themselves are no less terrifying, and the general aura of fear is greatly helped by an intensity that makes the viewer feel like they themselves have no control over the story at hand. It makes sense since, after all, what are movies but waking dreams?
Unfortunately, the rest of the film doesn’t quite add up in the same way. The characters, which include an imposing scientist who sounds like Ben Mendehlson (Christopher Heatherington) and a creepy lab assistant who lusts after Sarah (Landon Liboiron), are mere vessels for the ominous events of the film. They have no real purpose or motivation other than ensuring the various plot points fall into place to generate the most scares possible.
For example, it is revealed early on in the movie that Sarah has such distaste for her mother that she won’t even talk to her and has to sneak back into her house to take a shower. This major aspect of her identity is completely forgotten after two scenes and not only does the audience never learn why she ran away, but it’s also as if Sarah herself has forgotten. Sarah’s family situation is merely a device to get her to participate in the sleep study, not an essential element of her character.
The film’s out-of-nowhere ending also suffers from a lack of purpose. A final shot that reveals a twist that is shock for the sake of shock is also delivered in the most lazy way possible: via a lengthy text. It’s an efficient method of delivery, but it takes away from the ambiguity already established and creates a head-scratching (in a bad way) finale. The last shot is so outlandish and nonsensical and, yes, underwhelming, that it would almost be advised to stop watching the movie about 30 seconds before the credits role and just discount it entirely.
However, just because the movie doesn’t completely deliver on its cool concept and stunts its ending doesn’t mean there isn’t any value in Come True. The film is sure to linger in the minds of its viewers, and especially their nightmares, long after the cut to black.
