144. Come True; movie review

 

 

COME TRUE

Cert 15

105 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong language, horror, sex, bloody images

"Did you have a bad dream last night?", asked Mrs W as we awoke the morning after watching Come True.

I couldn't remember any midnight mind wobbles but needless to say, she regaled me with how unreasonable I had been during her Rapid Eye Movement (R.E.M).

Yep, I can't even do right when she's asleep.

Anyway, thankfully, we did not have the same nightmares as Sarah Dunne, the character played by Julia Sarah Stone.

Sarah is homeless, sleeping in parks and on the floors of friends before she reads about a group of scientists who are investigating deep sleep.

All they ask her to do is come to the hospital, wear an elaborate set of monitors and drift off to the land of nod.

However, it soon becomes obvious that there is something sinister about their operation and that one of the scientists (Landon Liboiron) has the hots for Sarah.

Meanwhile, she is also facing the headache of trying to get through school and, presumably due to a trauma which is not explained, avoiding her mother.

But the longer Anthony Scott Burns's film progresses, the greater concentration is given to the nocturnal activities of the scientists and Sarah's alarming descent into a hellish nightmare.

I was impressed by Stone in the lead role - she brings an intensity which her character demands.

The concept of being able to see someone's dreams is interesting but there are too many unanswered questions surrounding the motivations of the scientists, why they want to read dreams and why the same ghostly figures appear in them.

And the ending of Come True completely confused us.

Reasons to watch: Original horror

Reasons to avoid: Doesn't fulfil its promise

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None 

Nudity: Yes

Overall rating: 5/10

Did you know? During REM sleep, our brain is almost as active as it is when we are awake. In this phase of sleep, breathing can become fast and irregular. REM sleep is thought to help consolidate memories. Drinking alcohol before bed reduces the amount of REM sleep we have. People with REM sleep behaviour disorder act out their dreams.

The final word. Anthony Scott Burns: "I had seen an article by Berkeley, it was an educational journal, and they released video footage of something they were developing where they take brainwaves and translate brainwaves directly without any sort of imaging device and take what someone was seeing and make video out of it. I was really intrigued about that because I thought if there’s no lensing or anything and it’s just brainwaves. Why couldn’t we take the same information when we’re sleeping and make something so that we can see dreams?" The Hollywood News

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