Fantasia 2020 review: ‘Come True’ is guaranteed to haunt your dreams

The first virtual edition of Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival is here! In the coming days, we’ll be presenting capsule reviews of a number of films screening at the festival, filmmaker interviews, and much more. All of our 2020 Fantasia coverage can be found here. For the full schedule and tickets, head to the Fantasia screening site. 

There have been many horror films about nightmares over the years (heck, there’s a whole franchise about them), but Come True actually recreates the helpless feeling of being in a nightmare, where time and place seem to vanish and narrative cohesion is replaced by disturbing and perplexing imagery.

The second feature from Toronto-based filmmaker Anthony Scott Burns (Our House), Come True stars Julia Sarah Stone (Weirdos) as Sarah, a young woman besieged by terrifying nightmares. Effectively homeless after running away from home, Sarah enlists in a sleep study at a mysterious organization with an unclear agenda. She’s overseen by Jeremey (Hemlock Grove‘s Landon Liboiron), a young scientist who seems sympathetic to her distress, but things only get worse once the study begins. Sarah’s nightly visions of a strange figure begin to intensify and seem to be putting her and the other patients in the study in mortal danger, forcing her to go even deeper into her terrifying dreams.

Burns has created a stylish look and soundtrack for Come True, with gauzy neon lighting and a synth-heavy score that makes the film feel like an uncovered gem from 30 years ago. But what really sets the film apart is its deliberate pacing and striking visuals — Burns allows scenes to unfold naturally, and the dream sequences are so well-designed that it’s almost a shame when the characters wake up. The mystery at the heart of the film builds up to an incredible crescendo, but the plot gets a little too clever in the final moments, robbing the film of much of its mystique and offering up one too many twists.

Despite that caveat, Come True provides some legitimately frightening sequences and remains unsettling throughout, in no small part due to Julia Sarah Stone’s intense and evocative performance. An interesting mix of Amblin-style ’80s nostalgia coupled with nightmare-inducing imagery, Come True is guaranteed to haunt your dreams. You’ll need to keep the lights on after this one.