Come Play Ending & What Happened To Sarah Explained

WARNING: Major spoilers for Come Play ahead

What happens at the end of Come Play? The Focus Features movie, a horror thriller released in October 2020, was written and directed by Jacob Chase, and based on his earlier short film called Larry. The movie follows the parents—Sarah and Marty, played by Gillian Jacobs and John Gallagher Jr.—of Oliver, a young, non-verbal autistic boy portrayed by Azhy Robertson.

Sarah and Marty must scramble to protect Oliver from getting abducted by a terrifying humanoid creature dubbed “Larry”. Larry feeds off of the innocence of children, and stalks Oliver and his family. Oliver first comes across Larry on his smartphone, an item he relies on to communicate with people. He downloads an app called “Misunderstood Monsters”, which narrates the creature’s story and explains that Larry needs a friend. While the premise of Come Play balances elements of technological horror, like is depicted in Black Mirror, with supernatural and monster movie efforts, the ending has a lot to say about the movie’s deeper meaning.

Once Oliver reads Larry’s story, unexplained things begin happening. Among other occurrences, lights go off on their own and an unfamiliar face pops up on Oliver’s tablet while he’s trying out a photo app. When Oliver has a sleepover and his guests read Larry’s story, the lights go out and the creature appears—seen only via the camera of Oliver’s tablet. Larry even attacks one of the boys. Following this incident, Sarah also begins experiencing strange activity. Nearing the climax of the movie, Larry begins to stalk Oliver and Marty while they are out at night at Marty’s parking lot attendant job. Through his son’s tablet, Marty sees Larry picking up Oliver. It’s at this point that both of Oliver’s parents finally believe Larry is real; they break the tablet in the hope that it will end the fear and get rid of Larry. Here’s what happens in Come Play‘s ending and what it all means.

What Happens In Come Play’s Ending

In the end, it’s discovered that Larry is still at large; he travels through electricity and can use any mobile device to communicate. He attacks Marty, and tries to attack Oliver in order to take him with him into his world. But Sarah does everything she can to save her son, disregarding everything else. She breaks all of the electrical devices with a screen in the house. After that, Larry appears physically, and can suddenly be seen without the aid of a phone or tablet. Sarah takes Oliver and they run to a field where there’s no chance of electricity around. Larry appears anyway, as Oliver’s phone – which had been tossed by bullies earlier in the movie – is lying in the grass.

Before the final scenes, in which Sarah sacrifices herself for Oliver, the movie demonstrates the intense strength of the mother-son bond. Sarah is willing to do anything to keep Oliver safe, despite the difficulties she’s faced as a mother. Gillian Jacobs’ portrayal of a mother fighting to save her son is strong. This makes Sarah’s ultimate fate all the more tragic, though not quite surprising, given the lengths mothers will often go to for their offspring.

What Happened To Sarah?

As Larry is about to take Oliver by the hand and bring him into his world, Sarah decides she must make the ultimate sacrifice herself for the sake of her son. She appears next to Larry, takes his hand, and says: “I’ll be your friend, Larry.” Then, after locking eyes with her son – a big moment, since eye contact is something Oliver struggles with throughout the story – both Sarah and the creature disappear.

After Sarah vanishes into Larry’s world, Marty becomes a better father, one who is more involved in Oliver’s life. Together, they reckon with the loss of a wife and a mother, respectively. Despite everything that’s happened, it turns out Oliver didn’t completely lose his mother. In fact, Sarah can still appear to and even play with Oliver, which Marty views through the camera of his phone in the final scene of the movie.

Perhaps this ending, in which Oliver can still communicate with his mother, is setting up a sequel to Come Play. It seems like Larry could easily return to this world. And, in the end, he didn’t end up preying on a child as he needed to — he took Sarah instead. The filmmakers thought up creative ways in which Larry could appear throughout this movie – like through phone cameras – and surely have many more ideas stowed away for a follow-up film. Plus, a sequel could explore Marty’s stab at being a single father, and could examine exactly where Sarah is – maybe Oliver will try to find her, an idea reminiscent of the movie Insidious, with its inclusion of “The Further”.

Supernatural and paranormal horror movies that utilize this sort of otherworldly setting have been wildly successful in the past. While it’s unclear what direction Come Play will take in the future, the aforementioned Insidious was just announced to be getting a fifth movie in the popular franchise, which shows longevity when the material is handled properly.

Come Play’s Real Meaning Explained

There is an ample amount of hidden meaning evident throughout Come Play. For one, the phenomenon of Larry only being seen through a smartphone or other mobile device can perhaps be seen as a symbol of the dangers that these devices pose to modern children, who are becoming increasingly attached to technology in their day to day lives. As such, Come Play is a story about people’s—and children’s—increasing reliance on screens and technology in the contemporary world. Additionally, the character of “Larry”might have a deeper meaning; he could be more than just a frightening monster that preys on young children. Larry could potentially be a representation of Sarah and Marty’s difficulty coping with the challenges of raising Oliver. By the end of Come Play, viewers might understand that Larry wasn’t even the real villain in the movie. Instead, the real villain – what Larry embodies – is isolation, loneliness, and fear. Whatever the case, Come Play certainly takes an interesting approach at the monster movie sub-genre by giving it an autistic lead character and an authentic, emotional arc to the story.

About The Author