[Sundance 2023 Review] A Single Mom’s Darkish Previous Comes To Mild in Psychological Horror RUN RABBIT RUN

The mommy mayhem continues within the midnight program of the 2023 Sundance Movie Pageant with Daina Reid’s Run Rabbit Run. Opening this system was Laura Moss’ devilishly twisted beginning/rebirth which noticed a mom caring for her undead daughter, and Kenneth Dagatan’s darkish af fairy story, In My Moms Pores and skin, that reworked these maternal instincts right into a grim monster film. Run Rabbit Run, in it’s personal flip, brings the darkness of a mom’s previous out into the sunshine the place it threatens to eat her troubled daughter.

This Australian gradual burn hits all of the tried-and-true beats of the psychological horror playbook and hits these beats with elevated gusto. Directed by Daina Reid (The Shining Women) from a screenplay by Hannah Kent, Run Rabbit Run stars Sara Snook (Items of A Girl) as Sarah, a single mom that’s been pushed to her restrict coping with the current lack of her father. Her daughter Mia (Lily LaTorre) is a superbly wholesome and playful little woman…till her seventh birthday when her total demeanor adjustments in a single day.

Within the blink of a watch Mia turns into a nightmare baby. She insists on sporting a building paper masks (generally), she maintains that her actual title is Alice (generally), and she or he makes fixed calls for to see her estranged grandmother. She additionally turns into fairly hooked up to a rabbit that reveals up on their doorstep which is definitely a brooding metaphor for the darkish secret this story is desperately attempting to maintain hidden. Each elevated horror wants an harmless animal or a darkish hall to linger on. How else would we all know we’re presupposed to be scared?

Though we’re not given a lot info up entrance, it turns into clear that Sarah has a darkish previous and a historical past of psychological sickness. Everybody round her tries to let her realize it’s okay to achieve out for assist however Sarah doesn’t need to even acknowledge that she’s dropping management. And as she tries to get a grip on her daughter’s depraved habits, she’s pressured to confront the darkness of a childhood that she’s been working from her total grownup life.

Run Rabbit Run is a re-affirming film for the child-free and a simmering nightmare for overstretched mother and father. It’s an ominous little story however one which by no means actually ideas into spooky territory sufficient. As a drama, it’s acquired loads of unnerving beats, however as a horror film, it’s fairly tame. Sara Snook delivers an evolving efficiency as a mom exhausted by grief and guilt and caregiving, however Lily LaTorre’s Mia (too Latorre’s credit score) offers The Babadook a run for its cash within the annoying baby Olympics.

I don’t want each film I see to blow my thoughts however I do hope to be stunned once in a while. Run Rabbit Run, sadly, performs in a really acquainted sandbox. It’s a very well-made film however one which I really feel like I’ve seen 100 occasions already. On the plus facet, in the event you discover that the majority horror films are too scary or too gory, this may be the proper film to place in your watchlist. It wasn’t a homerun for me personally, however as a psychological horror, it covers all of the bases.

“Run Rabbit Run is a re-affirming film for the child-free and a simmering nightmare for overstretched mother and father.”

Daina Reid’s Run Rabbit Run celebrated its World Premiere on the 2023 Sundance Movie Pageant and was lately acquired by Netflix, though no launch has but been introduced. Click on HERE to comply with our continued protection of the competition’s horror titles and you’ll want to tell us what you’d do in case your baby develop into a monster in a single day over on Twitter or within the Nightmare on Movie Road Discord!

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