One of many dramatic highlights of spring’s streaming schedule was watching the ultimate season of Succession. Within the final chapter, the tenuous bonds between the Roy household siblings frayed within the aftermath of the lack of their patriarch. And because the brothers and sister fought over who would rule their late father’s media empire, it was Siobhan Roy (Sarah Snook) who briefly flickered because the heroic conscience of the Roy clan even when Kendall really was “the eldest boy.”
The Sarah Snook-starring psychological horror movie, Run Rabbit Run hit theaters about the identical time Succession creator Jesse Armstrong introduced that the present’s fourth season can be its final. The timing may need been important as a result of Run Rabbit Run got here and went from the large display with out ever pinging my radar. The movie had a short run as the highest film on Netflix when it got here to the platform this summer season, and now that we’re heading into spooky film season, it’s poised to tighten its clammy grip on a brand new viewers.
Sarah (Snook) is in mourning for her late father. Her mom is in a care facility with dementia. Sarah’s additionally divorced from her ex-husband who’s beginning a brand new household along with his new spouse. This leaves Sarah as a single mother elevating their daughter, Mia (Lily LaTorre) who’s just a bit too younger to know all of the upheaval in her household, however simply sufficiently old to ask all essentially the most awkward and provocative questions. This all would possibly sound acquainted to followers of Hereditary, The Babadook and even one other Netflix horror movie, Umma. Some critics and viewers have claimed that Run Rabbit Run is overly spinoff. However I believe its resonances with this latest, terrific spate of haunted home footage is considered one of Run Rabbit Run’s strengths.
That is largely as a result of Rabbit additionally boasts the excellent core performances that allowed a bonkers film like Hereditary to search out an avid viewers properly past the confines of the horror style. Followers of Succession are greater than aware of Snook’s admirable performing chops and her portrayal of Sarah finds her exploring painful familial connections a world away from Siobhan Roy’s hard-as-nails schemes and manipulations. Snook does plenty of heavy lifting on this movie which totally rotates round her relationships with an in depth constellation of characters. There’s additionally the added problem that each one of these relationships are curtailed by lack of communication: her mom can’t keep in mind vital particulars; her ex-husband needs to be handled at a distance in his new life; Mia is only a confused little child. All of those discover Sarah flailing wordlessly between frustration and bewilderment as solely an actress with Snook’s prowess may handle. LaTorre’s Mia goes toe-to-toe with Sarah/Snook and the younger performer is likely one of the most promising new actors to emerge in 2023. Mia is a candy and playful little lady, however after she takes-in a pet rabbit, her conduct turns into erratic. Run Rabbit Run is someplace between a haunted home movie and a possession story, and it really works as a result of LaTorre is disturbingly convincing because the channel for all of the dangerous karma.
Run Rabbit Run has a horrible rating on Rotten Tomatoes as a result of it’s sluggish and obtuse. It’s brimming with unresolved pressure and scant on direct explanations. Director Daina Reid offers us a ghostly poem of a movie that respects its viewers sufficient to disclose its mysteries, however not communicate them out loud. The outcomes are dramatic and disturbing, and value your consideration in the course of the darkish chilly nights forward.
Run Rabbit Run is streaming on Netflix.
Joe Nolan is a critic, columnist and performing singer/songwriter based mostly in East Nashville. Discover out extra about his tasks at www.joenolan.com.
