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About Run
Run (stylised as Run.) is a psychological horror/thriller film starring Sarah Paulson as "Diane" and Kiera Allen as "Chloe." Directed by Aneesh Chaganty, who also directed mystery thriller Searching, Run depicts disabled teen Chloe Sherman, suffering a multitude of illnesses, who is on the cusp of finishing high school and leaving home to go to college - is anxiously awaiting her college acceptance letters which never arrive. Her mother, Diane, on the other hand, keeps Chloe to a strict regiment of home schooling and medication to ensure she stays as alive and healthy as she possibly can.
However, Chloe, being the exceptionally bright student (and an amateur inventor) knows it's a bit odd for her not to be accepted to any college and starts to suspect something is up. Pretty soon it becomes clear that her mother is harbouring a dark secret and will do anything to make sure Chloe never leaves home.
Where can I watch Run?
Run was originally aired on Hulu and was picked up for world distribution rights by Netflix in 2021. Although, whether it is available on Netflix in your country may depend on local publishing/distribution rights.
Trigger Warnings
Human poisoning
Gaslighting
Child Abuse
Child Endangerment
Murder
Isolation
Claustrophobia
Disability
Kidnapping
Key Takeaways of 'Run'
What illnesses does Chloe suffer from? Kiera Allen depicts "Chloe" as suffering from the following illnesses: arrhythmia, hemochromatosis, asthma, diabetes and paralysis.
While it feels like this is art imitating life, there is zero proof online connecting this story to the real life horror of Gypsy Rose and her mother Dee Dee Blanchard, who kept Gypsy medicated almost all of her life and exploited her for financial gain. If anything, Run was at best, inspired by the Gypsy Rose and Dee Dee Blanchard story.
The underlying questions of "am I really paralysed?" and "is my own mother poisoning me?" are constantly asked throughout this film giving a heightened sense of tension which feels very Hitchcock-ian.
Run is very home-grown horror or domestic disturbance thriller as it feels like these events could happen in any home or in any suburban setting where the trust and safety you instill in your loved one is suddenly gone and you're left in the hands of a stranger whose sense of love and descent into madness is blurred.
Best Scenes in 'Run'
During a trip to see a movie, Chloe uses a bathroom trip as a cover story to quickly visit a nearby pharmacist. While there, she shows the pharmacist the pills her mother is making her take and asks what they are. They turn out to be muscle relaxants for dogs. It's here that Chloe realises her suspicions are true and that Diane really is poisoning her.
Kiera Allen does an exceptional job at depicting a long-term sufferer of asthma. In a scene where she is barricaded in her room (located in the top floor of their house), Chloe is forced to smash her window outside to crawl on the roof before she finally breaks back into the house through a second top-floor window. She begins to have a severe asthma attack where breathing is difficult and she manages to get back into her room back to her "puffer" before collapsing. As a long term sufferer of asthma it's pleasing to see an actress portray asthma as the truly debilitating illness that it is. Feelings of being trapped in your own body and claustrophobia as you struggle to take your own breath are felt throughout this scene. Rather than the usual Hollywood tripe of: take one puff and you're good to run a marathon.
After Chloe tries to escape she wakes up in their basement and makes a shocking discovery when she finds a drawer with college acceptance letters, a death certificate with her name on it, an old photo of her running around, and a newspaper clipping about a couple distraught over the snatching of their baby from a hospital crib. This links directly back to the cold open scene where Diane's baby is born premature and she asks "how is she?" only for that infant to die a few minutes later leading the viewer to realise "oh hang on! This isn't Chloe at all. Chloe isn't Diane's daughter." The link here is smartly executed, though a tad obvious, but reinforces the danger Chloe's in and the lengths Diane will go to keep her "child."
When Chloe knows there's no way out of the basement that Diane has trapped her in and realising that her "mother" plans to perform a home based chemically induced lobotomy, Chloe drinks a chemical she knows will necessitate her being rushed to hospital. After having her stomach pumped, she lies in a hospital bed with a tube down her throat and her entire body temporarily paralysed. It's here where Diane, pretending to be the worried mother, strikes again and abducts tries to abduct her before a worried nurse sounds the alarm.
The ending is satisfying as it depicts Chloe visiting Diane in a hospital bed at a woman's correctional facility where she sneaks in the same muscle relaxants that Diane had poisoned Chloe with for years.
Biggest Let-Downs of 'Run'
While it's great to see the portrayal of a mother who grows her own vegetables to supplement their lack of income, things still cost money. How are they affording that big house, the electricity required for Chloe's stair master and where is the father? Seems a bit bizarre for the writers and director to cover every plot-hole except for the two most obvious ones: money and missing father. Sure, Diane probably killed him but I highly doubt a casual job is enough to pay their bills.
When their regular postman intervenes and foils another attempt by Diane to control Chloe, Diane is forced to kill him and dispose of the body. Though there is no explanation as to where she hides him. All you see is a brief moment of Diane dragging him through the house at the top of the stairs to the basement which means, despite everything that Chloe goes through, there's still a decomposing body somewhere in the Sherman's house.
Is 'Run' My Kind Of Weird?
The My Kind Of Weird rating on this film is favourable as, while it's not technically based on the Gypsy Rose and Dee Dee Blanchard story and is a complete work of art, it is a remarkably well-told and simple plotted psychological thriller which covers issues of isolation, kidnapping, gaslighting, poisoning, murder and let's face it - the list goes on.
Run is ideal for a late afternoon romp so grab your popcorn or a schedule a double feature alongside other psychological horrors with claustrophia and isolation the core ingredients - like Hush or Don't Breathe. Or even a modern-day Misery, if you want to reach that far.
