In the sea of mommy-horror films, Run Rabbit Run would float somewhere in the middle. Despite Sarah Snook's imposing commitment to playing a mother haunted by her past, the story doesn't meet her halfway with a memorable script. The dynamic between mother and daughter gets stuck in an exhausting loop of sudden bursts of anger and angst followed by glaringly quick reconciliation. Twists and scares are present as Snook's character, also named Sarah, confronts the dark and disturbing truths of her past, but it feels more mandatory than useful. The potential for transforming gripping familial tension into horror is lost in a meandering mother/daughter fight.
Synopsis
Sarah is a fertility doctor with a firm understanding of the cycle of life. When she is forced to make sense of the increasingly strange behavior of her young daughter Mia, she must challenge her own beliefs and confront a ghost from her past.
Storyline
A woman's suspicions about her daughter's claims of past lives lead her to uncover a dark and disturbing truth about her family's history.
TLDR
If the plot was going to be this repetitive and shallow, it would've worked better as a short film.
What stands out
Sarah Snook delivers a performance with enough emotion to almost mask Run Rabbit Run's thin plot. Paired with young Lily LaTorre, the two's chemistry is on an island of its own. Their dynamic occasionally suffers from their repetitive fights, but it still shines whenever they go head-to-head, decoding each other at every turn.
