Run Rabbit Run feels like 2023’s answer to the beloved horror movie The Babadook. The 2014 movie told the story of a single mother and how her pain transforms into paranoia and something otherworldly reaching. This being ends up being her main focus throughout the movie while dealing with the hardships of being a single parent to a very vocal child. And the ending of this movie left us feeling off-kilter but like this was the only ending that could have happened. I felt that in 2014 for The Babadook and I now feel the same thing for the horror movie Run Rabbit Run.
In Run Rabbit Run, we get to meet Sarah. She’s the single mom in the midst of big changes happening to her little family and is played by Succession‘s Sarah Snoot. Her acting talent is matched by Lily LaTorre, who plays her young daughter Mia. And together they give one of the creepiest performances that, again, can only be compared to The Babadook. The grief that they are both facing that transforms them, is initially due to Sarah’s grandfather dying. That opens the doorway for Sarah’s younger and deceased sister Alice to make her come back.
You see, what happened is that Sarah was a little bit more involved with her sister’s disappearance than she would like anyone to believe. And she’s hidden it for so long that even the mere mention or thought of Alice starts to unravel her. At first, you think that Mia is just pretending to be Alice because children like to pretend. LaTorre’s performance leads you to a place of uncertainty where you don’t know if this is all a child’s ploy for attention or if there’s something actually mysterious and supernatural happening. And the more that Run Rabbit Run leans into this being a supernatural mystery, the more the mother unravels to the point where she can’t tell the difference between what is real and what isn’t.
This paranoia is on par with what happened in The Babadook. So is the love that Sarah has for Mia and how the twisted pain of a loved ones death starts overlaying itself over this parent and child bond. That leads to the destruction of Sarah’s life through her own hands but also her own salvation. That’s where the biggest difference between these two movies is and why The Babadook reigns supreme. Sarah ends up at a different place from where the mother in The Babadook does. Because she took part in the death of Alice. And that twists her up in a way that none of them can come back from.
Even with the differences at the end there, Run Rabbit Run is promising for Snook’s career as she steps away from Succession. She has the acting chops to do scary, paranoid, and unhinged. It’s also promising for Australian cinema. Both The Babadook and this movie are Australian productions and we can’t help but wonder what other Australian horror gems are out there now that Hollywood is a crumbling mess. We’ll report back on what we find and would love any and all suggestions as to Australian films we should absolutely check out. Because we’re clearly missing out.
Run Rabbit Run is now streaming on Netflix.
