Rated PG-13 for disturbing thematic content, some violence/terror and language.
Now Streaming on Hulu On an isolated farm in a small American town, Diane Sherman (Sarah Paulson) cares for her disabled daughter Chloe (Kiera Allen). Chloe suffers from numerous physical ailments as a result of being born prematurely. She is unable to walk and is bound to a wheelchair. Despite this, she is exceptionally smart and dreams of leaving her home and making a life for herself at college. But when she discovers a new kind of medication Diane has just added to her daily routine, she becomes curious as to what her intention is. She begins to dig deeper into her various conditions and begins to suspect that her life may not be what she thinks; despite her mother’s insistence that everything is fine. Chloe will have to find a way to the truth if she wants to escape with her life; even if that truth is more terrifying than she could ever imagine. Run, the second film from co-writer and director Aneesh Chaganty (2018’s Searching), was not released in theaters. It was originally supposed to, but was delayed like everything else and eventually was bought up by Hulu. Despite having to watch it on my laptop, which is always a disadvantage to the experience, this did not stop it from being one of the most intense, white-knuckle thrillers I’ve seen in years. Chaganty and co-writer Sev Ohanian have only made two movies and have already proven themselves of having an expert hand at cinematic tension. The former’s directorial style does an amazing job at making you feel uneasy from the very beginning, like there’s a lingering danger around every possible corner. And the duo’s script does an amazing job of keeping you in the dark and consistently inducing gasps at every plot twist, no matter what they may be. That’s really their biggest strength as filmmakers. They do an amazing job at keeping their stories unpredictable. Both this and Searching almost feel like games; encouraging the audience to come up with their own solutions until the truth finally comes out. I personally developed so many theories at how Searching would turn out, but when the final act kicked in, I was still incorrect. Same goes for this movie. And while the final twist was among the many I concocted during the runtime, it still left me in total shock. This leads into an extremely intense final act that had my in a complete panic as the story reached its ultimate climax. It’s very rare to find a thriller that can create this much anxiety in a viewer, but Chaganty and Ohanian have proven that the ability to create this feeling seemingly comes naturally to them. The tension is also backed up the the phenomenal performances of the two leads, specifically Sarah Paulson. Through the entire film, Paulson’s portrayal of the increasingly unhinged mother makes for a highly terrifying villain; in that it’s hard to pinpoint what side she truly lies on even when the truth is finally out in the open. Kiera Allen also deserves props as her portrayal of the disabled Chloe really makes you feel the imminent danger that is growing around her. Run was on my list of most anticipated films of this year, so I am so happy that Hulu rescued it from the pandemic-induced delay. It was completely worth the wait; and ranks as a great example at how to expertly craft a thriller for guaranteed hand shaped seat arm indentations. It’s an amazing suspense tale that thankfully will rank among the best films of this extremely barren year. No matter what they do next, Chaganty and Ohanian are definitely filmmakers to watch from now on.
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