‘You need me…’
In 1987, Stephen King published his seminal novel, Misery. In 1990, a film adaptation starring Kathy Bates and James Caan was released. In 1999, The Sixth Sense featured a subplot about an evil stepmother who was keeping her step daughter ill by secretly poisoning her. In 2015, Dee Dee Blanchard was stabbed 17 times by her daughter’s boyfriend after Dee Dee had convinced her that she was sick for years for financial gain. In 2018, director Aneesh Chaganty released Searching – a screenlife film about a father searching for his missing daughter. And from all of these disparate elements, Run emerged in the autumn of 2020…
Chloe Sherman (Kiera Allen) is born premature and with significant health issues that are presided over by her caring but overbearing mother, Diane (Sarah Paulson). After accidentally seeing her mother’s name on a subscription for a bottle of pills that are supposed to be prescribed to her, Chloe begins to suspect her mother hasn’t been honest with her.
Taking place in the same universe as Searching (and its later sequel Missing), Run wears its influences across both sleeves. Not content with a direct refence to Misery, Chaganty also includes several other Stephen King Easter eggs (despite the fact King has nothing to do with this project). While the film suffers in comparison to Misery (the film that most closely resembles this one), and the plotting is fairly predictable, it’s impossible not to get wrapped up in it all. Paulson excels at playing both sides of the coin – the doting mother and the psychotic lunatic – and Allen brings a humanity to Chloe that ensures that we’re rooting for her every step of the way.
Following its release on Hulu, Run became the the most-watched original film in the platform’s history. While it’s not reinventing the wheel, it’s easy to see why it was so popular. The film clips along at exactly 90 minutes and the strong performances of the two leads ensure that Run is captivating throughout – an enjoyable if derivative yarn.