Sundance 2023 Film Festival – Run Rabbit Run defies cynical expectations as another slow-burn horror movie in that it pays off. Set in Australia, Sarah (Sarah Snook) is a fertility doctor and recently divorced single mother of seven-year-old Mia (Lily LaTorre) Despite the recent separation Sarah co-exists with her ex’s new family while attempting to parent her only child. Soon though, things are amiss. Really amiss. First-time screenwriter Hannah Kent brings her knack for nuance to the screen with the deft direction by Daina Reid to deliver a horror film with substance.

It’s Mia’s birthday and upon coming home from school, Sarah and Mia discover a white rabbit on their doorstep. Mia insists on keeping it but there is no time to protest as plans have been made for an intimate party at home. Sarah graciously invites her ex and his new wife and stepson over. After the awkward proceedings, little Mia begins acting strangely. Mia begins demanding to visit her grandmother, whom she’s never met, at the nursing home hours away. Stranger still, Mia begins demanding to be called by another name. One that seems to hold meaning for her mother Sarah.

Run Rabbit Run holds its cards close to the vest while stringing the audience along with subtle scares to string the audience along. Sarah breaks down and takes Mia to visit her grandmother. Estranged from her own mom, Sarah is quick to separate the two when a mysterious connection is apparent. Kent’s script is meticulously careful with story points offering tandem discoveries here and there, allowing the audience to piece items together. It’s honestly a masterful piece of writing that wields a savage command of story and pace. That said, this is a horror film for the A24 crowd. I mean that with the highest praise but it comes with the expectation that viewers will actually be engaged.

Technically speaking Run Rabbit Run is a class act. Bonnie Elliott‘s camera work uses a lush, widescreen ratio and haunting color tones to lend a certain atmosphere. The moody score by Mark Bradshaw and Marcus Whale grates on the nerves to enhance the uneasy tone of the film.

We must also hand accolades to LaTorre as Mia. Creepy kids are easy to get right, they are easy to get wrong. Mia, however, reaches a few Shapiro-esque with her unsettling turn as Mia. Taunting her mother with subtle threats, hinting at a life past lived, this little monster is a formidable creature. I will say, however, that it is Snook‘s towering performance as embattled mother Sarah that is the glue that holds the increasingly absurd narrative together.

Yes, there could have been a bit more bang for the buck here, but just a smidge. The meaty plot is there along with a gloriously sinister mystery. Yet, the scares could have been punched up if just a tad. No matter. Run Rabbit Run heralds the arrival of Hunt as a screenwriter that understands story and character as key to true horror.

7 Out of 10