As a die hard Sarah Paulson (American Horror Story) fan, I was more than excited to hear she’d be leading a new horror thriller coming out this year. It’s a constant thought of not only mine, but of many others that Paulson should be the star of more big screen features seeing as she’s already conquered Ryan Murphy’s (American Horror Story, The Politician) ever growing small screen universe. I remember the trailer for this when it came out prior to Covid-19 blowing up, while it was still slated for a May release, and thinking that it looked great; but also feeling like they had shown everything in the trailer. We all know most trailers nowadays, especially horror, reveal everything and anything to get people to go see their films and it’s so damn irritating. Thirty minutes in, I was pleasantly surprised to see that everything in the trailer had already happened, and this film became the unpredictable rollercoaster that I had hoped it would be. 

The film follows Chloe Sherman, a homeschooled teenage girl who’s spent all her life in a wheelchair and very ill, but has grown to be extremely capable on her own. She’s taken care of by her mother, Diane Sherman, who comes off as a delightful woman and not at all overly protective as some mothers tend to be in this situation. The film begins to take a turn when Chloe becomes suspicious of whether or not her own mother is hiding dark secrets from her. Honestly, if you go into this film knowing anything I hope it’s capped off with that description. This is one of those stories where the less you know the better because it wastes no time at all jumping into mystery and playing with the audiences perceptions of our two leads. 

I was kept on edge the whole runtime of this film due to not only the story and performances, but because of the direction and score. A couple years back there was this mystery thriller called Searching that came out of nowhere and blew many people away with how innovative and fresh it was. That’s because it was at the hands of writer-director Aneesh Chaganty. This being his second feature film, along with Searching receiving high praise, there were more than a few high expectations for Run; and he absolutely delivered. The film tricks you so many times in that it will make a regular scenario or scene seem so sinister with the way it toys with our minds and makes us second guess everything. The writing is fantastic and organic, both main characters are so fleshed out and believable, along with being extremely likeable. You almost don’t know what sort of outcome to hope for because in the beginning you just want good things for both Mother and Daughter. 

Speaking of the characters, Paulson along with newcomer Kiera Allen are absolutely magnetic on screen, their performances are both top notch and completely believable. As a massive American Horror Story stan, Sarah Paulson is one of the ultimate horror icon scream queens in my eyes. (Sidenote, I actually got to serve her in a movie theatre once and she’s one of the kindest celebrities we’ve ever gotten at our cinema.) She brings her A game every time she’s on screen and has yet to phone in a performance even in the slightest. This right here proved once again that she can lead a film with ease and perfection. Then there’s Kiera Allen, who was so damn good that this didn’t feel at all like the first time I was seeing her on screen. Her charm and line delivery seemed completely effortless, the fact that she was able to hold her own next to Paulson says so much about how much talent this actress possesses. 

Run is a great film and would have been an exciting thriller to catch on the big screen if not for the pandemic. Unfortunately for us Canadians, it’s only just premiered on Hulu but hopefully we’ll get a release for it over here soon. For anyone who has access to this film, I highly recommend you go in as blind as possible and enjoy this twisty ride, I know I sure as hell did!