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Parents' Guide to

Run (2020)

By John Sooja, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Dark domestic thriller has violence, mature themes.

Movie PG-13 2020 90 minutes
Run (2020) Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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age 12+

Based on 2 parent reviews

Jhon.F
Jhon.F Adult
May 4, 2022
age 11+
Lu D.
Lu D. Parent
November 21, 2020
age 13+

It’s worth the watch

I really liked this movie, because of all the plot twists and things that occur throughout the movie. It was a thriller with little scares, but has concerning things that the mother does to her child. There is no language and only violence. It’s a good one.
See all 2 parent reviews

What's the Story?

In RUN, 17-year-old Chloe (Kiera Allen) lives a solitary life except for her mother Diane (Sarah Paulson), who tends to her daughter's every medical need and has done so for her entire life. Chloe supposedly suffers from arrhythmia, hemochromatosis, asthma, diabetes, and paralysis of her legs, the latter of which has required her to be in a wheelchair for as long as she can remember. The only problem is that Chloe starts to realize some oddities about the care her mother provides. Chloe's extremely limited freedoms are odd, the way her mother always gets to the mail before Chloe is odd, the way the Wi-Fi doesn't work when her mother isn't home is odd. Some of the medicine her mother gives her isn't what it seems. If Chloe had to escape her mother, how exactly could she manage that? What lengths would her mother go to stop her?

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2 ):
Kids say (29 ):

Not a deep look into the behavioral and mental health complexities and nuances of Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another, this thriller only wants to thrill, and it just about does. In terms of quality, pace, writing, acting, and thrills, Run is on par with and sometimes exceeds director Aneesh Chaganty's first feature, the chillingly disturbing Searching. For Run, Chaganty structures his focus on child abuse and parental derangement in three acts: family horror, hostage drama, escape thriller. By the time the pace ramps up entering the finale, lead character Chloe has more than earned her freedom. Run is a platform for two great performances, one a terribly menacing desperate mother from Sarah Paulson and the other a courageous first-time lead achievement for Kiera Allen, who is also a wheelchair user in real life.

In some other ways, by the time the epilogue rolls, some viewers may find some logical gaps and inconsistencies, even if parsing them out would have only likely bogged things down. There's a distinct lack of any scenes of Chloe's childhood or growing up alone with no friends, television, public life outside visiting the pharmacy, or grander curiosity about the outside world. Somehow, Chloe made it all the way to 17 before really questioning or seeing the horrible things her mother was doing. Lastly, the film's ending may leave some viewers disappointed.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how Run portrays Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another (Munchausen syndrome by proxy). How is it different from other films or tv shows that also feature this form of child and sometimes elder abuse?

  • Sadly, many people lose a child, but what was different about Diane's loss that made her turn to kidnapping, abuse, and murder?

  • Was the portrayal of Chloe a strong one? If you were in her situation, would you have done anything differently? If so, what?

  • Do you think Chloe's last act at the end was necessary? How would the film have looked if she had done something else?

  • Why do you think people are interested in tragic stories based on real life? Does Run glamorize any part of the abusive caregiver? Does it glamorize any part of the person under their care? Explain.

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