SPOOKING SNOOK (RUN RABBIT RUN)

© Netflix

Ah, the creepy child.

There's nothing horror filmmakers love more than children who can spook audiences.

Child actors whose characters tap into the paranormal are like gold to directors.

Whether it's Damien in 'The Omen' or Regan in 'The Exorcist,' Cole in 'The Sixth Sense,' Carol Anne in 'Poltergeist' or Samuel Vanek in 'The Babadook,' cinema is full of kids delivering icy glares and equally chilling lines.

© Netflix

Now the Australian actress and director Diana Reid and her fellow countrywoman, the writer Hannah Kent have recruited Lily LaTorre for that purpose in the movie 'Run Rabbit Run'.

Acquired by Netflix, the film screened at this year's Sundance Festival after being optioned in 2020.

The lead role was originally earmarked for Elisabeth Moss who Reid had worked with before on Hulu's dystopian hit series 'The Handmaid's Tale'.

However when she had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts, Reid appeared to land on her feet with Sarah Snook of 'Succession' coming on board and returning her to her native Australia to make it.

© Netflix

Snook plays Sarah, a fertility doctor and single mum who has been raising LaTorre's smart seven year old Mia.

Her ex-husband, Damon Herriman's Peter has started a new family but he isn't completely detached from his daughter's life.

He and his new partner, Naomi Rukavina's Denise celebrate Mia's birthday with her and her mum.

But even this celebration proves unsettling as Peter and Denise's son, Hugo Soysa's Toby is accused of striking Mia.

© Netflix

Mia is a curious, clever child but from the off, it's clear that something is not quite right.

Her grandfather has recently passed away which makes Mia want to delve more into her mother's family background.

Sarah, however, is unusually secretive about her upbringing and not very keen for Mia to get to know her estranged grandmother, Greta Scaachi's Joan.

However this makes Mia push harder to see family photos and for a visit to Joan who has succumbed to dementia.

© Netflix

Sarah is unnerved when Mia starts to insist that photos taken before she was born are of her.

And when a visit to Joan goes spectacularly wrong in the care home, it results in Mia claiming she is Alice - a blast from Sarah's messy past.

All of this is classic creepy child fodder, with Reid and Kent hoping the viewer will be hooked enough to see if Mia is really a reincarnation of Alice.

However the problem is we have seen this all before.

© Netflix

If you like creepy movie kids sneaking up behind their mother, it's there.

Do you want Mia to do psychologically terrifying drawings? Yup, that's in it too.

Unexplained cuts that appear on the child's body? Tick that box.

Mia's hysterical mum inflicting an accidental injury on the child? Bingo.

© Netflix

Throw in a 'Donnie Darko' style rabbit motif while alludimg to 'Alice In Wonderland' and you're pretty much there.

Yet all these classic horror elements are assembled rather gauchely by Reid and her screenwriter who take a long time to get to the heart of why Sarah is so freaked out by Mia's behaviour.

Unfortunately 'Run Rabbit Run' is not nearly as original or spooky as it ought to be.

And that's a shame because Snook turns in a decent lead performance as her character becomes increasingly tormented like Catherine Deneuve's Carole in Roman Polanski's 'Repulsion'.

© Netflix

LaTorre does exactly what is asked of her, innocently firing off spooky lines and sporting mysterious head wounds.

Scaachi and Herriman are adequate but are not given roles of sufficient depth to really fly.

It's almost as if Reid and Kent are going through the motions.

Indeed at times you suspect they are rather nervous about the material they are playing with or too cautious.

© Netflix

That might be an unfair observation but that's the impression.

Howeve there is no doubt that 'Run Rabbit Run' is not as original as it should be and it certainly not as absorbing.

It's just too much of a slog with nothing to really savour.

('Run Rabbit Run' premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2023 and was made available for streaming on Netflix on June 28, 2023)