Review: RUN on Hulu (SPOILERS)

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6 minute read

I've been looking forward to seeing the movie "RUN" on Hulu since it was advertised to be released in theaters this past Mother's Day.  (So...a long time...)  So much so that I got Hulu for the first time, in anticipation.

In true form, Tara and I lasted exactly one hour post the movie's release on Hulu and were up at 1 AM preparing to watch, complete with snacks, and comfort objects:

[Tonia, unsmiling with her fleece jacket hoodie up.  Kindness, her stuffed bat is on comfort duty.]

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How was the representation?

Kiera Allen (who plays the main character, Chloe) does amazing and is lovely and wonderful and I hope to see so much more of her.  She is, dare I say, the single redeeming factor in this movie.  

The first actual wheelchair-user to play the lead in a horror film in 70 years is no small thing.

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What was your favorite aspect of or scene in the movie?

My favorite aspect was just seeing an actual wheelchair-user moving on screen for 90 minutes.  Beautiful authentic movement.  Effortless gliding on linoleum floors.  Lovely turns.  Representation galore, right down to the way we close doors.

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Where (if anywhere) do you feel there were missed opportunities? 

In my opinion, there were missed opportunities everywhere but the authentic casting.  Specifically in regard to the storyline.

I've seen at least two or three versions of "the good mother" trope courtesy of Munchausen by Proxy in a parent. I was so hopeful that this was not the case, especially when we see in the opening that the mother gives birth to a preemie.  I was thinking, "Finally! We'll get a story of someone disabled from birth!"

Instead, we got a story of a mother abducting a nondisabled baby and making her disabled.  So right there (somehow, even with the authentic portrayal) it's inauthentic in its own way.  Chloe's sensation and movement begins to come back and by the end she's able to walk a little independently.

"Overcoming Disability?" Check.

I feel there were so many missed opportunities here - not the least of which - the opportunity to represent the lived reality of many disabled people who live with parents or caregivers who refuse to make their home accessible, who abuse their disabled children not because of mental illness but because they can.

Yes, we do live in the reality where we have to escape toxic and dangerous situations.  But most of us are not being poisoned.  Most of us do not get intercepted by the kind mailman who wants to help us because most of us?  Live in a world where absolutely everyone believes the people who harm us are "so nice."

More often than not, we must save ourselves - with help by other disabled people.  And there are plenty of us who cannot escape.  Who end up murdered by caregivers' hands.

Maybe I set my hopes too high seeing the trailer and expecting we might see a movie where the main character saves herself and goes onto live the life she wants.

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What was your least favorite aspect of or scene in the movie?

In the previews, the moments of Chloe escaping and rushing away from her house struck me as empowering, and I felt seen and represented by it.  But in the movie itself, I found myself feeling like I was watching exploitation.  There was like, copious scenes where Chloe was without her chair, suffering, crawling, dragging herself around and being abused for a full 90 minutes.

It was just not worth it to me.

I also really, really disliked the ending.  It was in no way satisfying to me, and again, reinforces the idea that to be disabled is the worst thing ever.  

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Do you feel the benefit to disabled people outweighs the harm with regard to seeing this movie?

I honestly don't know how to answer this.  I think it's down to personal choice.  It's clear progress is being made, and it's notable, but painfully slow.

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Trigger Warnings (for those who need them)

- Munchausen by proxy.

- Forced medication (injection and by pill)

- asthma attacks

- restricted access (phone internet mail school)

- restricted mobility (chair lift disabled, wheelchair chained, locked in bedroom)

- falling down stairs

- vomit

- premature birth / infant death

- implied kidnapping

- disability due to abuse

- suicide attempt (ingesting chemicals)

- implied murder

- attempted kidnapping

- forced extubation

- so much gaslighting

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