One day, Netflix will master the art of horror and find itself able to churn out a consistent string of well-received terrifying tales that establish the streaming service as a genuine force in the genre. Unfortunately, based on the reception to Run Rabbit Run, that might still be a long way off.
Despite boasting a reliably phenomenal performance from supremely talented Succession star Sarah Snook in the lead role, neither critics nor audiences have been sufficiently won over. On Rotten Tomatoes, director Daina Reed’s psychological chiller has only been able to rustle up respective approval ratings of 35 and 36 percent from critics and audiences, which is admittedly nothing unusual for a Netflix-backed exclusive.
The good news is that horror in general remains as impervious to a pasting as it ever has, with Run Rabbit Run taking just 24 hours to become one of the platform’s most-watched movies. Per FlixPatrol, the suburban scare-fest with little going on under the surface debuted as the eighth top-viewed feature available to subscribers around the world, which is solid if admittedly unspectacular.
Snook headlines as a fertility doctor forced to wrestle with the issues arising in her own family after young daughter starts behaving in a manner that could best be described as erratic. Eventually, things snowball into outright terrifying, but the consensus has already made it clear that Run Rabbit Run misses virtually every mark it was aiming for at the outset.
Of course, nobody should be shocked at this stage to see a splashy Netflix film greeted so tepidly, but that’s besides the point.