‘Don’t Run’ VOD Review
Stars: Charlotte Arnold, Holly Arnold, Grant Brooks, Cody Cheatwood, Darlene Cooper, Jodie Dunn, Dan Foley, Cameron Hollstegge, Jeremias Iribarren, Danny Irizarry, Wendy Keeling, John Newkirk | Written and Directed by Ben Rood
In a rather strange story, Don’t Run is about a shy and quiet teenager who ends up trapped in his house by a monster who will eat him if he isn’t in bed by sundown. That major part of the story is as odd as it reads on paper.
The teenager ends up on his own when his mother and then aunt and well almost anyone that enters his house, reach their demise at the hands of the monster. We do have people and police come around to look for these missing people but it doesn’t end to well for them either. So he soon realises he’s in this on his own – well almost. The girl who lives nearby and becomes the love interest is always around, as is the local bully who kind of ends up on his side for a while. And after searching the Internet for people with similar experiences he stays in contact with a guy who tries to help him through it.
The script is a bit of a mess at times. The ‘rules’ the monsters set seem to change and why his bed is the key to it all we never really find out. The director/writer Ben Rood is inexperienced and it shows at times.
There are some positives in Don’t Run though. Much of the cast, like the director, have little experience, but they do alright. Performances are decent enough even if it all seems quite amateurish at times. They battle with some poor dialogue but the relationships and interactions do come across natural more often than not.
The highlight of the movie for me though were the ‘look’ of some of the monsters. The effects for the big reveal towards the end of the movie are nothing more than average but the villain we see much more of in the movie is much cooler looking. He is covered in bandages that often glow red with blood from underneath while wearing a suit. Not dissimilar in style to the brilliant ‘Gentleman’ in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And while there are similarities there it doesn’t feel like it’s a rip off. This is an original and pretty awesome look for a horror movie monster and the voice-acting worked really well too. By far the most impressive part of Don’t Run.
Unfortunately that’s where my positivity ends. The script, when it’s not all over the place is predictable and not very exciting. There’s no tension, no fun gore and only the suited villain brings any kind of terror in brief spells. It’s hard to tell if the director shows any promise but I guess with his next film we will find out. As it is, even at just seventy five minutes Don’t Run is just another low budget and very average horror movie.
Don’t Run is available now on Amazon Prime.
