Run Rabbit Run is a psychological horror film that weaves together themes of generational trauma, guilt, and the blurred line between reality and hallucination. Its ending leaves viewers with more questions than answers, intentionally ambiguous and open to interpretation. Here’s a detailed breakdown of what happens and what it all might mean.
What Really Happened to Alice?
The film gradually reveals the truth about the disappearance of Sarah’s sister, Alice, through a series of hallucinations and flashbacks. As children, Sarah and Alice had a fraught relationship. During a game of hide-and-seek, Sarah locked Alice in a cabinet in the barn. When Alice was finally let out, she attacked Sarah in anger. In the ensuing struggle, Sarah struck Alice with a rabbit trap, causing injuries that mirror those Sarah later imagines on her own daughter, Mia. Panicked, Alice ran toward a cliff, and Sarah chased her-ultimately pushing Alice off the edge to her death.
Sarah lied to her family, claiming Alice had simply run away. This secret, festering for years, becomes the root of Sarah’s psychological unraveling.
Mia, the Rabbit, and the Haunting
Mia, Sarah’s daughter, begins to exhibit strange behavior after a rabbit appears at their home. She insists on being called “Alice,” wants to sleep in Alice’s room, and even claims memories that should only belong to her aunt. The rabbit’s appearance and Mia’s transformation suggest a supernatural element-perhaps Alice’s spirit has returned, either through the rabbit or by possessing Mia.
Sarah’s grip on reality slips further as she starts seeing visions of Alice, hears unexplained noises, and notices injuries on Mia that seem to echo those she inflicted on Alice. These scenes blur the line between Sarah’s hallucinations and reality, making it difficult for both her and the audience to discern what is truly happening.
The Climactic Confession and Confrontation
After a particularly intense hallucination in which Sarah relives the night of Alice’s death, she finally confesses to her own mother that Alice is dead. Back at the house, Sarah speaks to Mia as if she is Alice, admitting she told their mother that Alice ran away because she couldn’t face the truth. Mia (as Alice) calls Sarah a monster, and Sarah agrees-a moment of devastating self-awareness and guilt.
The Final Scene: What Does It Mean?
The film’s final moments are deliberately ambiguous:
- Mia is seen following the rabbit toward the cliff, hand-in-hand with a vision of young Alice. Sarah, watching from the window, screams for her daughter, but the movie cuts to black before we see what happens next.
- Pete, Sarah’s ex-husband, is shown motionless on a bed with a pillow over his face, raising the question of whether he has been killed-by Sarah, Mia, or as another hallucination.
This ending can be interpreted in several ways:
- Literal Haunting/Reincarnation: Alice’s spirit has returned, either possessing Mia or guiding her to share in her fate. The rabbit serves as a supernatural conduit, and the cycle of trauma repeats itself, with Mia potentially dying the same way as Alice.
- Psychological Breakdown: The events are manifestations of Sarah’s unresolved guilt and deteriorating mental health. The final scene may be a hallucination, symbolizing Sarah’s fear that her trauma will consume her daughter as it did her sister. In this reading, Mia and Pete may still be alive, and the haunting is entirely internal.
- Ambiguous Reality: The film intentionally blurs reality and delusion, leaving viewers uncertain about what is real. Did Sarah harm Mia and Pete, or is she trapped in a cycle of guilt-induced visions? The open ending forces the audience to confront the horror of unresolved trauma and its capacity to distort perception and reality.
Thematic Takeaways
- Unresolved Trauma: Sarah’s inability to confront her past leads to a psychological collapse, endangering those she loves and trapping her in a cycle of guilt and hallucination.
- Generational Cycles: The film suggests that unaddressed trauma can be passed down, with Mia at risk of becoming another victim of Sarah’s unresolved pain.
- Ambiguity as Horror: By refusing to clarify what is real, Run Rabbit Run amplifies its psychological horror, making the audience complicit in Sarah’s confusion and fear.
Conclusion
The ending of Run Rabbit Run is a haunting meditation on guilt, memory, and the inescapability of the past. Whether you interpret the final scenes as supernatural retribution, psychological collapse, or a blend of both, the film leaves a lingering sense of dread-reminding us that the most terrifying ghosts are often the ones we carry within ourselves.