Ethan: The only thing that matters now... Is our game.
Run Sweetheart Run is a 2020 American thriller film directed by Shana Feste (Country Strong), who co-wrote with Keith Josef Adkins and Kellee Turrell. The film stars Ella Balinska, Pilou Asbæk, Clark Gregg, Aml Ameen, Dayo Okeniyi, Betsy Brandt and Shohreh Aghdashloo.
Cherie (Ella Balinska) is set up by her boss (Clark Gregg) on a blind date with client Ethan (Pilou Asbæk). With her co-workers' encouragement, the timid Cherie goes out with Ethan. At first, everything goes well—until he reveals his true nature. If Cherie wants to live through the night, she has to escape him.
It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2020. It was also scheduled to screen at South by Southwest on March 13, 2020, but the festival was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film was scheduled to be released theatrically by Blumhouse Tilt and OTL Releasing on May 8, 2020, but it was pulled from the schedule due to movie theater closures because of the pandemic restrictions. In May 2020, Amazon Studios acquired distribution rights to the film and released it digitally on Prime Video on October 28, 2022.
Previews: Trailer
This film contains examples of the following:
- Advertising by Association: The trailer and poster advertise the film as "From the producer of The Purge, The Invisible Man (2020), and Ma."
- Amicable Exes: Cherie and Trey, for the most part. She calls him for help and he comes to get her. Cherie cannot really explain to him what Ethan is or why she still is in danger from him. He still takes her to his home and later apologizes for things said earlier in anger, stressing that what happened was not her fault.
- Bad Date: Played for Horror. Cherie's evening out with Ethan starts out well until his true nature and homicidal intent come out.
- Bait-and-Switch: The first part is like a Romantic Comedy film... But after their date, they enter Ethan's home, and Ethan holds up his hand, as if stopping the camera from going in. Then the film switches to horror.
- Big Bad: Ethan. He's horrendous as he's a vampire; he even hurt Cherie many times and killed the people who protected her and was nearly invulnerable at night.
- Big Damn Heroes: After causing her and her new friends from the night club to crash, Ethan manages to corner Cherie and is about to resume his assault on her but is driven off by a stray pit bull terrier that happens along at just that moment. The pit bull later leads Cherie to the First Lady's hideout.
- Black Blood: After Ethan is exposed to sunlight, he is shown to have black blood.
- Carousel Kidnapping: Ethan uses this trick to attack and kidnap Cherie in the final act.
- Extremely Short Timespan: The movie is set from sunset to dawn.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: At the restaurant, a dog barks at Ethan. It makes him drop the nice guy act for a second and he yells at the owner to control "your fucking dog!" Seeing how shocked Cherie is at his outburst, he tells her a dog bit him badly when he was a kid. Later in the film, a stray pit bull comes to Cherie's rescue when Ethan has her cornered and manages to drive him off.
- Faux Affably Evil: Ethan acts in this manner towards Cherie after his true monstrous nature is revealed, as if to distract her from his evil, despite hurting her multiple times.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Combines with Bilingual Bonus. When Cherie goes to a church, a beggar is holding up a cardboard sign in Spanish that reads, "La menstruación es la única sangre que no nace de la violencia y es la que más asco te da" translation
- Good Samaritan:
- After seeing Cherie's disheveled state, a cab driver takes her to her destination for free.
- A convenience store clerk lets her have tampons for free when she admits she has no money.
- At a club, Cherie is being harassed by a group of men when a woman pretends to know her and gets her away from them.
- Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: After Cherie learns Ethan's true colors, Ethan gives Cherie a chance to escape from him if she survives the night, but Ethan can smell her blood to track her.Ethan: I'm gonna hunt you... and if you make it through the night... and then I'm gonna let you live.
- Kill It with Fire: Weakened by the sun, Ethan is crawling away, leaving a trail of black blood. Then the First Lady drops a lighter on the trail. His blood acts as a fire accelerant and he bursts into flames.
- Leave the Camera Running: The Oner when the camera tries to enter Ethan's house, but he stops it, and the camera focuses on the door while the only sounds we hear are Cherie's screams until she runs out of his house.
- Mama Bear: Ethan promises Cherie that when he is done with her, he'll go find her daughter Luze and raise her as his own daughter. This gives Cherie the motivation to keep fighting to survive.
- Near-Villain Victory: Ethan is ready to tear into Cherie at the end, but suddenly his alarm goes off, allowing Cherie to throw a rock through a window and let in sunlight. Then the First Lady's assistants throw several more rocks, exposing him to more and more bits of sunshine, burning him and revealing his Weaksauce Weakness. From that point, it's all downhill for Ethan in fairly short order.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The women who rescue Cherie when she is being harassed. Ethan causes their car to crash and all the women are killed. Trey and his homies suffer a similar fate when they attempt to protect Cherie from Ethan due to them not knowing just what they were up against.
- The Nose Knows: Ethan can detect Cherie's blood.Judy: He can smell you.
- No-Sell: At the church, Cherie hurls holy water at Ethan and he starts screeching in pain, then reveals himself to be unharmed, albeit damp. This also applies to just about anything done to him at night, since that's the source of his power.
- The Oner: A pretty well-done example. It starts with Cherie and Ethan talking outside his house, then the camera stays still at his doorstep when Ethan makes a "stop" hand signal to the audience. The camera then zooms out slowly, and Cherie's screaming is heard distantly... until the traumatized Cherie runs out of Ethan's house.
- Police Are Useless: Cherie runs away from Ethan's home and tries to get help. She finally comes across two women and asks to borrow their phone or at least to call 911. An officer arrives, sees the state she is in (barefoot, her dress torn, tear-streaked makeup) and takes her to the station to book her for public intoxication. Later they allow Ethan to come into her cell, despite her crying out that she does not want him to come in.
- Reaching Through the Fourth Wall: Before Ethan can get into his house with Cherie, he suddenly signals "stop" to the audience, showing the audience a hint of his true intentions.
- Also applicable when Cherie holds the camera and shows Ethan in the morning, crawling on the sidewalk, leaving a trail of Black Blood.
- Title Scream: When Cherie escapes from Ethan's house... RUN!
- Also applicable when Ethan is exposed to sunlight.
- Weakened by the Light: Throughout the night, Ethan is near invulnerable. He survives being hit by a car, being stabbed, and the attack by Trey's friends. His only weakness is daylight; it burns him and makes him bleed.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: James Fuller doesn't appear again after he failed to chase Cherie back.
- Would Hurt a Child: The First Lady tells Cherie that Ethan has been known to wipe out entire bloodlines, making it clear to Cherie that as long as Ethan lives, her daughter Luze is in danger.
