Synopsis

The beginning of 'Run.' begins with the opening
credits and a flash, to what we can presume to be a camera flash, we then are
transported to a busy children's playground where there is a shadowy figure
lurking in the distance. The camera focuses on a laughing child on a playground
swing; in the corner we can still see the shadowy figure watching the little
boy. The camera pans around at the busy playground and returns to the swing but
the swing is empty, yet still in motion; the boy and the shadowy figure are nowhere
to be seen. The other kids in the playground are unaware of what has happened
and continue to play. Another flash appears, and we are transported to a dark
room, we see broken children’s toys, locks of hair, and pictures of children.
Blood is splattered around the room and the walls. As the opening credits come
to an end we hear the dialling tone of a phone. 

An operator picks up, ‘999 what’s your emergency?’

There is silence. A little boy whimpers into the
phone, clearly distraught, ‘They’re all dead.’ The audience came presume this
is the missing boy from earlier. The little boy hangs up but the operator
continues to try and talk to the boy but realises he’s gone and the
conversation ends. The credits end. The screen fades to black.

A news reporter talks about a chilling case of
missing children and how there are no traces of the children, and that there
isn’t a suspect as of yet. The camera zooms out from the TV and faces a pale,
sleep-deprived woman staring blankly at the screen. Tears fall down her face
but she makes no effort to wipe them away. We see pictures of the missing boy
from the start of the film. This woman is the boy’s mother. 8 more children go
missing. Pictures of the missing boy, who we now know is called Parker James,
are pinned up in the dark room. We meet the shadowy figure but we don’t see his
face. The camera zooms onto his lips, a hand covered in blood runs across his
mouth. His mouth is now smeared in blood and he smiles – we still only see his
mouth. The audience presumes that Parker is dead. 

We are taken to the home of Parker James where the
woman from the beginning of the film is sitting by the phone scratching at her
knuckles absent-mindedly; she doesn’t stop even when blood appears. She has
dark circles underneath tear-stained eyes. She hasn’t slept in weeks. The phone
rings but she thinks it’s her imagination so she doesn’t answer it. She stares
blankly at her arms and sees that cuts, bruises and blood cover her arms, she
panics but when she looks down again her arms are clean, but the blood on her
knuckles remain. She pulls at her hair screaming, the loss of her son is
overwhelming her. The phone rings again, she sees Parker run in front of her smiling
and drenched in blood, ‘Answer it, mummy! Answer it!’ 

She squeezes her eyes shut and when they are
opened, Parker has gone. She was imagining it. She hears the answering machine
go off; a man is whispering into the phone, we don’t understand what he is
saying. Parker’s mother has frozen; she doesn’t know what to do. The mumbling
from the answering machine grows louder but we are still unable to understand
the voice. The voice is now loud enough to be audible, ‘Pick up the phone,
Sarah. Pick up the phone. I’ve got Parker, Sarah.’ 

Sarah picks up the phone screaming, ‘Parker?
Parker, baby, is that you? Please talk to me!’ The other line has gone dead.
Sarah collapses to the floor shaking. The screen fades to black. 

There is a flash; we are staring down the lens of a
camera. We hear muffled crying, Parker is alive. His face turns red as he
strains, the camera follows down to his hands... he is strangling another
child. The other child is gasping for air but soon gives up and collapses on
the floor. The child is dead. Parker is still. He has bruises up his arms and
around his neck. His clothes are stained from blood. The shadowy abductor was
never killing the children himself. He was forcing the children to fight each
other to the death. Parker has survived all the fights. We are shown flashbacks
of the fights, each death more distressing than the last. His eyes are dead and
lifeless. He looks older than his 8 years. He begs to go home. We see the back
of the head of the captor as he shakes his head and chains Parker to a wall;
the wall is covered in blood and is covered in grime. He rocks himself to
sleep; he knows tomorrow he is to fight again. He awakens to the sound of a
crying child, but pretends he is asleep. The little boy wriggles free from the
captors grasp and reaches for the phone on the desk and tries to ring for help
but the phone is snatched from his hand and he is thrown into the wall, his
head splits open and he is left to bleed out on the floor. The phone had also
been thrown and is now on the floor near Parker, who is still pretending to be
asleep. The captor leaves and Parker picks up the phone and dials 999. 

An operator has picked up, ‘999, what’s your
emergency?’ 

Parker doesn’t speak until he is certain his captor
is far away. He cries into the phone, ‘They’re all dead.’ 

He hears his captor returning and tries to hide the
phone in the back of his trousers. 

We are looking over the shoulder of the captor at
Parker. 

‘Where’s the phone, Parker?’

‘I don’t have it.’

‘I’m going to ask you again you little cunt. Where
is the phone?’

‘I don’t have it, I swear!’

The phone falls from Parker’s trousers. His captor
grabs his hair and smashes his face into the wall. Parker’s nose is broken,
there is blood running from his forehead, nose and mouth.

‘Liar, liar, pants on fire, Parker,’ the captor
smiles – we only see his mouth – he walks over to the desk and pulls out a
lighter from a drawer. ‘Little boys who play with fire get their fingers burnt.’

He flicks the lighter on and off and he nears
closer to Parker, putting the flame out with his tongue. Parker has collapsed
onto the floor; he is too weak to fight back. His vision blurs. Parker is then
burned multiple times as the captor takes pictures of Parker in excruciating
pain. 

At the end, Parker has severe burns over his limbs,
stomach and back. He’s in too much pain to even cry. He doesn’t have the energy
to do anything. His captor leaves and we do not see him again.

Parker whispers for his mum, it’s all he can do.
Realising that his torment is never to end unless he dies, he picks up a piece
of shattered glass – used in previous fights – and stabs himself in the neck.
The screen fades to black.

The same news reporter from the beginning of the
film appears again, they haven’t found the captor but they’ve found the bodies
of the missing children. Parker’s story is told as they reveal the truth behind
the 100’s of photos strewn around the room. The camera zooms out from the TV,
we see dangling feet, Parker’s mother has hanged herself.