Run For Your Life!

Directed by Liam Banks

2025

Superfreak Media

There’s no hiding the influence of Evil Dead on Liam Banks’ Run For Your Life. The woodland setting, the Eldritch horrors and esoteric texts, even certain shots of the protagonist being dragged away from the camera.

Hell, you could go as far as to say that the crunch of someone biting into an apple – cranked way up on the sound mix – is a reference to the way the fruit was used in Evil Dead to simulate the sound of a pencil being jammed into someone’s ankle.

No, there is absolutely no doubt that Sam Raimi’s 1981 classic looms large over this short. But Banks doesn’t simply copy the formula; chuck some fake blood around and call it a day. Run For Your Life manages to stand on its own feet and provide a short, breakneck horror experience.

Rosie Frost plays Eleanor Dunn, a journalist investigating a series of occult murders in the Blackwoods Forest. In no time at all, she finds herself accosted by cult members as they try to summon their god to wreak havoc on the earth. Plot wise, it’s about as streamlined as you can get, giving the crew plenty of opportunities to cover a willing Frost in gore as she fights off the killers and this is where the real fun lies.

The practical effects are excellent, as are the physical performances from the killers who switched from a dazed, almost hypnotic state to unrelentingly fast. In fact, only one scare in the film doesn’t work – doesn’t quite feel earned – and that’s the bloody ghost face that appears in the first few minutes. It’s overdone and feels out of place with the rest of the film.

An excellent throwback to the slasher horrors from the 70s and 80s, with a strong lead performance and a nice little twist at the end. It’s brash, silly and wonderfully gory. A real treat for gorehounds.

But Banks hasn’t just tipped his hat to Raimi and other directors of the time; embracing the marketing schemes behind The Blair Witch Project, and even last year’s Longlegs, he’s created www.ormoncultmurders.net, with background lore, additional video footage and clippings from the fictional murders that kick off the plot.

It’s not quite as in-depth as some ARG-style lore dumps, but it’s a neat touch for a short horror and one that adds a little extra meat to the bones of an already excellent Midlands horror.

★★★★

4 / 5

Matthew Tilt

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