10 Movie Sub-Plots That Were More Interesting Than The Main Story

Wayne Kramer's crime thriller Running Scared follows low level mafioso Joey (Paul Walker) as he desperately tries to track down his neighbour's son, who has come into possession of a gun Joey was supposed to dispose of. The child's safety is the least of his worries, however - the fact that the kid uses it to murder his abusive Russian stepfather is a bigger problem.

This film unfolds as a cat and mouse chase that relies too heavily on frenetic pace and high levels of violence while lacking severely in style. The main story of Joey's attempts to track down Oleg quickly become a muddled mess of Russian gangsters and corrupt cops and the film is only interesting for about 20 minutes; when Oleg finds himself in the clutches of child serial killers.

Dez and Edele appear to be a perfectly normal married couple happy to help out a child in need, though when Oleg attempts to leave their home they stop him from doing so. The boy is able to make a quick phone call before they restrain him, and help arrives in the form of Joey's wife.

Teresa (Vera Farmiga) threatens her way inside and searches the whole apartment, finding Oleg tied up with a plastic bag over his head as well as a number of play costumes, plastic body bags and snuff films. She shoots the couple dead.

This sub-plot seemed far removed from the film's otherwise mindless violence, two calculated predators brought to life with brief but chilling performances from Elizabeth Mitchell and Bruce Altman. It is such a change of pace that it brings you right out of the movie, though in this instance that is actually a good thing.