homage

“The Running Man” is co-written and directed by Edgar Wright, who made such excellent comedies as “Hot Fuzz” and “Shaun of the Dead” that combined spoof and homage.

Fortunately the finale shamelessly echoes, or, to be generous, pays homage to, the conclusion of “Gypsy,” as Jackie, alone in her palace-again-in-progress, sings an anthem of triumphant defiance.

A hovering patch of light in “Low Shining Sun” seems to be a homage to both Rothko and Ron Gorchov.

Its original songs frequently paid homage to music from the late 20th century or musicals from that era like “Les Misérables.”

But it only ever feels like homage, not anything organic — Stuckmann doesn’t have his mentor’s storytelling smarts, nor his flair for the underpinnings of normality that ground horror.