Control Freak

There is a scene in "Control Freak" where "Val" (Kelly Marie Tran), sitting in her parked luxury sedan, removes a bandage from her head and realizes that the scar has not healed. She takes her phone and attempts to take a picture of the top of her head when she is suddenly set-upon by a fan of her work. Val, the female fan tells her through the car window, was directly responsible for helping the fan's mother suddenly quit a 30 year smoking habit. The irony, of course, is that Val's scar is the result of dermatographia- a compulsion she has to scratch her head incessantly.

It is this balancing act that sits at the center of "Control Freak."

On the one hand, Val is the epitome of the "American dream." A former Waffle House employee who used to live in her car, Val is now an up-and-coming self-help author, lecturer and influencer who lives in a palatial home in the Cincinnati, Ohio area. She lives there with her white husband/manager, "Robbie" (Miles Robbins) and is surrounded by other (white) assistants who are in her employ. She has, we might say, broken the glass ceiling. Her father, "Sang" (Toan Le), a former South Vietnamese soldier, also lives in the area. He is now a Buddhist monk. In fact, it was the need to obtain a copy of her birth certificate for a scheduled tour of Asia that led her to visit her father and take (without his permission) a key to a storage locker that contains family pictures and other items that set her memories in motion.

On the other hand, Val is clearly a woman who lives much of her life at odds with the image she wants to maintain. Her marriage is troubled. Her (seemingly) kindly father is not entirely trustworthy, though he is quick to offer his advice to Val. We learn that Val's mother suffered from likely psychological issues and died when Val was very young. And Val herself is quick to take offense, suspicious of assistance and is plagued by bad dreams - many involving insects and drowning sequences. She enjoys, if one can put it in such terms, her worldly gains alone: swimming, driving, walking through her large estate, etc. Sang opines that she in fact under the influence of a "Sanshi" or "hungry ghost" that consumes its host. This was inherited, he states.

The last half hour or so of the film turns, then, to Val's attempt to continue to project her brand, her image, in the face of the Sanshi. There are a few scenes toward the end that were a tad too arch for this viewer. (Watching the influencer unravel is a popular activity these days, I guess.). But the last ten are superb and overall even the arch scenes were insufficient to detract from the rather well-written script at work here. This really is a throw-back: It is a rare movie these days that is more "script-forward" than "camera-forward."

"Control Freak" is a remarkable entry. But it is also a slow burn and a character study. There are a few gory moments, but this is not really a monster movie or even a "ghost" movie (the poster does the film no favors: bugs really are not a material part of the film). I found it more in the psychological horror vein of something like "Images" (1972) or maybe "Possession" (1981). Tran and Le give excellent performances, and the story they depict is fairly unique: a psychological horror film exploring a Vietnamese-American female's attempt to bridge several worlds, with varying degrees of success. Highly recommended.

Control Freak is a film that refuses to give definitive answers to what is shown, and I can see that alienating those viewers who prefer a cut and dried resolution, but I loved the ambiguity - I think that the uncertainty adds to the mystery and sinister atmosphere of the movie.

Kelly Marie Tran plays successful life coach Valerie, who is about to embark on a world tour when she develops an irritating itch on the back of her head that she cannot help but scratch. The condition becomes more severe day by day, but her life gets considerably worse after she visits her estranged father, and delves into her troubled past. Are Valerie's problems 'demons of the mind' or are they the result of a literal demon, passed down through the generations, as her father claims?

Tran puts in an amazing performance that sees her going from positive motivational speaker to utterly deranged, as the inner demon - real or not - takes over her life. Valerie suffers from hallucinations that also increase in severity, starting off with disturbing visions of ants, but culminating in the appearance of a wonderfully unsettling demonic creature that she is forced to confront. Is the wound in her head infected, causing her to see things that aren't really there? Has her childhood trauma - the death of her mother - come back to haunt her? Or is she really possessed by a Vietnamese demon called Sanshi? I cannot say for sure, but I definitely had fun with this film, which goes from initial slow-burn to totally demented at the end.

7.5/10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

Returning home from a trip, a motivational speaker in the middle of a tour finds that a seemingly benign itch on her head is spiraling out of control to the point of impacting her personal and professional life forcing her to investigate the issue's connection to her heritage to stop it.

Overall, this was a decent enough if somewhat problematic body horror effort. One of the finer points of this one comes from the solid setup that tries to provide a kind of intriguing look into the condition she suffers from. Setting this one up from the beginning as a confident, self-assured person with a full-scale career and the pressure she puts on herself to ensure that part of her is a success, the sudden influx of the irritating condition and how it starts to work its way through the body to the point where she starts to get thrown off her game because of it creates an interesting point to explore. With not just her work but professional life upended due to her husband being supportive yet confused by the situation and her parents' insistence on the cultural demonic entity from their homeland being the responsible party, there's a gradual increase in suspense and tension involving what's going on as the transformation starts to take shape leading to a strong and shocking finale. That's where the film does falter somewhat with the lack of malevolence attached to this concept. There are a few bits here involved in introducing the Vietnamese heritage as a means of explaining the condition by saying it's a manifestation of a curse affecting them for years but this is all surface-level exposition needed to give a name to the demon shown fleetingly. By giving more focus to the loss of control she has as the itch becomes more present and dominating the sense of control she has, it offers a more psychological touch that doesn't delve deeper into the situation than these few factors as the result comes across more like a short film stretched out into a feature-length adaptation. This is aided along by a bit of a misguided idea of trying to imply the creature itself is a manifestation of her psyche getting exposed questionably so the question of it being real or not is brought up merely to eat up screentime, but it still comes off well enough to be worthwhile.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.

I was not familiar with this 2025 movie from writer and director Shal Ngo prior to stumbling upon it by random chance. And the movie's cover was interesting enough to make me stop up and take notice. And since it was a horror movie, of course I opted to check it out.

The narrative and storyline in the movie is somewhat of an acquired taste. I doubt that this is movie that will easily find a widespread appeal with the general audience. The narrative is unique, and thus might be somewhat of a niche thing. I found it to be adequate, but "Control Freak" by far from one of the greatest psychological horror movies that I've sat through.

The acting performances in the movie were good. And it was definitely nice to see Kelly Marie Tran in the leading role, and she carried the movie quite nicely.

Visually then the movie was okay. The special effects weren't outstanding or jaw-dropping, but then again the movie wasn't heavily relying on special effects to carry its narrative.

Watchable for what it was, but I doubt that I will ever return to watch "Control Freak" a second time. I will say, though, that I would say you should check out the movie if you enjoy off-beat horror movies that deviate from the generic formula.

My rating of writer and director Shal Ngo's 2025 movie "Control Freak" lands on a five out of ten stars.

I recently watched Control Freak (2025), which was recently added to Hulu. The story follows a successful public speaker whose life revolves around her career, her boyfriend (a colleague), and her attempts to get pregnant. However, when she develops a persistent itch, her search for its cause uncovers dark secrets from her past. To find relief, she may need to confront her family and the truth she's been avoiding.

Written and directed by Shal Ngo (The Park), the film stars Kelly Marie Tran (Raya and the Last Dragon), Miles Robbins (Halloween, 2018), and Toan Le (The Sympathizer).

The premise had a lot of potential, and Kelly Marie Tran delivers an authentic, believable performance. However, the writing holds the film back. Both the pregnancy subplot and the family backstory feel underdeveloped, missing opportunities for deeper impact. There's a lot of itching-so much that it becomes unsettling after a while. While some scenes are effective and the CGI at the end isn't terrible, many of the film's resolutions feel cliched and uninspired.

In conclusion, Control Freak has a few solid moments and a strong lead performance but ultimately falls short. I'd score it a 5/10 and only recommend it with appropriate expectations.