Control Freak

This film crawled under my skin in ways I didn't expect. Control Freak follows Val, a self-help guru grappling with anxiety and grief after her mother's death. Her anxiety manifests as a disturbing compulsion to scratch her scalp, which becomes more than just a nervous habit. There's something living beneath the surface, and it's horrifying. The way the movie uses the parasite as a metaphor for mental illness was powerful. I found myself squirming through the intense scenes, especially as Val's sense of reality began to deteriorate. The practical monster effects and eerie sound design made every scratch feel almost physical. What really got me was how real the emotional horror felt. It's not just about the creepy parasite; it's about how untreated trauma can consume us from within. It's unsettling, raw, and lingers long after the credits roll.

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.

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.

It is really hard to make a horror movie of this quality. Kudos to the director and especially the crew.

It is a suspense / horror movie like no other I have seen in the last 5 years.

I really liked the back and forth between the core story and the history that brought this movie together. My thought at first looking at this was = "another cheap movie and that I would disconnect within 20 minutes of watching it". To my surprise, I was hooked from the get-go. I sincerely think that if you give your concentration and the thoughts behind it, you should truly appreciate this movie.

If you are of sound mind and really put your heart in it, you will understand the wisdom and effort that were put in the script. I will recommend it without hesitations.

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.