Intensity: 🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Written and Directed by Shal Ngo
Control Freak might be the itchiest movie ever made. Vy Nguyen is a self-help guru on the rise and on the cusp of great fame. Despite her outward confidence, she has developed a nervous habit of scratching the back of her head. The psychological effect is due to a curse handed down to her from her parents, and what starts as an itch threatens to destroy her and everything she has achieved. You will be scratching your head by the end of this movie. (For many reasons)
Kelly Marie Tran gets a nod as a first-on-the-call-sheet leading lady in this psychological horror flick. She plays against type from her previous roles, leaving behind her typically plucky and adorable character in favor of an intense and emotionally disconnected overachiever. Like many psychological thrillers, her troubled character is a prickly pear who is difficult to associate with, but she attacks the role with gusto.
Whatever your impressions of the film, what will stick with you is the incessant “skritch, skritch, skritch” of Vy scrabbling the itch that can be scratched absolutely raw. You will invariably find SOMETHING on your body that begins to itch when you watch this film. If you have dandruff issues, this movie is pure nightmare fuel. For everyone else, it will likely still be uncomfortable.
The Cast of Control Freak
- Kelly Marie Tran plays Valarie “Vy” Nguyen, the anointed Queen of Good Habits. She is a TED Talk lecturer and the Author of “The Light You Seek is Inside You,” a guide to overcoming bad habits, addiction, and self-doubt.
- Miles Robbins plays Robbie, Vy’s husband and marketing advisor. He and Vy have been married for a year and have been trying to have a baby, to no avail. Vy tends to badger and bully Robbie, but he lets her be the boss.
- Toan Le plays Sang Nguyen, Vy’s estranged father. He has a drug addiction and has entered a monastery to atone for his sins.
- Callie Johnson plays Crystal, Vy’s exasperated agent and manager.
- Kieu Chinh plays Aunt Thuy, a manicurist and Vy’s Aunt, the last relative with whom Vy has a good relationship.
A Short Synopsis of Control Freak
We are introduced to Vy as she engages a studio audience with her motivational speaking, imploring her listeners to control their fates. “The light you seek is inside you.” Her confident advice masks an inner emotional crisis that Vy has buried in her subconscious. Her psychological trauma manifests as an itch in the back of her head, and she incessantly claws at her scalp, eventually creating a wound. She is about to embark on a talk tour, and because her tour is going international, she needs to get her documentation in order. That means she needs to find her estranged father and get the birth certificate.
Vy is reluctant to see her father, Sang. She blames him for the loss of her mother, who drowned in an accident when she was a child. He has taken emotional shelter by becoming a drug addict, and has become a monk to cope with his grief and guilt. As Vy tries to get the information she needs, she uncovers some other uncomfortable truths. Sang has some ink scrolls of a shadowy demon in his otherwise sparse apartment. It is the Sanshi, a spirit curse that he claims overtook her mother. He explains to Vy that her mother tried to drown Vy while they were on a lake in Minnesota, and in the process, drowned herself. He is also ashamed that he had summoned the spectral curse during the Vietnam War, and that is how her mother got possessed.
The bad news compounds when Robbie, her supportive husband, discovers that she has been taking birth control. They had been trying to conceive a child for the past year, and this is a betrayal. Her reluctance to have a child reflects several life choices, including her career. Perhaps this is a subconscious reaction to the curse. Her wound becomes a bloody mess, which she tries to hide with a beret. But even the beret cannot conceal her issues forever. She breaks down during a speaking engagement, flailing on the stage at unseen agitators.
As her career hits crisis mode, her body erupts with issues. She vomits a swarm of ants, and her itchy scalp, and her wound has become a large hole in the back of her skull. She faces having to walk the talk. Though Robbie tries his best to help, she ties him up and faces the Shanshi alone. She determines that if she has to destroy her body to rid herself of the demon, she will.
Evaluation of Control Freak
This is a case of “Doctor, heal thyself.” Like many psychological thrillers, when the main protagonist is also the one suffering from psychological trauma, it can be not easy to associate with that protagonist. Rooting for Vy is difficult. She bullies her loved ones, resists help, and is generally a rude person. You will have to empathize with a control freak, with emotional issues. We learn that her personality is driven both by trauma and, potentially, a curse. By the time she confronts her issues with a table saw, she acts self-destructively. Ultimately, you aren’t sure whether to be heartened by the conclusion.
I applaud Tran for taking on a role with more heft and depth than what she usually does. Heavy drama doesn’t quite suit her well yet, though. I am excited to see her get a chance to be a horror lead actress, and any time an Asian American actor gets top billing, I will celebrate that moment.
Shal Ngo has written what feels like a very personal story. At times, I struggled with the plot’s connective tissue to determine exactly how Sang summoned the spirit and how that manifestation and possession work. I can appreciate what the demon is doing to Vy, but the curse’s origin is a bit muddy. The use of the itch is incredibly effective—almost too effective. I reflexively reacted to perceived creepy crawlies, brushing imagined ants off my arms. That’s the power of suggestion! On the whole, the story compels, even if the characters are difficult to connect with.
Concluding Thoughts:
If you have Hulu, this is worth watching, though you must endure a slow-burning film that doesn’t give you many chances to cheer. Tran pulls off a performance that prepares her for future serious (hopefully horror) roles. Miles Robbins (Daniel isn’t Real) charms as the pitiable put-upon Robbie, and is becoming something of a psychological horror go-to actor. The Vietnamese diaspora theme comes through, but I would have liked more development of that background. I would have appreciated a more explicit link between the culture and the trauma, as that is the most unique quality of this picture.
Control Freak is currently streaming on Hulu. The MPAA has not given this film a rating, but it would be an R-rated film for gore, body horror, sexual situations, and language, though it is not extreme in any of those categories. It may be suitable for a teen audience, but this is not the targeted demographic for this film.