Control Freak is a brand-new horror film written and directed by Shal Ngo. Ngo is an up-and-coming Chinese-American filmmaker known for The Park (2023) and several shorter works, making this surely his biggest project to date. The film stars Kelly Marie Tran (Star Wars: The Last Jedi), Miles Robbins, Toan Le, and Kieu Chinh. In the story, a woman finds the world crumbling around her as she struggles to overcome her deep-seated anxieties.
Ngo’s ambitious movie releases on Hulu March 13. Keep reading to see if it’s worth checking out! You can also check out my spoiler-free discussion with John about this film, and more, here: @TheCosmicCircus on YouTube!
Hulu’s Control Freak: the story
Kelly Marie Tran stars as Valentine “Vy” Nguyen, an Asian-American life coach motivational speaker who is preparing for a global tour. During the high stress of her preparation, she begins suffering from an intense “itch” at the back of her head. As the movie goes on, the “itch” of her anxiety escalates into something much worse, manifesting itself as the dark, parasitic accumulation of generations of struggle passed down through her family bloodline.
The movie is a sharp and painful investigation of mental health, isolation, depression, gaslighting, rehabilitation, and family legacy, in addition to being a gleefully fun body horror movie. Writer/director Shal Ngo juggles the many different ideas and tonal elements masterfully while asking difficult questions about the pains we pass on to our children, and to what extent can we save them. I particularly appreciated the Asian-American perspectives, even if I didn’t fully understand all the cultural nuances.
The final product is a fun blend of movies like Smile, Turning Red, with even a bit of The Substance. I really enjoyed Control Freak, and if you are interested in horror stories exploring mental health, the legacies of immigrant families, and the psychological burdens we all try to hide from, then this might be something for you too!
Shal Ngo controls the horror atmosphere in Control Freak
For me, the highlight of Control Freak was Shal Ngo’s confident direction. This is a really slick indie horror movie, from the quick edits to the eerie music to the gorgeous cinematography. Every frame of the movie is layered with creepy psychological paranoia, and it all feels cohesive to Ngo’s singular directorial vision.
I especially loved Scott B. Siracusano’s cinematography for the interesting camera angles, clever shadow play, and use of moody colored lighting. The cinematography works in tandem with Ngo’s direction to evoke the suffocating atmosphere the movie needed.
The horror music score by Landon Knoblock and Jay Wadley is wonderfully over the top, accompanying the visuals with a tense sense of dread that plays with audience expectations. The score works alongside the brilliant sound design. Every sound effect is exaggerated, becoming terrifyingly effective when a simple itching sound plays like horror ASMR.
Lastly, I have to mention the potent blend of practical effects, CGI, and clever camera work. Control Freak is a totally immersive visual experience, even with lots of supernatural elements. This movie really looks great. The body horror is actually gruesome, and I had to look away at times, making this a gripping horror experience that I absolutely loved.
Kelly Marie Tran’s role and other characters
Kelly Marie Tran is good at carrying the movie through a range of wild emotions. The entire movie rests on her shoulders as Vy, and while she imbues the character with a sympathetic heart, I sometimes struggled to understand everything going through her head. However, this feels true to the character’s perspective as well, and in fact the mystery actually aids the movie.
I felt the other actors filled their respective roles well, but I didn’t connect with any of them in any meaningful way. This could be an issue of the side characters being underwritten in the script. Although, I also felt that none of the supporting actors brought anything unique to their respective characters either. While I don’t have any outright negative notes about the movie and Ngo’s work is certainly beautiful to look at with incredibly visceral horror sequences, his written characters are my biggest criticism of the film. All the relationships fell completely flat for me.
The background history that Ngo tries to reveal seemed a little too complicated to me, and for better or worse, I felt that the details didn’t especially matter at the end of the movie anyway. Although the themes of the story inherently carry emotional weight, I never cared about the characters themselves. Unfortunately, in the end, this made the movie a lot of style over substance for me.
Scratch that horror itch in Control Freak, coming soon to Hulu
Overall, Control Freak is probably the most impressive horror movie I’ve seen this year, and I am so excited to see the response when more fans begin to discover this little film. While the character relationships could have been stronger, I think the direction and themes are extremely effective, along with the horror genre elements and arresting visual style.
The movie evokes such a powerful visceral reaction that I think the experience of watching the movie will be enough to carry the film through whatever shortcomings a critical viewer might find. This is really a gem worth watching, and I hope Control Freak and Shal Ngo earn the audience appreciation they deserve.
Are you excited to check out Control Freak when it comes out on Hulu March 13? Have you seen The Park or any of the other short films from Shal Ngo yet? Let me know on Bluesky @vinwriteswords and remember to follow the site @MyCosmicCircus on social media, or @TheCosmicCircus on Bluesky!
For my spoiler-free video discussion about this film with John, watch this video on The Cosmic Circus’ YouTube channel. You can also catch our full spoiler discussion on the Patreon after the film releases!
Sundance Film Festival 2025: 12 Highly Anticipated Films
