Control Freak – Movie Review | Hulu (3/5)

CONTROL FREAK on Hulu is a new horror movie that has a very physical impact on its viewers. It certainly resulted in an itch for me. Kelly Marie Tran was amazing and brutal in the lead role. Read our full Control Freak movie review here!

CONTROL FREAK is a new Hulu Original. A horror movie that’s bound to make you feel an itch that is impossible not to scratch. It was for me, anyway. In fact, I struggle to ignore the itch even thinking about this movie.

It has a very physical impact on its viewers. From start to finish almost, which was quite exhausting – and extremely impressive. Kelly Marie Tran stars in this movie and has wonderful co-stars, but it truly is all about her character.

Continue reading our Control Freak movie review below. Find it on Hulu from March 13, 2025.

Try not to scratch that itch

Control Freak is all about control – as heavily indicated by the title – but in the sense that sometimes you don’t have it. And for the title character, this is just about to drive her absolutely insane.

Valerie (or just “Val”) is an extremely successful motivational speaker with a secret. She has a very aggressive and relentless itch on the back of her head. The kind that she cannot stop herself from scratching until it bleeds.

And then she keeps scratching.

She scratches her scalp as she sleeps as well, which makes it very difficult to stop or avoid. Not that she doesn’t try. In fact, she manages to get quite creative with DIY projects to keep herself from going at that itch all night long.

Nothing seems to help, so instead, she wants to figure out the source of it.

As a motivational speaker (or life coach, if you will), it shouldn’t be a problem. Her entire career is about taking control of any situation or bad habit. So why is it this itch cannot be controlled or stopped?

Could it be a parasitic demon from her homeland?!

Kelly Marie Tran is perfectly cast

I was very happy to see Kelly Marie Tran (The Last Jedi) in this all-important and very big leading role. In Control Freak, she plays the title character with all the flaws and struggles necessary to make the story believable and efficient.

Val (Kelly Marie Tran) is a successful young woman who knows that she could lose everything if she gives up control. So she fights like hell to maintain it. Even at the cost of everything else.

Val’s husband, Robbie, is portrayed wonderfully by Miles Robbins (Daniel Isn’t Real), who tries to help her. However, she is a control freak, so he isn’t allowed to help very much. In fact, they may be married, but he also works for her – and it feels like he never gets a day or even an hour off.

As Val’s father, Sang, who is currently a monk, we have Toan Le. Also, Kieu Chinh is in the core cast as her Aunt Thuy. These two characters help Val in their own way – often by also helping themselves, which is symptomatic of Valerie’s experience with family.

Watch Control Freak on Hulu (and Disney+ later)

Control Freak was directed and written by Shal Ngo, who you may already be familiar with from his work from The Park. This new feature film is based on the short film “Control” which was part of the 2021 Huluween anthology Bite Size Halloween.

The short was released as part of season 2 and was also written and directed by Shal Ngo. He then developed the feature from this initial short. Camille Chen (Renfield) starred as Val in the short.

Hulu has amassed a very respectable horror slate over recent years. This includes horror titles like Appendage, The Mill, Clock, and Carved. As indicated by the titles, these Hulu horror movies tend to have stories with visceral horror.

Control Freak is no exception. In fact, it may just be the most visceral so far!

Control Freak premieres on Hulu on March 13, 2025. It’s slated to be released on Disney+ internationally at a later date.

Details

Director: Shal Ngo
Writer: Shal Ngo
Cast: Kelly Marie Tran, Miles Robbins, Toan Le, Kieu Chinh

Photo credit: WorthenBrooks/Hulu