PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Sometimes, the people who seem the most poised and put together on the outside are quietly battling the toughest demons behind-the-scenes. This is certainly the case for motivational speaker Val (Kelly Marie Tran, Raya and the Last Dragon 2021) in Hulu’s original film Control Freak, directed by Shal Ngo and premiering March 13.
Despite her empowering on-stage persona, Val is under much stress at home as she’s tormented by an unrelenting itch on the back of her head. Though her husband Robbie (Miles Robbins, Halloween 2018) attempts to help, he has no idea what his beloved his truly up against: a parasitic demon from her homeland that she inherited from her late mother.
Control Freak was developed by Ngo after the success of his short film Control, which was part of the second season of Hulu’s Bite Size Halloween in 2021. The feature version joins WorthenBrooks’ slate of Hulu horror flicks, including Appendage [our interview], The Mill [our interview] and Carved [our interview].
Ahead of the film’s premiere, PopHorror chatted with Robbins and Ngo about certain scratchy directorial choices, the role of Robbie as Val’s support system and what deeper messages they hope audiences take away from Control Freak.
PopHorror: I have to say, I can watch Art the Clown literally skin a girl alive, but the sound of the scratching made my blood chill. We don’t just see Val scratching her head — we hear it loud and clear. Can you talk about the decision to make the sound of the scratching so prominent throughout the film?
Shal Ngo: It was just about turning it up louder than it should be and having it repeat over and over again, just a repetition to it and sort of a droniness in the sound. And in general in the environments, turning up the lights or the radiator or whatever else, trying to find something diegetic in the space and then sort of expand from there. But yeah, it’s front and center. You can’t have too many shots of itching. And you can have it be too loud. We actually had it where it was too loud for a little bit. But I’m glad it haunted you more than Art the Clown. That’s a great compliment.
PopHorror: Miles, I felt so bad for Robbie throughout this film. He doesn’t know what’s going on, he just wants to start a family with Val. You personally, was there anything that you would’ve done differently than him? Or do you think he handled everything as he should’ve?
Miles Robbins: I think that he, as much as he wants to help and is trying to help, he doesn’t do a great job of listening. And I think that he maybe could’ve done a little bit better of a job. Even though it might seem like a delusion, seem like this unbelievable place that she’s coming from, although she is not being very communicative either, I think that Robbie could use a little more patience. He got very frustrated by trying to help someone who didn’t want to be helped. That can be very frustrating, but sometimes that happens, and the only thing you can do is have a saintly patience and let go of any anger that comes to you. I would personally do it a little differently, but I’ve also never had a wife who’s being tortured by a metaphysical presence, so it’s tough to know.
PopHorror: I love that Control Freak goes beyond just being a scary movie. There are some really deep messages here. For me, my main takeaway was, someone can look so poised and put together on the outside, but you never really know what’s going on behind closed doors. I’d love to know what both of your main takeaways are from this movie.
Miles Robbins: Obviously, there’s some incredible dissection and discussion of the traumas that we inherit from family. I think that’s a theme that’s really well explored in this film. The takeaway with Robbie and my character in the film’s relationship to Kelly’s character is that it is very difficult to help somebody who does not want to be helped, and it’s very difficult to help yourself when you don’t accept help from somebody else. And often what is most important to get through difficult times mentally, emotionally, physically is the vulnerability to communicate, accept help and be patient with others so that you can hopefully conquer the ancient demonic forces which threaten to unwind us all.
Shal Ngo: Hell yeah, I knew Miles would have the best answer. For me, as long as you take something from it, as long as you ideally find some way to connect it to your own life or give some learning or maybe just have more empathy for somebody else in your life. I can also see that being a great takeaway. You recognize some of these patterns in a loved one or a friend and maybe just have a little bit more empathy with what people are dealing with, with what kind of situations. Like you said, the most put together people in your life could be crumbling behind the surface. Maybe they’re just too scared to show anybody. But yeah, I hope you get something out of it and have a great time — or a terrible time — watching it. Both are fine by me.
Miles Robbins: I hope you have a terrible time! [laughs]
Thanks for speaking with us, Miles and Shal! Control Freak is available for streaming March 13 on Hulu.
