A motivational speaker, plagued by an uncontrollable itch on her head, becomes infected with a parasitic demon from her homeland. A film by Shal Ngo, starring Kelly Marie Tran, Miles Robbins, Callie Johnson, Kieu Chinh, Toan Le, Sabrina Davi, and Scott Takeda.

Valerie “Val” Nguyen (Kelly Marie Tran) is a renowned motivational speaker on the verge of her world tour when she receives a letter from her estranged father, a former soldier turned monk. The letter reminds her of her mother’s death anniversary this weekend, but Val dismisses it, claiming she’s too busy working on a new draft for her motivational team.

The next day, Val’s manager Crystal (Callie Johnson) informs her that they need her birth certificate for the visa paperwork or she might not be able to enter China. Crystal suggests that as a worst-case scenario, Val could simply skip the Asian leg of the tour for now. But Val insists on sticking to the original plan, assuring Crystal that she’ll find her birth certificate, even if it means reconnecting with her estranged family.

Val visits her aunt Thuy (Kieu Chinh) hoping to find her birth certificate in one of the boxes from their old house, only to discover that a box is missing. Thuy explains that her father took it. Meanwhile, Val’s compulsive urge to scratch the back of her head grows increasingly stronger, yet she refuses to see a doctor or talk about it.

Circumstances force Val to visit her father Sang (Toan Le) at Golden Grove Monastery, where she confronts him about the missing box. Sang insists he doesn’t know what she’s talking about. During their heated conversation, Val becomes fixated on a creepy drawing hanging on the wall. When she asks about it, her father reveals it depicts an ancient evil spirit called Sanshi, which literally translates to “hungry ghost” or “hungry parasite.”

He explains that during times of great calamity, the Sanshi can take control of a human host and poison them with insatiable urges. As the host weakens, the Sanshi grows stronger until it completely consumes the host’s body and soul. While Sang leaves the room to get Val some water, she searches through his drawers and finds a key to Cherokee Storage, which she quickly pockets before leaving.

At the storage facility, Val finally finds her birth certificate and her family photo album. While there, she experiences what seems like a vivid hallucination when she sees a dark entity latching onto her in the mirror. At home, her condition worsens as she begins having recurring nightmares and her compulsive scratching intensifies.

Val becomes obsessed with demon possession and the final years of her late mother Chi (Sabrina Davi). When she tries to learn the truth about her mother, her aunt Thuy responds cryptically, saying that after the war, something terrible took hold of her mother, and despite Thuy’s best efforts to help, she failed. Thuy warns Val to stay away from her father.

Written and directed by American filmmaker Shal Ngo, CONTROL FREAK is a supernatural horror film about a successful motivational speaker who finds herself struggling with a mysterious, compulsive urge to scratch the back of her head.

While Asian ghosts typically have a creepier appearance than their Western counterparts, the Sanshi design veers more toward monstrous rather than resembling the typical evil spirits we usually see in Asian ghost films. The premise is intriguing, but the execution and world-building around this evil entity feels both puzzling and confusing. It’s particularly hard to understand why this supernatural being can be harmed by ordinary weapons, let alone drowned in a swimming pool.

The protagonist’s behavior is frustratingly erratic and unconvincing throughout the film. Why does she repeatedly refuse to have a doctor examine what’s happening to her head? She never tells anyone about her mysterious urges to scratch, and somehow finds time to build elaborate gadgets to stop herself from scratching while sleeping, but can’t make time for a medical appointment? It’s difficult to root for a protagonist who makes such incomprehensible decisions while facing an evil spirit that’s supposedly impossible to kill.

CONTROL FREAK was released on Hulu on 13 March 2025.