By Shannon McGrew
In the upcoming body/horror film, CONTROL FREAK, Val (Kelly Marie Tran, Raya and the Last Dragon) a motivational speaker, is tormented by an unrelenting itch on the back of her head. This leads to a terrifying journey as she battles a parasitic demon from her homeland.
For the release of CONTROL FREAK, Creepy Kingdom's Shannon McGrew spoke with writer/director Shal Ngo and actor Miles Robbins (Daniel Isn't Real), who plays Val's husband, Robbie. During their chat, they discussed everything from the film's unsettling body horror to its haunting sound design, and the deeper fears lurking beneath the skin.
Thank you both for speaking with me today! As someone with eczema, I found this movie hit way too close to home. That said, how did this story come to be?
Shal Ngo: It started with learning that someone really itched a hole in their head. I pitched a short to Hulu for their Bite Size Halloween, so it started as a short film and that's where it began. When it turned into a feature, I was able to incorporate more elements that I thought were interesting things from my own life. My grandfather was a Buddhist monk and a soldier, and then figuring out a cool mythology behind it. I also have eczema so I know a lot about excessive itching.
Miles, what drew you to the role of Robbie, and what was it like collaborating so closely with the lovely Kelly Marie Tran?
Miles Robbins: I loved Kelly in what I'd seen her in before, and I think she's a fantastic actress. The story is so unsettling, itching a hole in your head. It really got under my skin to even think about it. That's kind of the secret with horror and some of the genre stuff where you have to access this subconscious thing that elicits a response or makes you feel this way. I think body horror is one of the great genres of horror because of how deeply it connects to all of us who have bodies. There was something in this that I was really excited to be a part of. Kelly is fantastic and I was really happy to be her Samwise Gamgee on this journey that she had to go on.
One of the elements that makes this film so uneasy is the sound design and the ever-present ants. Can you talk about those elements and how they enhanced the film?
Shal Ngo: There's definitely a droney repetition to everything that's also in the score. Initially, the score was even more electronic, almost like a constant loop. But that didn't work out the way it did in my head. So the score ended up being a little bit more naturalistic. In terms of the sound design, it was designed to drive you a little bit insane. Maybe more than a little bit, it should be rather unpleasant to watch. Turning up the fluorescent buzz, the lights, the HVAC, and the aquarium in the back of the room, part of that was to make those kinds of sounds a little bit louder. Even in the edit, before we did the sound design, I played around a lot with what these different things can sound like, especially the ants and the itching. Ants don't really make sounds. So you have to balance that level where you want to push things as loudly as you can get them without feeling too unbelievable and instead have enough layers of different sounds that work. By the end of some of these sequences we had about 30 sounds. It was a ridiculous amount of different layered sounds, pitch shifts, and mixed up. As much as possible, we drew out the diegetic sounds of the space and then layered on top of that to get that droney, repetitive sound like you're trapped in this infinite cycle of itching.
Lastly, what do you both hope audiences take away from this film outside it being a solid entry into the body horror subgenre?
Miles Robbins: Although you are the only one who can help yourself, sometimes it's also important to help yourself by allowing others to help you. No trauma or struggle is something that needs to be taken on alone. It's a lot easier and more pleasant to allow others to help you, because we all have similar experiences and struggles. I think it's a bit of a cautionary tale in that way.
Shal Ngo: No woman is an island, and no man is an island. I want you to walk away with something. I have different things I hope people will walk away from with this after watching it. But I hope you can relate it to your own life positively or, at the very least, get you to think about life differently than you did before.
CONTROL FREAK will arrive on Hulu March 13, 2025.