The Big Picture
- Kelly Marie Tran stars in body horror film
Control Freak
as a motivational speaker plagued by a parasitic demon. - Miles Robbins plays Tran’s husband in the psychological thriller, with Toan Le and Kieu Chinh in supporting roles.
- Directed by Shal Ngo, the film is based on Ngo’s short
Control
and is set for an early 2025 release on Hulu.
Kelly Marie Tran will have an itch she can’t scratch in Control Freak, a body horror film from Hulu Originals. She will star alongside Miles Robbins in the new film from writer-director Shal Ngo. Deadline reports that Control Freak has wrapped filming, and is slated to be released early next year.
Described as a psychological thriller, Control Freak centers around Valerie (Tran), a motivational speaker who suddenly finds herself plagued by a mysterious scalp itch. Unfortunately, her problem isn’t dermatology – it’s demonology, as the source of the itch is a parasitic demon from Vietnam. Robbins (Halloween, Blockers) will play her husband, Robbie, while Toan Le (The Sympathizer) will play Valerie’s father, Sang, and Kieu Chinh (The Joy Luck Club) will play her Aunt Thuy. The film is based on “Control”, a short Ngo wrote and directed for Hulu’s Bite-Size Halloween, a series of short horror films produced for the streamer; the original short starred Game Night‘s Camille Chen in the central role.
Who Is Kelly Marie Tran?
Tran had her breakout role in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, as plucky Resistance fighter Rose Tico. Unfortunately, following the film’s release, she was subjected to horrific online abuse from “fans” incensed by the film. She went on to reprise the role in the sequel, The Rise of Skywalker, and has voiced the character in a number of animated projects, as well. She also lent her voice to The Croods: A New Age and Raya and the Last Dragon; she played the title role of Raya in the latter film, becoming Disney’s first South Asian princess in the process. She starred alongside Elizabeth Olsen in the Facebook Watch drama Sorry For Your Loss, and appeared in an episode of the Hulu horror anthology Monsterland. She recently starred in The Young Wife, which premiered at South By Southwest last year, and is set to star in the upcoming third and final season of the post-apocalyptic Netflix series Sweet Tooth.
Ngo, who wrote and directed Control Freak, made his feature debut last year with The Park. WorthenBrooks developed Control Freak for Hulu Originals. David Brooks, Arbi Pedrossian, and Jenna Cavelle produce; Shaum S. Sengupta and Miles Alva executive produce; and Hatuey Rodriguez co-produces.
Control Freak is expected to be released in early 2025 on Hulu. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
