Control Freak is a 2025 American body horror film written and directed by Shal Ngo. It stars Kelly Marie Tran, Callie Johnson, Miles Robbins, Kieu Chinh, Zack Gold, and Scott Takeda.
Premise[]
Obsessed with scratching a nagging itch on her head, a motivational speaker’s haunted family history leads her to suspect she may be possessed by a figure from folklore.
Plot[]
While dealing with the mounting stress of an upcoming world tour as well as the anniversary of her mother Chi’s drowning death when she was a child, motivational speaker Valerie “Vy” Nguyen becomes obsessed with scratching a nagging itch growing on the back of her head. Vy also begins seeing strange swarms of ants, some of which are hallucinatory visions and nightmares. Vy consults a doctor who tells her the compulsive scratching may have a psychological component that is hereditary.
In need of her birth certificate, Vy visits her Aunt Thuy at the nail salon her aunt owns. Thuy tells Vy that her father, a former soldier who is now a monk, has the family mementos she is looking for. During a later visit to the salon, Vy asks about her mother, to which Thuy responds by cryptically claiming Chi was cursed. Thuy also warns Vy to stay away from her father.
Vy visits her father Sang at the Golden Grove Monastery. Vy notices an eerie illustration of an ant-like creature. Sang identifies the figure as Sanshi, a parasitic ghost that poisons its human host with insatiable urges until it consumes that person’s body and soul.
While acquiring her birth certificate from a storage unit, Vy has another haunting vision of ants. Vy also finds old family photos showing her mother with a rash on her skin.
As continued nightmares cause her to consider she might be demonically possessed like her mother supposedly was, Vy overhears her husband Robbie telling Vy’s tour manager Crystal about his concern that something is wrong with Vy. Robbie’s worries grow when he finds the bloody gash widening on Vy’s scalp. Robbie ends up leaving their house after he discovers Vy has been secretly taking birth control pills despite their supposed commitment to having a baby.
Sang visits Vy to tell her she is infected with the Sanshi because it is in her blood. After drugging Vy with tea, Sang takes money from Vy’s purse and leaves while warning Vy she will end up like her mother.
At knifepoint, Vy later confronts Sang for the truth about her mother’s death. Sang claims he inadvertently summoned a demon through acts of war he committed during the Vietnam Conflict. He passed the Sanshi to Vy’s mother Chi, and the more they hurt themselves, the more it grew. Because the spirit can only be killed by drowning, Sang explains that once Chi was fully possessed, she tried to drown Vy to stop the Sanshi from infecting her, forcing Sang to drown Chi to save Vy’s life.
Vy rushes to the theater for her latest speaking engagement. Vy tries reconciling with Robbie backstage, but Robbie tells Vy he doesn’t believe anything she has to say anymore.
During her presentation, Vy’s compulsive scratches turn into violent contortions. Vy hurries away from her confused audience and returns home to find her father dead.
Vy collapses after putting her finger into the hole opened in the back of her head. When she is rushed to the hospital, the doctor explains to Robbie how Vy gave herself brain damage that could cause hallucinations.
Robbie brings Vy home to recover. Vy tries telling Robbie that she thinks her father put something inside her, but Robbie refuses to listen to Vy’s claims.
Using drugged food to knock him unconscious, Vy restrains Robbie to their bed while she conducts a ritual to summon the Sanshi for a confrontation. Coerced by a taunting doppelganger into considering suicide, Vy uses an electric saw to amputate her right hand so she will no longer be able to scratch her itch.
The Sanshi materializes to assist Vy in sawing off her other hand. Vy uses the opportunity to forcibly saw off the demon’s hand before continuing to hack at the creature.
Vy crawls outside with the Sanshi in pursuit. Vy tackles the creature into her outdoor swimming pool. While wrestling with the Sanshi underwater, Vy sees the demon take on the appearances of her father, mother, and herself as a child. Vy cradles her younger self and begins swimming back up toward the surface.
Having escaped his restraints, Robbie pulls his wife out of the water. Robbie sees Vy cradling an infant with a hole in its head whom she identifies as herself. The infant melts away. The Sanshi’s floating shape disappears too.
Vy later reveals to Robbie that she is pregnant. The couple reconciles and goes on to have the child.