{"id":49344,"date":"2025-08-24T18:12:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T22:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=49344"},"modified":"2025-08-24T18:12:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T22:12:11","slug":"self-help-frightfest-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/24\/self-help-frightfest-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"SELF-HELP [FRIGHTFEST 2025]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A young woman follows her mother to a cult-like enclave, has to face her demons, and see if her mom is in danger in the uneven psychological horror-drama Self-Help, presented as part of FrighFest 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a scary prospect, finding your often wayward mother joining what might be a cult. It\u2019s a lot to see someone you love lose themselves, no longer listen to reason, and make awful choices. What can be done? One way is to approach head-on, meet them there, and make sense of it all. That\u2019s what Olivia sets out to do. She leaves college with BFF Sophie to meet her mother at a commune run by an online charismatic leader, Curtis Clark. Self-Help, from director Erik Bloomquist (writing with brother Carson), looks at how they all deal with the new situation\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Self-Help is muddled in what it wants to say and how, which can be frustrating. Although I ultimately mostly liked the final product, many of my notes are \u201cwhere is this going? What\u2019s the tone? What are they trying to say? Okay, that\u2019s a nothing.\u201d Self-Help might feel lesser than it should due to the setup; what the Bloomquists actually set out to accomplish, and the story as it is is a much lower, personal story; one not particularly compelling or fully realized.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the outset, Self-Help looks to be a cult horror film (as in dealing with cults, not a cult following; The Sacrament over Phantom of the Paradise). When Olivia and Sophie arrive at the compound of Curtis Clark, played with a dangerous charm by Jake Weber, they find a barn with masked people, chanting, and a clear sense of unease. There is even an off-putting and semi-satiric cartoon of the leader and his beliefs. But it\u2019s a nothing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Just after this creepy scene, we find the girls casually unpacking in a regular house, well lit, comfortable look, TV on the wall, using their phones, hanging out. No lead-in, just a strange cut to the next day (the film has many, slamming through moments without resolving a scene; it\u2019s odd). The sequence we just witnessed is meant in the world of the film as a reset for attendees, a bit of theatricality for a \u201cnot-cult\u2019 cult. Maybe it is just a self-help group after all, but it takes the air out of any suspense and creepiness. This happens often, as there is a suspensive element indicating it\u2019s more than it seems. Bad things happen. Emotions get big, and violence occurs when an acolyte, once sent away, returns. Another attendee speaks of atrocities that might have happened, deaths, and harm. But just as much, it just might be a scam, taking people’s money, and the more horrifying elements happen as part of personal therapy; just the titular self-help to a more extreme manner. Each time it seems like ramping to a story focus wipes it away. As the ending approaches might be finally building to something to tie it together, but it dissipates with a \u201coh, okay; that\u2019s also a nothing?\u201d It’s clear this house and situation are wrong, but it’s unclear just how so.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet, despite the frustrations, I was strangely into it. I appreciate story turns and being unable to truly see where it goes. Of course, the downside of the method leads to narrative dead-ends and dangling threads that weren\u2019t tied together with the limp conclusion. But throughout it has a great sense of unease and discomfort, thanks to the claustrophobic cinematography. The camera sets the unease. The script from the Bloomquists has a lot to say about getting help, finding what you need, whatever the cost, how programs might work, familiar relationships, and the like.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As Olivia, Landry Bender of Fuller House and the Republic of Sarah, is a grounding force as she leads us through the maze of the story. She plays the concern and confusion, working out the worry and truth. This is her journey, working through her traumas after a childhood incident involving her mother and a clown. She wears the trauma and its effects, both direct and subconscious, very well. She has a great presence, finding a personal depth even if her trauma, the central one of the film, is not all that compelling and slight. The other actors are able, but written flatly, existing as means to ends, with Amy Hargreaves as Olivia\u2019s mother as the standout.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For the more outright horror, Self-Help has its moments. Some self-inflicted ocular terror is grisly. An attack from a masked man is thrilling and bloody. A\u00a0 drug trip is incredible anxiety, with impressive camera work and design in a long, continuous sequence. The brothers previously made Founders Day and She Came From the Woods, more slasher territory, and their skill in the end of filmmaking is noticeable (even if those films are also just above middling); less so in building drama.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Self-Help is muddled, finding little bits of story and character across different arcs, never truly grasping what it wants to say and do with it. Even so, there is something within that makes it a watchable and enjoyable film. A more focused script and something rather could come out of it, but as it is; there is a sense of something working under the surface among the shifts and whiffs. A solid lead in Bender goes a long way.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Self-Help premiered at FrightFest, running August 23rd to 25th, 2025.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A young woman follows her mother to a cult-like enclave, has to face her demons, and see if her mom is in danger in the uneven psychological horror-drama Self-Help, presented as part of FrighFest 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1284,12],"tags":[302,3778,477],"class_list":["post-49344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-festivalsevents","category-movie-reviews","tag-drama","tag-festival","tag-horror"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49344"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49348,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49344\/revisions\/49348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}