Self-Help – FrightFest 2025 Movie Review
First Reaction – Self-Help takes a twisted dive into what can happen within a cult.
Director: Erik Bloomquist
Writer: Erik Bloomquist, Carson Bloomquist (Screenplay)
Cast
- Landry Bender (The Sitter)
- Jake Weber (Dawn of the Dead)
- Madison Lintz (The Walking Dead)
- Amy Hargreaves (13 Reasons Why)
- Erik Bloomquist (Founders Day)
Plot: A young woman infiltrates a dangerous self-actualization community after her mother becomes entangled with its enigmatic leader.
Runtime: 1 Hour 25 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Self-Help starts when Olivia (Bender) and Sophie (Lintz) go in search of Olivia’s mother Rebecca (Hargreaves). She has become caught up in a self-actualization community run by Curtis Clark (Weber).
Olivia learns to adapt to the community and begins seeing uncomfortable activities happening. She must figure out what is right and whether she can save her mother before she falls deeper into what the community wants.
Verdict on Self-Help
Recap
The movie follows a young woman who goes in search of her mother who has joined a community with strange motivations. However, her time their see her trying to get drawn in to understand what is best for her, but can she escape before becoming the latest member.
Best Parts
The movie uses the creepy concept of a cultlike figure taking control of the minds of people. It shows how they can push people into following them with extra side effects. We get gruesome violence involved in what people believe is for the bigger force. However, this shines in the different ways thing end up going in. The performances help make this shiny more as we see the fully committed roles that show the characters in the different worlds.
Worst Parts
Some of the twisted steps felt too much, for what the message was suggesting, leading to more flashy violence than something which fits the story being told.
Final Thoughts –Self-Help is a twisted dive into cults and how to fight them.
