Some say you cannot escape the inevitable, and, for some hereditary mental illnesses, that can be even scarier than any boogeyman or violent act. The mind can play tricks on your and twist upon itself, and the fight for sanity can lead to desperate acts. In Addison Heimann’s accomplished and alluring film, Hypochondriac, one young man’s fight for control takes him on a horrifying ride.
When he was a kid, Will lived with his parents until his mother had a breakdown and tried to strangle him to death. As an adult, Will (Zach Villa) has a strange (but stable) job working as a ceramist for an uppity rich influencer, and he has been with his boyfriend, Luke, for nearly a year. He spent his life ignoring his mother until, eighteen years later, she reaches back out to him when she sends him a package of empty DVD cases and begins leaving him mysterious, ranting voicemails.
Even though Will is cautious about his mother’s re-emergence (he initially tells Luke that she’s dead), he doesn’t want to believe that her presence is burrowing into his head. Not only does he keep injuring himself at home and at work, but he keeps seeing visions of a large wolf creature that could be tied to his childhood and the lurking trauma beneath. Hiemann and editor Mike Hugo skillfully cuts Hypochondriac together so scenes bleed into one another or Will is jarred back to reality. It makes you feel like you’re losing your mind, and you will begin to question everything.
Villa is likeable and charming, so what happens to Will is immediately concerning. This is a go-for-broke, gutsy performance. You want him to get away from all of his demons, because you don’t want them to come after you next. Hypochondriac is ambitious–it claws its way under your skin and invades your brain.
Hypochondriac is in theaters now.
