Fantasia 2022: ‘Hypochondriac’ Review
Stars: Zach Villa, Marlene Forte, Devon Graye, Yumarie Morales, Madeline Zima | Written and Directed by Addison Heimann
The horror genre and mental illness don’t quite go hand-in-hand but movie directors have always found the genre a good way to express and show these problems. From 1963’s The Haunting (and even before that) to more recent films such as Daniel Isn’t Real, real-life problems can always be portrayed in scary ways.
Hypochondriac explores the life of Will (Zac Villa) who as a young boy was nearly murdered by his own mother. She was subsequently put away but despite not seeing her, remained in Will’s thoughts. Now, eighteen years later, he is living a happy life until he starts to hear from his mum in the form of parcels and phone messages. This coincides with Will starting to see things, and although the doctors tell him he is physically okay, he is certain that mentally, he is going the same way his mother did.
I’m not sure this is a particularly new idea but part of what I found most interesting about Hypochondriac is that the lead character knew that he was unwell. He is constantly trying to tell everyone what is happening but they either won’t listen or don’t believe him until it’s too late. I’m sure this is often the case in real life and it does well to create sympathy for Will who we soon learn can’t control what happens to him. We see him often do things he clearly does not want to do.
Part of what makes him do these things is a wolf, or as he explains in the film, a man in a wolf suit. That might seem quite strange, and it is an obvious nod to Donnie Darko, but it’s also effective in being pretty scary. The image that comes from the wolf, and the mask the person wears, can be both frightening and create some very cool imagery.
Hypochondriac is actually full of great images, with some awesome cinematography. Never quite going over that line to become ‘arthouse-like’ but there’s some interesting ideas and shots that I’d not really seen before.
The scenes of horror here come from the wolf and the occasional moment of blood, which is more shocking because of the slow drama that unfolds. It doesn’t really feel like a horror movie so when things do go that way it comes as a bit of a surprise.
Villa in the lead role is fantastic. It is quite an intense role, for the character in the story and for the actual actor. I can imagine some of the scenes were not easy, there are lots of emotions involved and after reading that the director is ‘exorcising his own history of his bi-polar mother, than you can easily believe how it might have felt on set. But Villa is excellent at firstly making the character likeable, because he easily could have come across as self-centred and then the impact the director is going for wouldn’t have hit as hard.
Hypochondriac never felt like a movie that was going to have a happy ending but it’s not the depressing conclusion I was perhaps expecting. There is hope. And I think that can be very important when telling a story like this one. The pain, the illness, might never go away but life can be okay. Can be good in fact. Hypochondriac is another very good genre movie about mental illness.
*** 3/5
Hypochondriac screened as part of this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival.
