SELF HELP (U.S., 2025)
Official synopsis: A young woman infiltrates a dangerous self-actualization community after her mother becomes entangled with its enigmatic leader.
Erik Bloomquist and Carson Bloomquist do it again — the pair cowrite and Erik directs — with Self Help, a terrific shocker that skewers cults promising radical therapy while addressing difficult family relationships and delivering gory set pieces. The Bloomquists (Founders Day, She Came from the Woods, Ten Minutes to Midnight) know their way around scare fare, and Self Help feels like their most polished effort so far.
As a child, university student Olivia (Landry Bender) witnessed her mother Rebecca (Amy Hargreaves) in an act that led to a lifelong strain between the two. Her friend Sophie (Madison Lintz) insists that they go together to a Halloween-weekend therapy gathering so that Olivia and her mother might finally work things out. After arriving and finding the other attendees wearing animal masks, Olivia is shocked to learn that Rebecca has married that weekend’s therapist/cult leader, Curtis Clark (Jake Weber), leading to more conflict between mother and daughter, and plenty of brainwashed weirdness and violence.
Self Help is a fantastic horror film, smartly written and infused with wry humor — a shot of a pitcher of Kool-aid on the meal table is a hilarious and very telling gag. The family drama is believably portrayed, and the main cast members give spirited, enthusiastic performances. The supporting players in the weekend attendee roles do solid work as they portray broken people searching for answers.
Full of unexpected events from its opening sequence to its final scene, Self Help is a wonderfully crafted slice of horror cinema that comes highly recommended. If you aren’t yet familiar with the genre work of Erik Bloomquist and Carson Bloomquist, this is a fine place to start, and if you have been following them, you already know to put this one on your need-to-see list.
THE HAUNTED FOREST (U.S., 2025)
Official synopsis: When Zach, a high-school senior obsessed with all things horror and Halloween, goes to work at his cousin’s famous “haunted forest” attraction, a series of real-life killings makes him question his devotion to the world of the macabre.
Writer/director Keith Boynton’s The Haunted Forest is a commendable fear-fare feature that finds high school senior Zach (Grayson Gwaze) with a chance to live out his interest in horror culture by working weekends at his cousin Mark’s (Cedric Gegel) titular popular annual haunt attraction. There, he learns about a bitter rivalry involving another haunt and also meets haunt makeup artist — and romantic interest — Sarah (Kaitlyn Lunardi), who invites him to join a chant circle respecting the indigenous people who originally lived on the land. A series of suspicious deaths, accidents, and murders take place at the haunt, sending The Haunted Forest into twisty whodunit slasher horror territory.
The main characters, including Zach’s classmate friend Carly (Meghan Reed) are well written and developed, and the main players all turn in fine work. Boynton paces the drama and suspense nicely. Eerie set pieces are abundant. The Haunted Forest plays its kill scenes closer to gateway horror with most of the deaths taking place off screen.
Self Help and The Haunted Forest screened as part of FrightFest, which ran Thursday August 21–Monday 25 August, 2025n in London, U.K.
