Sumith Prasad
Shal Ngo’s second feature film ‘Control Freak’ is in the works at Hulu. The shooting of the movie will begin in Covington, Kentucky, next month. An adaptation of his short film ‘Control,’ the psychological horror thriller revolves around a motivational speaker who is plagued by an uncontrollable itch on her head after getting infected by a parasitic demon from her homeland. Ngo is helming the project based on his own screenplay. Kelly Marie Tran and Miles Robbins lead the film’s cast, which also includes Toan Le and Kieu Chinh.
Ngo made his debut as a feature director with the 2023 action drama ‘The Park,’ which follows a group of rival children who battle for the control of an abandoned theme park after a virus eliminates all the adults in the world. The film earned Ngo the Best Director award at the Newport Beach Film Festival. The director’s ‘Control’ is one of the short films compiled in the second season of Hulu’s ‘Bite Size Halloween’ as the fourth episode. The anthology series was made by 20th Digital Studio, a part of the 20th Century Studios.
Before becoming a feature director, Ngo made his mark through short films. His 2021 short ‘The Box’ is a combination of documentary, stop-motion animation, and cinematic vignettes that explores the “world of solitary confinement.” Through the autobiographical ‘Hapa,’ the filmmaker explores his identity after learning that he is 51% white and 48% Asian. The short was made in association with the DNA testing company 23andMe and Tribeca Enterprises.
Ngo’s ‘The Last Fisherman’ premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, where it was screened as a NOW honoree, a program that discovers and celebrates “new online work” from independent filmmakers. The short centers on an aging fisherman who finds an android woman from his past in a dystopian future. The rest of his credits include ‘The Homebody,’ ‘Tangents,’ ‘Secret Garden,’ and ‘The Glow of a Warm Aquarium.’
Covington, one of the largest cities in Kentucky, previously hosted the filming of several acclaimed projects. Yorgos Lanthimos’ horror drama ‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer,’ Lily Collins and Zac Efron-starrer ‘Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile,’ and Robert Redford’s ‘The Old Man & the Gun’ are a few of the popular films shot in the city.
Read More: Brian Cox’s Feature Directorial Debut Glenrothan to be Shot in Glasgow
