As a child, Olivia (Marlee Eaton) killed a guy who was having a spicy exchange with her mom, and her mom, Rebecca (Amy Hargreaves), makes her keep it a secret instead of getting Olivia the help that she needs. Now in college, Olivia (Landry Bender) reluctantly accepts her mom’s invitation to attend a three-day retreat with her friend, Sophie (Madison Lintz), under the auspices of renewing their bond which has suffered over the years. “Self-Help” (2025) chronicles that weekend, which includes four other masked attendees aiming for radical autonomy while insisting it is not a cult. The Truth Ambassador, Curtis Clark (Jake Weber), leads the retreat, and Olivia finds out that he is her stepfather. With all of Olivia’s alarm bells ringing as people go to extremes to be their true selves, Olivia wants to leave, but people take turns convincing her to stay. Will everyone regret encouraging Olivia to embrace her instincts and be her true self? “Self-Help” is a Halloween holiday treat with narrative tricks that will keep movie goers guessing.
“Self-Help” is worth watching if only for the bonkers opening sequence showing a young Olivia at her Halloween/birthday party at an arcade. If you see the trailer, it does not convey how child Olivia has more in common with Michael Myers except instead of being randomly evil, she is a daddy’s girl to an extreme. The mom would have been terrified of her daughter and possibly overreacted whenever Olivia seemed slightly miffed. How did Olivia get away with murdering someone, and no one pathologizing her? The movie moved on too quickly from such a strong concept to introducing her as a normal college girl willing to accept any kind of treatment from the local himbo that she meets at a costume party, which is very similar to how her mom navigates the world, so it is feasible. She becomes a bland everywoman character who is not the biggest fan of her mom. It would have been nice to have a quick sequence showing how her parents socialized her into being an acceptable young lady. It makes sense that her mom would be repulsed and distant after witnessing her daughter do something monstrous. It is implied that Olivia’s relationship with her dad, Brian (Nikolay Moss), never changed, and his nonpresence hangs heavy with Olivia as a Hamlet figure ready to hurt anyone who dares to take his place in the marital bed.
Rebecca feels underwritten given her knowledge of her daughter’s homicidal tendencies and is simply presented as a weak woman incapable of existing without a man’s attention. Hargreaves is not given much to do except be pathetic, but she feels like a different person compared to the childhood version. Hargreaves waits a long time before she gets to tackle all these conflicts in one scene. Again, a bridge is needed to reconcile these two very different people shown in the past to the present. Given Olivia’s history with masks and men who are not her dad, it feels like Rebecca and Curtis should be less eager to have Olivia around, especially around people in masks, but let’s chalk it up to Curtis’ confidence at manipulating so many people and seeing himself as a puppet master who has never missed a step. Weber is the glue that holds “Self-Help” together as the “not a cult” leader, and it is fun to see what his character is going to do next. He takes turns dressing as a Burger King like messiah to a priest without the collar. Weber’s use of his voice is the most effective tool in his acting toolbox.
The supporting cast’s unhinged, seamless performance adds credibility that Curtis is normally at his best when he has more time to play with minds before revealing his face. “Self-Help” never feels as if it distributes the time needed to each element to make the story stronger. Joanne (Carol Cadby) is a highly emotional participant and enough is given about her backstory and demeanor to suggest that she was closeted and has decided to move on but is still torn and wants to be with her family. Her story toes a line of self-determination and force when others encourage her to stay when she wavers. Eventually without prodding, she and Andy (Blaque Fowler) perform extreme self-mutilating acts on themselves that horrifies everyone, but are also accepted, which lends credence to the cult vibe. Owen (Erik Bloomquist, director and cowriter) seems less enthusiastic about the process and is closer to Olivia’s sensibility of skepticism and disgust, which is weird considering that Sophie is there. It does feel as if Owen’s backstory reveals more about Curtis’ targeted strategy of choosing participants, but it is underdeveloped. A man with a clown mask (Adam Weppler) worships Curtis and is jealous of Olivia and Sophie for winning Curtis’ favor with minimal effort.
Sophie presents as if she is the fierce best friend who will always be there for Olivia, but she rings every alarm bell in the way that she keeps communicating directly with Rebecca before they arrive, encourages Olivia not to leave and treats Olivia’s reactions to the retreat as if Olivia is the weird one though Sophie does not know about the murder. If Erik and his brother, cowriter Carson Bloomquist, make a mistake in “Self-Help,” it is framing wrongdoing women as empowering, not problematic and harmful. Olivia and Sophie are not people to root for unconditionally. The Bloomquist brothers do not see Olivia as a stone-cold killer even though they depict her subconscious as such. If the film feels unfinished, it is the way that they resolve it without Olivia fully embracing her true, muderous tendencies. Instead, they shift the goal post to something less evil. Similarly, Sophie is not really unpacked when she should have been given the “Get Out” (2017) treatment.
The Bloomquist brothers are deft at setting up memorable, sensational pivotal points in story, but not reverse engineering the individual psychological profile and ensuing interpersonal dynamics that would follow. It is a great story if you can turn your brain off. The send up of the mental health industry as commodity and religion, not medicine, is more provocative and nuanced than expected. Of note, the visual homage to “The Skeleton Dance” (1929) and retro cartoon credit sequence reflects an insouciance that could have been injected earlier into the narrative and would have been a nice palette cleanser in between their most daring scenes.
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The end reveals a healed Olivia that allows her to be her real self, which is a homicidal slasher killer who decides to ignore her mother. It also aligns with the fact that Olivia is unable to make any personal connections unless a grifter is targeting her. Olivia should want to kill Curtis and Sophie or Gary and Madison. The trailer makes Olivia seem as if she misunderstood and thought the man with the clown mask was hurting her mom, not pleasuring her, but she knew it was a fling and killed him because she was angry that he was trying to be her daddy. If you are a tyke and kill some guy for a very noncommittal, brief exchange, she should butcher Curtis for taking all the money, laying hands on her and recreating that childhood trauma during a shocking sex scene. Also, she is way too chill about Sophie lying to her and treats Sophie as if she is a victim, not a willing participant. By giving money to Sophie, she could potentially be returning it to Curtis. It is not cathartic. Do not introduce a psycho killer without letting them kill.
