A Look At Toxic Families & Cult Behavior: Self-Help (2025) Review
It must be cult season as this isn't the first film we've watched recently that dealt with cults, but it is the first one that takes our expectations and stomps them out. Directed and co-written by Erik Bloomquist, along with Carson Bloomquist, Self-Help is about Olivia, a young woman who infiltrates a self actualization community to help her mom. Following up the duo's last film, Founder's Day (2023), Self-Help explores toxic family dynamics and people who take advantage of those looking for more in their lives.
Olivia (Landry Bender) has a had a rough go at it with her mom. Rebecca (Amy Hargreaves) seems like a woman always looking for more, looking to feel free. So when Curtis Clark (Jack Weber) comes along telling her she can indeed be free, she believes him. Olivia's friend Sophie (Madison Lintz), convinces her to face her mom in the heart of the community she's attached herself to. But when they arrive, the threads of Clark's facade unravel, but not before Olivia and the relationship she has with her mother is put to the test.
Weber's portrayal of an anti-cult cult leader strikes as almost too authentic. He's charming but it's evident that there's something else simmering beneath surface. Bender communicates Olivia's trauma and her desire to feel loved and seen by her mom. But there's an aspect to her character that isn't fully explored and it's a disservice to the development of who she becomes later in the film.
Though Olivia serves as the main character, it's Rebecca that most intrigues me. How did she get entangled with Clark? What does she want freedom from? To avoid spoilers I won't dive more into how her story plays out, but there's so much more to this character and I would've loved a little more of her. But the Bloomquists kept this horror thriller tight at 90 minutes.
Self-Help serves as an entertaining look at three sides of a cult coin. It's a snapshot look at the people that end up in these cults, the families who want them back, and the ones who are behind it all. It answers the question, who gets to be free?
Rating: ⭐⭐.5/5
Self-Help hits theaters October 31, 2025.