A man begins to have a mental breakdown after he is contacted by his estranged mother in Hypochondriac. When he was 12 years old, Will (Zach Villa) was nearly strangled to death by his mother (Marlene Forte), before she was admitted to a psych ward. 18 years later, Will is working at an upscale pottery company run by Blossom (Madeline Zima), where he helps out his co-worker Sasha (Yumarie Morales) with her panic attacks, while he has recovered from his own. However, this changes when Will is contacted by his mother, who in a paranoid fashion warns Will not to trust his live-in boyfriend Luke (Devon Graye). This results in a slow increase in anxiety for Will, which manifests itself in the form of a man dressed as a wolf.
Hypochondriac is a horror film ”based on a real breakdown” by Addison Heimann. The film depicts the mental breakdown of the protagonist Will, who begins to doubt his sense of reality and comes to fear that he will follow in his mother's footsteps and become a danger to himself and others. Will's anxiety is manifested in the form of a man dressed as a wolf, reference a halloween costume Will wore as the child, the depiction of which is a clear homage to Frank the Rabbit from Donnie Darko.
As someone who battles anxiety himself, there are some aspects of Hypochondriac that I found to be a bit triggering, particularly a scene where Will seeks help from his father (Chris Doubek), only to be met with complete apathy. There also many aspects of the film, included a recurring motif of a winking dog poster, that leaves you questioning how much of the film is actually happening as depicted or is merely just a construct of Will's anxiety. Altogether, the film is an interesting depiction of mental breakdown as horror film.
Trailer for Hypochondriac – Fantasia 2022
