Jump to the good stuff: The Story | Some Thoughts | Final Verdict
The Story:
Hypochondriac is a psychological drama about a gay man coping with his past while questioning his sanity.
Will (Zach Villa) is a potter who grew up in a wealthy family with a mother suffering from schizophrenia. When he was twelve, she tried to kill him. As an adult, Will hides the emotional scars from his past through fun antics, drugs, and alcohol. His boyfriend, Luke (Devon Graye), is eager to take their relationship to the next level, but Will won’t open up to him.
After being estranged from his mother (Marlene Forte) for ten years, she attempts to get in touch with him. And as she reaches out, Will begins to suffer from physical ailments while also hearing and seeing things. Although he’s concerned about the visual and auditory hallucinations, he goes to several doctors and only mentions the physical symptoms.
Afraid of the possibility that he has psychological issues, Will starts pushing people away. And as the film plays out, Will’s grasp on realty becomes more tenuous.
Some Thoughts:
Because of the dark hallucinations and tensions that arise from them, Hypochondriac is often described as a horror movie. It’s also marketed as one, which is why I chose to review it in October. While the film has some tense moments, I don’t find it chilling enough to be considered a horror movie.
The film never gives us a good sense of Will’s relationship with his mother or his father (Chris Doubek). Whenever Will’s childhood is shown, it’s from a distance. We never see them actually connecting or interacting past cause and effect. Because of this, we never get a real sense of the actual relationship he has with his parents. We also don’t get a sense of how Will’s parents interacted with each other.
Will’s parents are separated, and at one point Will goes to his mother’s lavish house looking for answers, but we have no idea how she can afford it. Did she come from money? Is Will’s father rich enough to afford two houses? There are no answers.
We do know that Will’s mother was hospitalized when he was young, but we don’t know for how long or what happened when she was released. We also have no idea how it affected his relationship with his father.
Will’s father is cold when he visits. Since Will’s childhood relationship with his parents is never explored, we have no idea how this odd relationship came about. And since much of the present time story is predicated on Will’s past, it takes away from the emotional power Hypochondriac could have had with a fully realized story.
Final Verdict:
Hypochondriac refuses to show Will’s relationship with his parents and suffers from it. What should be an emotional and though provoking film about mental illness ends up being a hum drum drama masquerading as horror.
