Review: Help Yourself & Seek Out Erik Bloomquist’s SELF-HELP

I’ve been following Erik Bloomquist’s career for a few years now. He’s an intriguing filmmaker, taking genre movies and adding his own special twist to them, filtering them through an arthouse sensibility. Films like Long Lost and Ten Minutes to Midnight show someone who understands the tropes and rules of the horror/thriller genre, but also someone who has the courage and confidence to play with them. Bloomquist’s latest film, Self-Help, does this brilliantly. Positioning itself as a horror movie, the film adds layer after layer, ultimately delivering something fresh and surprising. It’s entertaining. It’s fun. It’s bold.

A simple logline – about a young woman infiltrating a dangerous self-actualisation community after her mother becomes entangled with its enigmatic leader — sets up a series of expectations, but Bloomquist subverts them all. The set-up is tense, but when it spins off into its own thing, Self-Help becomes a messed-up family drama with dark undertones.

At the centre of Self-Help is a slew of first-rate performances. Landry Bender does excellent work in the lead role, delivering an outer fragility but inner strength that gives her character, Olivia, a multi-layered arc. Bosch star Madison Lintz walks a fine line as Bender’s best friend, while Amy Hargreaves strikes just the right balance of ditzy and detached. Jake Weber is always good value, and his turn as the cult leader hits exactly the right notes – he’s creepy, but also very charismatic. Even Bloomquist himself excels in a small but pivotal role.

I really enjoyed the tone of Self-Help. It’s funny when it needs to be and dark when it wants to be — there’s even a real eye-watering gouging sequence! I was also very taken with Mike Magilnick’s cinematography, as well as the music by Haim Mazar.

Self-Help proves that people are still making good films out there. They might not be dominating cinemas in the way that something like Minecraft is, but they exist and discerning audiences must –  and need to – seek them out. 

Erik Bloomquist is a young filmmaker of note, and while he might not yet be a household name, he is crafting small but perfectly formed movies on a low budget and on his own terms. I don’t want to get into the specifics of Self-Help, because it would ruin some of its surprises. I’ll simply say that you should help yourself and go track it down. You’ll thank me later.