A brilliant teenager believes death is a disease that can be cured. After the brutal and sudden murder of her brother, she embarks on a dangerous path to bring him back to life. A film by Bomani J. Story.

The story follows Vicaria (Laya DeLeon Hayes), an intelligent teenager whose mother was killed when she was very young, and recently lost her brother Chris (Edem Atsu-Swanzy) which has broken her father Donald (Chad L. Coleman).

She has her own theory that death is a disease, it has spread throughout her family, infecting her older brother before taking his life. If death is a disease, then there’s a cure. And she will find it.

Vicaria has been obsessed with the idea of bringing her brother back to life, she managed to snatch his body including others from the morgue and put them in her secret laboratory. Until one night, Vicaria perfects her machine and successfully resurrects her brother, who was constructed by stitching body parts from multiple corpses. Vicaria soon discovers she has unleashed a vicious monster upon this world.

A modern take on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, written and directed by Bomani J. Story in his directorial debut. It’s not your typical horror story about a monster we used to know. I love the introduction narrated by the protagonist, especially the mesmerizing death sequence in slow-motion which looks simple yet powerful.

The monster in this film is like a phantom lurking in the shadows. (which sometimes it feels quite unconvincing how he can quickly move from place to place in total silence.) It misses an opportunity to delve into an idea of how the creature would live among the society. (as Dr. Ian Malcolm used to say “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”) A few chilling moments come from Jada (Amani Summer), the only child who interacts with the creature. (She even teaches him how to talk.) Despite the fact that their conversation is never shown to the audience, and her character simply fades into the background.

Laya DeLeon Hayes displays a wide range of emotions and delivers an impressive performance as an anti-hero. She can switch modes between an ingenious mad scientist and an irrational scream queen, in a matter of second. Perhaps the director wants to remind us that she’s just a child? The dinner scene is one of the most memorable moments, the suspense keeps the audience on the edge of their seats, as if something unimaginably horrific is about to happen.

Kango, the antagonist portrayed by Denzel Whitaker is an interesting character with complexity that we rarely see in this genre. There’s also an unexpected twist at the very end, but not everyone will like it.

The ANGRY BLACK GIRL and her MONSTER premiered at the South by Southwest film festival on March 11, 2023. The film had its limited theatrical release in USA on June 9. It was made available on-demand on June 23.