Photo caption: POSTER ART FOR “The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster.”
Vicaria is a teenager who is a bit angry about her circumstances and the environment in which she is living—with drug dealing and murders blanketing the neighborhood. Living by the mantra that “if death is a disease, then there is a cure,” she sets out to cure the disease and stop the misery that plays out daily right under her nose.
Bomani J. Story makes his directorial debut with a reimagining of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. “The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster” is a classic literary horror story filmed through a modern lens. Having world premiered at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival, Story undeniably pushes boundaries while breaking down barriers in the film industry. “The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster” is an essential piece of contemporary horror cinema that shows what happens when Black creators are given the space to tell their stories.
Laya DeLeon Hayes, 16, who plays Queen Latifah’s daughter Delilah on the CBS series The Equalizer, stars as Vicaria.
Vicaria is a brilliant teenager who believes death is a disease that can be cured. After the brutal and sudden murder of her brother, she embarks on a dangerous journey to bring him back to life. “The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster” thematically challenges our ideas of life and death. Writer and director Story crafts a thrilling tale about a family that, despite the terrors of systemic pressure, will survive and be reborn again.
Vicaria serves as Dr. Frankenstein when she resurrects her brother who has been murdered by rival gang members. Vicaria’s mother and brother have been murdered in separate incidents, and her father is holding on by a thread—one step short of complete drug addiction.
The so-called mad scientist brings her brother, Chris, back to life with a series of procedures and a tremendous electrical shock, but the experiment goes awry. And while the monster’s perspective upon being reincarnated may not have been as a demon, at first, the neighborhood deemed him as being a “boogey-man,” and that guided his attitude from that point on. He becomes a menace, destroying all who get in his way—he is determined to exact revenge on his old gang members, the local police and even his own family members.
Her neighbor/sister, who is expecting her third child, is bent on making sure her two kids are learning woke history that includes the tragedy of Emmett Till and other African American history. The young daughter named Jada, played by Amani Summer, has lovingly given Vicaria the name “mad scientist.”
Vicaria is a talented teenager who knows more than the biology teacher but, because of the glitch in her experiment, gets derailed by the prominent gang leader who wants her to use her science skills to increase his drug supply.
“The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster” brings all the elements of an engaging sci-fi horror film with a great twist for the culture, especially young Black girls.
To see Vicaria command her biology classroom by asking and answering the questions better than the instructor and rigging up a lab and all the components necessary to actually build a man is nothing short of amazing. She’s a beaming star to her neighbors, and everyone looks up to her.
Vicaria is not only angry, but sad and disillusioned and yearning to have her brother back, but she didn’t anticipate the experiment going left. She wanted to do some good, while addressing the senseless violence in her community.
This film is just one film that has recently been released that shows Black Girl, as well as Black Boy, Magic at its best—as a vehicle for other young Blacks for inspiration. Vicaria leads this film with a commanding presence and one that promises a great career in film, as well as other vehicles.
Previously, Story also wrote the feature “Rock Steady Row,” which world premiered at the 2018 Slamdance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury and Audience Award for Best Feature Film.
Look for “The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster,” screening in U.S. theaters beginning on Friday, June 9. Locally, the film will be showing at Cinema Chatham, Powered by Emagine, beginning on Thursday, June 8.
Elaine Hegwood Bowen, M.S.J., is the Entertainment Editor for the Chicago Crusader. She is a National Newspaper Publishers Association ‘Entertainment Writing’ award winner, contributor to “Rust Belt Chicago” and the author of “Old School Adventures from Englewood: South Side of Chicago.” For info, Old School Adventures from Englewood—South Side of Chicago (lulu.com).
