phancy.com - horror reviews - MOH 2023

The Angry Black Girl And Her Monster



IMDb Info

Release Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 31m
Country: USA
Language: English
Genre Tags: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Plot Summary: Vicaria is a brilliant teenager who believes death is a disease that can be cured. After the brutal murder of her brother, she embarks on a dangerous journey to bring him back to life.

Poster - Title Card


phancy.com rating:

phancy.com notes: I wanted to like this more, but the filmmaking and writing were weak. I feel like I understand the messages presented (and there are a lot), but the dialogue is so stilted and on the nose it's like watching a horror movie with periodic scenes of "on a very special episode of Black Frankenstein." There's also a heavy reliance on jump scares and booming bass (the sound mix is all over the place). There is nothing subtle about this movie. The lead however, is great, and there's an overall earnestness that I appreciated. I'd definitely watch the writer/director's next film.


Outside Reviews:

Peyton Robinson
3 out of 4 stars - rogerebert.com

"The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster" is a soulful, bloodied cry for control. Chris is reincarnated as a faceless, hooded Black man who silently wanders the community—a familiar cultural figure of unwarranted fear. This film's intelligence lies in its subversion of expectation. Chris validates a stereotyped image against his will and by doing so, shoves a mirror in the face of culture, creating helpless fear and a tragic monster. For most of the film, he functions more as a phantom than a true terror. We see the trail of evidence he's left behind, but his actions are more symbolic of the repercussions of cycles of disenfranchisement—the true disease of Vicaria's monster. The violence, which cuts through the film with poignant vigor, is only the symptom.