Death has been marking the life of the young and intelligent Vicaria (Laya DeLeon Hayes) for as long as she can remember. Both her mother and her brother have died, the latter murdered. And she lives alone with her authoritarian father (Chad L. Coleman). "Death is a disease" says Vicaria, a disease that she is about to eradicate by herself. After the brutal and sudden murder of her brother, she embarks on a dangerous journey to bring him back to life, though the results aren't entirely successful. A series of circumstances have led her to become a mad scientist capable of resurrecting bodies and making them a monstrous extension of all the rage and frustration that she has had to live and is having to live. Death can be cured !
A contemporary Frankenstein that examines, through terror, the horrors and brutalities faced by African-American communities living in marginal areas of the United States. Police violence, racism, criminal gangs, and the world of drugs have taken their toll on the protagonists and this is demonstrated throughout the film.
The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster(2023) thematically challenges our ideas of life and death. Bomani J. Story, the film's writer and director, crafts a thrilling tale about a family that, despite the terrors of systemic pressure, will survive and be reborn again. There is plenty of violence, grue and gore, the heart stops several times. The film is somewhat reminiscent of the much better ¨Deadly Friend¨ 1986 by Wes Craven also with a teenager from a simple suburban neighborhood who creates a kind of Frankenstein for his own purposes. The interpretations of everyone around are acceptable, such as: Laya DeLeon Hayes playing the lonely teenage genius, Chad L. Coleman as her daddy, Denzel Whitaker as Kango, Reilly Brooke Stith as Aisha , among others. The motion picture was mediocrely written/produced/directed by Bomani J. Story.
The low-budget film turns out to be mediocre, so it is advisable to see other better versions inspired by the Mary Shelley classic, among which I would include the following: ¨Victor Frankenstein¨ (2015) by Paul McGuigan with Daniel Radcliffe, James McAvoy, Jessica Brown Findlay. ¨Mary Shelley's Frankenstein¨ (1994) by Kenneth Branagh with Robert De Niro, Tom Hulce, Kenneth Branagh. ¨Frankenstein unbound¨ (1990) by Roger Corman with Jason Patrick, John Hurt, Bridget Fonda, Nick Brimble. ¨The Curse of Frankenstein¨ (1957) by Terence Fisher with Peter Cushing, Hazel Court, Robert Urquhart, Christopher Lee. ¨Bride of Frankenstein¨ (1935) by James Whale with Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson, Ernest Thesiger. ¨Frankenstein¨ (1931) by James Whale with Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles.
