The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster

This COULD have been great, it really could have. Maybe it just needed an extra 10 or 15 minutes to flesh out Vicaria & Chris' relationship, to SHOW us how close they were rather than just tell us. Maybe it needed to show a bit more of Vicaria's school life, to show us just how much of a genius she is rather than just tell us. Whatever it's lacking, it's not lacking much of it tbh.

While, yes, it IS a retelling of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, it's also more than just that. It's a story of familial bonds, and how far one young woman will go to keep those bonds alive. It's a story that gives the Creature a better chance at finding the familial love that Shelley's Creature was so cruelly denied. It's a story that doesn't just update the source material to fit our current world, but also updates the hope within.

Denzel Whitaker puts in a solid performance as Kango, the local drug lord; Keith Holliday is equally good as Kango's second, Jamaal; Chad Coleman is REALLY good in his limited screen time as Vicaria's dad, Donald; but Laya DeLeon Hayes is the real star (as she should be, playing the lead role) as Vicaria, the strong, determined young woman fighting to revive her brother and thereby restore her family.

Honestly one of the best adaptations of Mary Shelley's iconic novel I've ever seen.

Well, this 2023 movie titled "The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster" from writer and director Bomani J. Story was watchable. But that was also about there was to it. The storyline is just a take on the classic Mary Shelley "Frankenstein" story, except it is set in modern times.

And that just doesn't make "The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster" an outstanding movie experience, because writer and director Bomani J. Story doesn't bring anything new or innovative to the table. So this movie is one that came quietly and will disappear just as quietly.

It should be noted that the acting performances in the movie were good, especially by leading actress Laya DeLeon Hayes (playing Vicaria). And it was nice to see Chad L. Coleman (playing Donald) in the movie as well.

Visually then "The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster" was okay. It was not a movie that made use of a lot of special effects, and whatever practical effects that were in the movie were adequate for what they were. I wasn't impressed though.

The movie runs at 91 minutes, but it is a somewhat bland viewing experience. And this is hardly a movie that I will recommend for horror fans to rush out and get to watch. If you are familiar with the "Frankenstein" story, which I assume you are, then you have essentially already seen "The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster".

My rating of "The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster" lands on a four out of ten stars.

Death is a disease and Vicaria (Laya DeLeon Hayes) intends to cure it. The black teenage genius comes from a rough neighborhood where drugs and death is all around. When her brother is killed, she puts her theory to use.

This is obviously trying to adapt Mary Shelley's Frankenstein into a modern 'ghetto'. There are moments of good tension. I actually find the school more compelling than the monster story. The 'monster' does not have enough screen time. Brother and sister should have more time together before and after the transformation. This movie needs to be about their relationship. The most interesting monster performance is Kango. The father is also interesting. This movie has a few good moments and probably a fine elevator pitch. It struggles to hold together in the second half.

The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster is not your typical Frankenstein movie, it's starring an almost all black cast and features the theme of growing up in the hood and the dangers that come with that. The actors deliver a solid job and we have some nice bloody gore, but on the other hand the movie suffers from plot holes and unrealistic scenes. Our protagonist somehow finds all the equipment to build a device to bring back people from the dead in an abandoned warehouse and also manages to steal some dead bodies for her to saw together for her monster. There are many other scenes that did not make sense and I think the script had too many problems. Also in the beginning there's a conflict with our protagonist and her teacher and the movie treats the teacher like she is the bad one, but it was the protagonist that kept interrupting and wouldn't listen and after dealing with the consequences her father got mad at the teacher telling her to teach even though that was what she was trying to do before the younger girl kept interrupting her disturbing the class. That immediately gave this movie a huge racial aspects that was unnecessary. With a slightly different script this movie could have turned out better but this way it's just forgettable and there are way better movies about bringing back people from the dead like Frankenstein did. [5,2/10]

This movie was listed among horror films, but it doesn't belong in that category. The core concept about the struggles of Black people within their own communities is good, but it wasn't portrayed as one might expect. While the attempt to explore it from a sci-fi perspective was interesting, the execution was poor. The trailer gave a vibe of horror and suspense, but it delivered only the latter.

The lead character performs well, and her development is solid. The young girl also fits her role. However, I wish the lead had more depth-perhaps a darker personality and a stronger obsession with her mission.

The VFX are poor. Honestly, the science aspect doesn't make sense. The character is portrayed as a nerd, but she seems to know little about physics or chemistry, although she's good at biology. We see electrical circuits, diodes, gates, and anatomy pictures in her books, but she is far more naïve than her portrayal suggests.

It feels as though the movie was initially written by an adult but later taken over by a child.