The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster

A brilliant teenager, traumatized by the deaths of her loved ones, begins to believe that death is a disease that can be cured. When her brother is murdered in a gang-related shootout, she steals his corpse in order to find out, but the thing she brings back to life is not a man, it’s a monster…

The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster is a obviously a Frankenstein riff, all with some commentary on the racism and inequities that are part of the daily lives of many People of Color in America, specifically Black America.

Young Vicaria is a scientist. She was born inquisitive and brilliant. She’s an innovator and a visionary, wildly pushing boundaries. Why some might even call her… mad. Mad as in a Mad Scientist, but also… just plain old mad.

Vicaria is angry. She’s raw with anger. She’s angry at life in general, and the cruelty and injustice of the world specifically. She rages against her family, her community, her school, the system, everything and everywhere, but her rage only brings her more pain and sorrow, it only punishes her. The world just has no room for an angry young black girl, her genius, her pain, or her questions. Her hunt for answers lead her down a tragic path.

As far as set up and motivation andn character goes, this is all really well done.

The script however, is a bit over-stuffed, squeezing in as much commentary as possible. For the most part, it’s decently handled, but sometimes this trips it up too. The monster as a faceless and hooded young black man is definitely a good play off the common boogeyman of White America. It’s effective as both an indictment of society, as well as a powerful new portrayal of the classic tragic monster that inspired it, but you just can’t avoid the fact that the film is more than a little lax on the actual horror. Violence as a symptom of the problem in under-resourced communities is part of the film’s point, but still… this is also a sci-fi horror film, and on the whole, it just takes too long to get to the meat, so to speak, and when it does, it often looks away too soon and too much. Worst of all, as the film goes on, there’s definitely a feeling of hesitancy, an unwillingness to commit to the film’s undercurrent of anger, to really let loose and indulge in some violence, righteous or otherwise, and because of that, the whole thing just seems unsure of what it really wants to do and say by the end.

The balance between message and meat is important, that’s what makes a great film, and this film doesn’t stick the landing. It also strays from the Frankenstein riff a little too much by the end too. There’s an argument for subverting expectations, but this is another thing the film doesn’t quite nail, which is maybe its biggest failing.

It’s really disappointing, because I was looking forward to this fim, but despite having some really great elements, not to mention a fantastic story foundation, it just doesn’t come together. There’s good stuff here, but in the end, you’ll be left wishing there had been more of something else.