Ahead of its world premiere at SXSW, RLJE Films and its sister brands under AMC Networks have acquired the North American rights to the horror/thriller, “The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster.” Those brands include Shudder and AllBlk, all of which share a parent company. The horror-thriller is debuting in the Austin-based festival’s “Visions” category, a special program that “champions audacious, risk-taking artists in the new cinema landscape.”
The movie follows a brilliant teenager who believes death is a disease that can be cured. After the brutal and sudden murder of her brother, the teen embarks on a dangerous journey to bring him back to life. It’s a journey inspired by Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.”
RLJE will release the film in theaters this summer. Shudder and ALLBLK will follow with streaming debuts later in 2023.
The film is the directorial debut of Bomani J. Story, who also penned the script. It stars Laya DeLeon Hayes (“The Equalizer”), Denzel Whitaker (“Black Panther”) and Chad L. Coleman (“The Walking Dead”). Crypt TV (“The Girl in the Woods”) served as the studio and production company with Jack Davis and Darren Brandl working as producers, alongside executive producers Jeremy Elliott and Jasmine Johnson. Beth Tashjian was a co-producer.
“’Angry’ is a unique story from the great mind of Bomani J. Story and Crypt TV — powerfully brought to life on screen by Laya DeLeon Hayes,” said Mark Ward, chief acquisitions officer at RLJE Films. “We cannot wait for genre community to experience the film at SXSW for the first time.”
Brandi said they wanted to work with RLJE because of their work on off-beat thrillers and genre fare such as “Mandy” and “Color Out of Space.”
“SXSW is the perfect launchpad for ‘The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster,’ and as Crypt expands into more features, we trust the family of AMC companies to travel this film wide starting this summer, we’re in great hands,” Brandi added.