IS GOD IS movie poster | ©2026 Amazon/MGM/Orion

Rating: R
Stars: Kara Young, Mallori Johnson, Xavier Mills, Justen Ross, Josiah Cross, Vivica A. Fox, Janelle Monáe, Mykelti Williamson, Erika Alexander, Sterling K. Brown
Writer: Aleshea Harris, based on her play
Director: Aleshea Harris
Distributor: Amazon/MGM/Orion
Release Date: May 15, 2026

In adapting her stage play IS GOD IS, writer/director Aleshea Harris can and does make the horrifying aspects of her story more visually visceral. Theatre can do a lot, including some things that film can’t, but close-ups of a burn-scarred face come off as more literal onscreen.

Burn scars play a big role in IS GOD IS, which blends magical realism, dark comedy and a premise reminiscent of Greek tragedy.

Twin sisters Racine (Kara Young) and Anaia (Mallori Johnson) live and do pretty much everything together. They are so bonded that they can speak to each other telepathically. Both are still marked by a fire in early childhood, though Racine’s visible injuries are confined to one arm. Anaia’s face is covered in a twisting labyrinth of flame-made ridges and trenches.

Anaia has the gentler nature, while Racine is eternally ready to go to literal bloody war if anyone makes a negative remark about her twin’s appearance.

Both sisters are astonished when a letter arrives. It’s from their mother Ruby (Vivica A. Fox), whom they had always believed died in the fire that marked them so indelibly.

The siblings travel from New Jersey to Tennessee, where Ruby is on her deathbed, her facial scarring decorated. Surrounded by handmaids as befits a queen, Ruby tells her daughters that she thought they would be better off without her, as she was so badly injured in the fire. Whether or not this is her true reason, Ruby’s wounds are such that they shock even her themselves-burned daughters.

Ruby has summoned her children here because she has a final task for them. Since it’s stated on the poster, this isn’t much of a spoiler – Ruby wants Racine and Anaia to kill their father (Sterling K. Brown), who set the catastrophic fire.

Racine concludes that, as God creates people, and their mother created the twins, Ruby is God. Anaia thinks this makes sense, but she’s not so sure about the mission “God” gave them. Blood is blood, though, and Anaia is not about to abandon Racine, nor vice-versa.

The second act of IS GOD IS chronicles the sisters’ search for their father, and the third act is occupied by what happens when they find him.

Harris sustains a poetic intensity throughout. We are beguiled by the connection between Racine and Anaia, even as we wonder who will wind up influencing whom the most. Racine is a little too eager to find causes to wreak havoc, while Anaia is much more reflective on why people do what they do and are who they are.

As they encounter provocation, menace, and in one instance are prompted to wonder if a different kind of affinity for another person is possible, we become more and more invested in the sisters’ saga.

Young gives Racine the right kind of adamant ferocity yet is still credibly vulnerable to Anaia. Johnson has a wonderful, thoughtful stillness and is superb at conveying feeling through the heavy prosthetics covering most of her face.

Fox has regal authority and Brown, when he eventually arrives in full, gives a performance that is nuanced in its painful impact. Janelle Monáe, Mykelti Williamson, Erika Alexander, Xavier Mills, Justen Ross, and Josiah Cross all provide admirable support as other major figures along the journey.

IS GOD IS has both cinematic heft and the kind of after-effect associated with good theatre, giving us the sense that we have been not simply watching but interacting with what we are seeing. It is self-aware in the best way, teasing us lightly the better to hit hard when it intends to do so.

Related: Movie  Review: AFFECTION
Related: Movie  Review: ITCH!
Related: Movie  Review: HOKUM
Related: Movie  Review: ANIMAL FARM
Related: Movie  Review: OVER  YOUR DEAD BODY
Related: Movie  Review: THE WOLF AND THE LAMB
Related: Movie  Review: BASIC PYSCH
Related: Movie  Review: SCREAMS FROM THE TOWER
Related: Movie  Review: FUZE
Related: Movie  Review: LEE CRONIN’S THE MUMMY
Related: Movie  Review: HAPPY HALLOWEEN
Related: Movie  Review: NORMAL
Related: Movie  Review: MOTHER MARY
Related: Movie  Review: FACES OF DEATH
Related: Movie  Review: EXIT 8
Related: Movie  Review: HAMLET
Related: Movie  Review: THE YETI
Related: Movie  Review: OUR HERO, BALTHAZAR
Related: Movie  Review: THE SERPENT”S SKIN
Related: Movie  Review: PRETTY LETHAL
Related: Movie  Review: READY OR NOT 2:  HERE I COME

Follow us on Twitter at ASSIGNMENT X
Like us on Facebook at ASSIGNMENT X

Article Source: Assignment X
Article: Movie  Review: IS GOD IS

Related Posts: