LOS ANGELES — What is death? Can it be cured?

Bomani J. Story’s new film “The Angry Black Girl and her Monster,” inspired by Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” challenges the viewer’s ideas of life and death.

In the film, death is always present in the life of Vicaria (Laya DeLeon Hayes), just as violence, police brutality and substance abuse are also present.

When her brother dies, Vicaria decides to put an end to death. For her, death becomes a symptom that can be cured, and in curing death, she brings her brother back to life.

But in bringing him back to life, there are consequences.

When asked if her perspective of death had changed when making the movie, DeLeon Hayes told Spectrum News, “With life, there is going to be death. And with death, there is going to be life.”

“I think our movie explores that, and if anything, it offered me some type of hope that we also get to see in the film,” she added. “In my life, I felt more hopeful and more healed after doing the movie.”

“The Angry Black Girl and her Monster” also stars Denzel Whitaker and Chad L. Coleman.

One thing Coleman wants folks to know about the film is that it is not a Black movie.

“This is a movie for everyone,” he told Spectrum News. “There is something in it for you. The person that wrote Shelly’s ‘Frankenstein’ was not Black. They wrote a movie that a young Black man took and saw this vision in. What he is giving you is an amazing hybrid for everyone.”

The film is now in theaters and will be available on demand and digitally on June 23.

Click the arrow above to watch the full interview with the cast.