The official trailer has arrived for Is God Is, a grindhouse-tinged thriller marking the feature directorial debut of award-winning playwright Aleshea Harris. Watch the trailer above, then read on for what to know about the adaptation led by Kara Young, Mallori Johnson, Janelle Monáe, Vivica A. Fox, and Sterling K. Brown.
A Dying Order Turns Into a Road to Ruin
Based on Harris’ award-winning 2018 play of the same name, Is God Is follows twin sisters Racine and Anaia, both marked by disfiguring burn scars and a shared history they cannot outrun. In the trailer’s stylised title cards, Kara Young is introduced as Racine the Rough One, while Mallori Johnson is billed as Anaia the Quiet One.
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Their mother, bedridden and scarred, is known only as “She” or “God” to her daughters. “She made us, didn’t she?” the Rough One tells her sister. From that belief comes her final command: hunt down the father responsible for the fire and kill him. The sisters head to “The Valley” to confront him and his new family, and the footage frames the journey like a curse being carried forward rather than a carefully measured plan.
The rest of the cast is introduced with mythic weight. Vivica A. Fox plays Ruby the God, Janelle Monáe is the New Wife, Erika Alexander is Divine The Healer, and Mykelti Williamson is Chuck Hall the Lawyer. As for the man they are sent to take out, that would be none other than Sterling K. Brown, who appears as the Monster, though the trailer is careful not to reveal too much of him.
Rage, Reclaimed
Harris writes and directs Is God Is, translating her own stage work to film without sanding down its edges. The anger at the heart of the story is deliberate. Speaking to The Guardian in 2023 about the play’s foundation, Harris said, “Is God Is celebrates and affirms their anger without care for those who don’t believe Black women and girls get to be mad. The well-worn tropes were ripe for reinvigoration.”
That perspective carries into the trailer. The sisters’ fury is not softened or apologised for. It is layered, complicated, and earned. As stage play co-director Zindzi Okenyo previously said of the material, “Black women are often stereotyped into just being strong or having to be survivors in a one-dimensional kind of way, whereas the twins are so multifaceted. My aim is to make sure that every character has deep humanity.”
Is God Is opens exclusively in U.S. cinemas on May 15, 2026.
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