In “Everyone is First to Die,” filmmaker Lee Daniels is less concerned with scaring viewers than with getting them to find faith.
The supernatural horror thriller, which lands on Netflix this week after a limited theatrical release, largely forgoes jump scares, favoring instead a slow build toward an extended exorcism sequence.
That all sounds very appealing—and The First Man Has His Strengths, including some effective character-driven moments—but the end result is a film that lacks punch in its first half and, like several other exorcism flicks before it, comes across as more ridiculous than dramatically satisfying in its second half.
The latest film from the director of films such as Monster’s Ball (2001) and Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013) is penned by David Coggeshall (“The Family Plan”) and Elijah Bynum (“Magazine Dreams”) and is inspired by the alleged haunting of the Ammons family in Gary, Indiana, in the early 2010s. “Everyone’s First to Die” stays in time but moves the action to Pittsburgh, where we meet the fictional Jackson family.
Single mom Ebony Jackson (Andra Day) is doing her best to raise her three children — teenagers Nate (Caleb McLaughlin of “Stranger Things”) and Shante (Demi Singleton, “King Richard”) and younger son Andre (Anthony B. Jenkins) — while struggling to make enough money and drinking at least a little too much. She’s also welcomed her mother, Alberta (Glenn Close), into her new home — the family’s third in a short period of time.
Ebony’s relationship with her mother is complicated by a less-than-pleasant childhood, even now that Alberta has found Christianity and seemingly turned her life around for the better. (Alberta stands out visually in her predominantly black church, but this is a white woman who has lived her life as part of the black community.) To further complicate matters for the Jacksons, Alberta is undergoing cancer treatment.
Their lives are further complicated by Andre’s apparent conversations with Trey, who, the boy says, lives in a hole in the basement – a basement full of flies that frustrate Ebony – and sometimes spends time in his closet.
That there is indeed an evil entity at work here is well established in films like The First Man, but the film does its obligatory dance and spends a lot of time implying that the ghost’s actions – including physically harming the children – are the work of Ebony.
Among those most concerned is determined social worker Cynthia (Mo’Nique, who made an unforgettable appearance in Daniel’s acclaimed 2009 drama “Precious”), who is frustrated with the withdrawn Ebony but sincerely wants to help her.
Another woman interested in Ebony’s affairs is Bernice (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, “The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat”), who calls herself an apostle and firmly believes that an evil spirit is responsible for the family’s suffering – and for good reason. And, to be clear, she explains that her offer is redemption, not an exorcism, even if the dramatic scene that follows feels very exorcism-like.
Although “everyone is first to die” isn’t its selling point, it’s most compelling when it works as a portrait of a black family trying to get by on too little money and without their male caregiver. (We learn that the father of the children who have separated from Ebony is in Iraq.)
That this part of the film works so well is thanks in part to solid work from Day, a multi-talented performer who played singer Billie Holiday in Daniels’ previous directorial effort, 2021’s similarly promising but ultimately mediocre “The United States vs. Billie Holiday.” Day, as the often fiery protagonist, keeps your interest throughout the affair.
Star Andra Day shines, but Hulu’s “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” can’t find its rhythm | Film review
The same can certainly be said of veteran actress Close (“Fatal Attraction,” “101 Dalmatians”), who told People magazine that she initially had no idea how to play Alberta and that Daniels reportedly told her that “every black person knows a white woman like her, but not every white person knows a white woman like her.” Close embraces everything the role entails, including one or two over-the-top moments that the role demands of her deep in the supernatural portion of the film.
The complex mother-daughter dynamic between Alberta and Ebony is also more exciting than the crucial scenes, as scary and uncomfortable as some of them may be.
Daniels hopes that Christ’s powers will captivate viewers – or at least, as he says in his director’s statement, that “the audience will be startled and discover their higher power.”
That’s all well and good, but ultimately it’s hard to recommend The First Man When We Die when we wish parts of it had been used to construct an entirely different film.
‘The Redemption’
Where: : Netflix.
When: 30.August.
Rated: R for violent content, strong language throughout and some sexual references.
Duration: 1 hour, 52 minutes.
Stars (out of four): 2.
