Many of our favorite supernatural horror movies are said to be based on true events. Fire up the search engine and type in “Amityville Horror,” “Poltergeist,” the “Conjuring” movies, or “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” and you’ll find detailed information about how these movies were inspired by “true events.”
I use quotation marks because, while I don’t doubt that at least some of the people featured in such stories genuinely believe they have experienced otherworldly hauntings, possessions, etc., I’m very skeptical. I mean, it’s not like we’ve ever seen a ghost from the 19th century.th Century or a blasphemous demonic spirit that helps popularize these films, right?
And now we come to Lee Daniels’ effective, if somewhat formulaic, horror story “Everyone’s First to Die,” which is inspired by the story of Latoya Ammons and her family after they moved into a rental home in Gary, Indiana in 2011 and reportedly began experiencing all sorts of strange and disturbing paranormal activity. (Spoiler alert: No demons were ever arrested in this case.)
While the family in The First to Die reflects the mother-grandmother-children dynamic of the Ammons family and depicts many of the things the Ammons are said to have experienced, this is a purely fictional feature film, and a devilishly entertaining one at that. The wonderfully talented Andra Day delivers an incredibly powerful lead performance, and the supporting ensemble, including Mo’Nique and Glenn Close, do strong work, with the latter delivering some of the craziest character work she’s ever done, and I mean that in a good way.
Three years after Lee Daniels and Andra Day teamed up on The United States vs. Billie Holliday, with Day winning an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe, they once again form a formidable creative duo in a very different genre. Day delivers grounded, authentic work as Ebony Jackson, an alcoholic and single mother of three (her estranged husband is in Iraq) living in a rented house and trying to make ends meet.
Her tough-as-nails and snarky mother, Alberta (Glenn Close), also lives with the family, and oh, is she quite a workhorse. When Alberta isn’t criticizing her daughter (“That catfish has too much garlic… who taught you how to cook like that? Not me”), she’s wearing risqué outfits and flirting with men half her age, even while undergoing chemotherapy. (Based on Ebony’s interactions with her mother, we get the impression that Alberta was a nightmare mother and may now be trying to make up for it in her own way. She IS a good grandmother.) Complicating matters are the frequent surprise visits from social worker Cynthia Henry (Mo’Nique), who is concerned about the kids’ poor performance in school and fears that Ebony may be going back to drinking and neglecting the kids.
Glenn Close plays Ebony’s snarky mother Alberta.
Life is hard and complicated enough BEFORE the supernatural comes to light. As is usually the case with these haunted house movies, the disturbances start off relatively small before all hell breaks loose. The obligatory door to the ominous basement squeaks open. Footsteps are heard in the middle of the night. The youngest child, Dre, is chatting with an imaginary friend named Tre. And oops, what’s that smell in the house?
With music by Lucas Vidal and cinematography by Eli Arenson adding to the sense of dread, “Everyone’s First to Die” sinks its claws into the viewer with some well-crafted shock moments and some really strange and creepy visual effects as Ebony’s children fall into the clutches of whatever inhabits her house. “This house is making (my children) sick,” Ebony says, but of course the authorities don’t believe her and the family continues to live in the house, because that’s what happens in horror movies.
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor is great as Reverend Bernice James, who tells Ebony about the family that lived in the house 20 years ago that fell victim to evil, with the youngest boy eventually dying. When Bernice learns that Dre’s imaginary friend is called Tre – the same name as the little boy who was killed 20 years ago – she tells Ebony, “That’s not a friend. That’s the devil. Ebony, that demon wants your son.”
It’s time for the good Reverend to mobilize all her powers and “free” Dre, freeing him from that annoying and sneering devil that has taken possession of him. We’ll leave it up to you to find out what happens next, but suffice it to say that Ebony and the family may end up wanting to move to another house.
