Is God Is
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Aleshea Harris
Written by	Aleshea Harris
Based on	Is God Is by Aleshea Harris
Produced by	Riva Marker Aleshea Harris Janicza Bravo Tessa Thompson Kishori Rajan
Starring	Kara Young Mallori Johnson Janelle Monáe Erika Alexander Mykelti Williamson Josiah Cross Vivica A. Fox Sterling K. Brown
Cinematography	Alexander Dynan
Edited by	Jay Rabinowitz
Music by	Joseph Shirley
Production companies	Orion Pictures Viva Maude Linden Entertainment
Distributed by	Amazon MGM Studios
Release date	May 15, 2026 (2026-05-15)
Running time	100 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$14.8 million[2]
Box office	$2.2 million[3]

Is God Is is a 2026 American thriller film written, produced and directed by Aleshea Harris in her feature directorial debut, and starring Kara Young, Mallori Johnson, Janelle Monáe, Vivica A. Fox, and Sterling K. Brown. Based on Harris’ 2018 play, the film focuses on twin sisters who set out on a quest for revenge against their father for disfiguring them as children.^[4]

The film was released in theatres on May 15, 2026 by Orion Pictures, and was praised by critics for its style and direction.

Racine and Anaia are twin sisters who live together and work janitorial jobs at the same office. Racine's left arm is covered in burn scars, as is most of Anaia's face and upper chest. Racine receives a letter from their mother, who they thought died in the fire that disfigured them. They drive across the country to meet their mother, who Racine refers to as God since she created the two of them, on her deathbed. God tells them she stayed away because she thought her own severe injuries would only further traumatize her children, so she left them to the foster system.

Racine asks what happened the night of the fire, and God tells them that their father, who she had a restraining order against, broke into their house and choked her out in the bathroom, placing her in the bathtub and emptying a flask onto her. He then brought the very young twins into the bathroom and set God on fire in front of them. God says the twins tried to help her and that’s why they were burned as well. She then states that she summoned the girls to her deathbed to give them one final request, to make their daddy dead so she can know peace before she dies. When the twins hesitate, God has her aides pull back her sheets, revealing the extent of her injuries, which persuades Racine.

Following God's instructions, the twins find the house of Divine, who their father took up with after his trial. They learn that their father left a pregnant Divine not long after he was acquitted, and she introduces her son Ezekiel to them as their half brother. She shows them a shrine to their father made of the items he left behind when he promised to return to them. Racine derides her for waiting so long for a man, and takes an address book from the altar before they leave.

They find their father's lawyer, Chuck Hall's address in the address book, and travel to his office. Communicating via whiteboard, he first attempts to persuade them to give up on their quest, but when Racine threatens him he tells them that their father took his tongue for fear that it would wag as they celebrated his acquittal. He tells them where to find their father's new family, and warns them that he had another set of male twins.

As they stop off the side of the road to use the bathroom, a helmeted motorcyclist destroys their car engine with a hammer before pursuing them into an abandoned construction site. The twins eventually trap him and realize it is Ezekiel trying to stop them from killing his father, who he sees as his god despite never having met him. With their car damaged, the twins take a bus the rest of the way to their father's house.

The twins accost his current wife Angela, who he also abuses, as she is attempting to flee to Las Vegas before their father returns. Angela turns from sympathetic to scornful when the twins refuse to let her leave, and Racine beats her after she spits in her face. Anaia begs Racine to not kill anyone else besides their father. They discard their bloodied clothes for some of Angela's from the trunk of her car, and knock on the door of the house where the twin sons are. They open the door and assume the girls are strippers sent by their father for their approaching birthday. The girls lean into this to gain access to the house, and Anaia reveals that she is pregnant as they dress up. When they attempt to perform for the boys they say that Anaia needs to turn around, as her face is off putting to them. Anaia leaves the room, and Racine seduces the older twin to a bedroom where she kills him for calling her sister ugly. As Anaia attempts to bond with the younger twin, the elder one stumbles back out to the living room as he bleeds to death, and Anaia stops Racine from killing the younger brother long enough for her to flee with him. He leads her out to the pool deck and begins to choke her in retaliation for his brother. Racine intervenes, and the twins fight him, with Anaia ultimately stabbing him with hedge clippers as he strangles Racine. Hearing their father return home, Anaia drags the unconscious Racine inside and attempts to hide.

Their father says that they have a lot to talk about, and Anaia emerges. Their father says that their mother grabbed them after he set her alight, which is why they were burned, as he would never harm his babies. He eventually talks Anaia into discarding her weapon, before punching her down and telling her he'd kill her if she wasn’t pregnant. Finally deciding that they have to kill him, Anaia prepares to fight him, and a recovered Racine surprises him from behind. The twins get the better of him, eventually cornering him into a bathroom where they push him into the tub and dump liquor on him, setting him ablaze. They turn to leave, but he grabs Racine and pulls her into the fire with him, which instantly kills her.

Anaia weeps for her sister in front of the smoldering ruin of the house the next morning, before discarding her weapon and vowing to tell her baby all about her Auntie Racine.

• Kara Young as Racine the Rough One
• Mallori Johnson as Anaia the Quiet One
• Sterling K. Brown as the Monster
• Vivica A. Fox as Ruby the God
• Janelle Monáe as the New Wife
• Erika Alexander as Divine The Healer
• Mykelti Williamson as Chuck Hall the Lawyer
• Josiah Cross as Ezekiel

In October 2024, it was announced that principal photography began on a film adaptation of Is God Is and that Kara Young, Mallori Johnson, Sterling K. Brown, Vivica A. Fox and Janelle Monáe were cast in the film.^[5] The project was previously set up at A24 with Scott Rudin producing and A24 financing and distributing back in September 2018.^[6]

In January 2025, it was announced that Brown completed his work in the film and that filming had wrapped up.^[7]

The film was released theatrically on May 15, 2026.^[8]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 97% of 73 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Stylistically freewheeling and fueled by righteous fury, Is God Is is a blistering revenge thriller executed with superb directorial confidence by Aleshea Harris."^[9] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 84 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".^[10] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.^[11]

Anzhe Zhang of Slant Magazine awarded the film three stars out of four.^[12] Guy Lodge of Variety gave the film a positive review and wrote, "Both wildly entertaining and viciously upsetting, this remarkable debut boldly reaps what others have sown."^[13] William Bibbiani of TheWrap also gave the film a positive review, describing it as "so emotionally, dramatically, philosophically complex that it’s tempting to put on professorial airs and focus entirely on its depth. But it is also, just as importantly, electrifying to watch."^[14]

• Is God Is at IMDb