Ashley Roland-White and her son Javier are key to It’s Coming. An unnerving expose into the supernatural by director Shannon Alexander, that relies on talking heads and camera footage to convince. Captured in a Brooklyn apartment and defined by the dread that sits quietly between silences, this mother of five dissects her trauma as audiences get slowly drawn in. There is a jarring nature to the cuts between conversations, that continually ramps up tension, while this family look genuinely haunted. Talk of spectral figures cloaked in shadow and scribbled drawings from Javier give this story substance, while audiences are left to draw their own conclusions.
This documentary is hard to shake. Feature film fans and cynics may be unconvinced by events captured in-camera, desensitised by decades of supernatural sequels, but It’s Coming feels different. Genuine fear is hard to fake in the eyes of a child, and Javier looks terrified. Ignoring Alexander and looking through the lens, Javier possesses an eerie self-confidence impossible to coach. This is a child who has grown up in the shadow of something sinister, seeing things differently and forever changed because of it.
Despite the intervention of a spirit medium and paranormal experts, that sense of dread remains quietly off screen. Putting audiences on edge and adding an authenticity that makes this documentary unique. Capturing them on-camera, Shannon Alexander slowly brings together the building blocks of a story forged through family trauma. Worn down by a lifetime of psychological torment, Ashley lives day-to-day dealing with these unwanted guests. Entities of an unknown origin who have latched themselves onto this family and are unwilling to relinquish control.
Image Courtesy of Shannon Alexander
Like anything that aims to explore the paranormal, It’s Coming will come under fire from naysayers. People intent on debunking Ashley, Alexander, and anyone associated with this endeavour. Arguments debating her parental influence on these five impressionable children will be front and centre. Exposed to these so-called entities from an early age, there will be those who point out the potent imagination of a child in confirming their existence. For the genuinely cynical, even the opinions of an expert will amount to nothing, since their involvement might come with its own agenda.
All that being said, from the outside looking in, there is nothing fraudulent about this family on-screen. They are a close-knit unit held together by a formidable matriarch. The changes in room temperature, unexpected noises, and stilted voices caught through the static of an iPhone recording are treated as commonplace. However, a lack of theatrics and the abject terror etched onto their faces is undeniable, making any arguments academic. Making the assumptions of those who deny the existence of anything else baseless at best.
Wherever audiences stand on the influence or existence of an afterlife, It’s Coming is guaranteed to create debate. The raw reality of this film from Shannon Alexander pulls no punches and plants seeds in the silences, raising questions about the door that divides us from our ancestors. One which might just swing both ways, whether we like it or not.
It’s Coming is available now on Tubi and Prime Video