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Jennifer Jayleen Martinez, Faizon Love, and Luenell Campell all star in writer/director Roy Belfrey’s upcoming indie horror feature, Matthew 18, which follows Michelle Jamieson (Martinez) a fiercely independent young Washington D.C. woman who wants to go away to college for her pre-med education, despite her super religious parents’ objections. Eventually they do give in, allowing her to leave, as Michelle takes flight to Minnesota to attend the U of M, where she moves into a large home that’s been kept in her family for generations. And while there, she encounters strange visions, leading her to investigate, and in doing, discovers her family’s dark past and is forced to deal with the deadly consequences.

Here’s a full official synopsis:

Michelle Jamieson is too smart for faith. She has been raised in the tired traditions of her deeply religious family and is ready to expand her independent thought and stand in her logical, free-will. When the opportunity arises for her to separate from her Washington D.C. home and her bible-thumping parents, she takes a scholarship for her sought after medical program at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Eager to base her beliefs in the proof of science and develop her life decisions on the tangible experience of medicine – where every effect has a root cause and miracles come in the form of prescription slips; she wisps across the country to find her path, her truth. But what she finds supersedes her natural existence – making her mortality vulnerable to the spiritual realm she so comfortably doubted. Michelle stays in a Minneapolis mansion, a family property dating back many generations. She begins to encounter strange and unexplainable occurrences. As she is forced to investigate, what she uncovers is a world of family secrets and unspeakable evils that God himself may not save her from. In whose name will she cry out now?

The title, Matthew 18 refers to the Matthew 18: 19-20 from the bible, which states:

“Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

The film is Belfrey’s feature film directorial debut, and was co-written by Thurl Belfrey.

Roy is producer.

The filmmakers are calling it “the scariest African American film…ever” – at least, that’s what it says on the project’s Facebook page. So, not my words, because I certainly haven’t seen the film yet.

It’s been completed, but no official debut date has been announced yet. I’d guess that it will premiere on the film festival circuit eventually. Apparently, private screenings of the film have been held in LA recently, likely to gauge distributor and audience interest.

Watch a teaser trailer below for a glimpse:

Jennifer Jayleen Martinez

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