Real 2 Reel: It’s Coming (2024)

A real-life haunting is explored in the believable, unnerving documentary “It’s Coming” about a family plagued by paranormal evil.

I’m not religious, though I spent many years deeply immersed in the Christian faith. Throughout my journey of questioning, discovering, and untangling myself from indoctrination, I’ve been everything from skeptical to spiritual, agnostic to atheist.  I’ve ridden a wildly swinging pendulum between blind faith and eyes-wide-open empiricism.

The older I get, the more I land somewhere in the middle: skeptical of naïve belief but open to mysteries beyond my knowledge or comprehension.

If you ask most deeply religious people why they believe what they do, you’ll likely get some variation of, “I know it’s true.” If you press as to why and how, they’ll respond with something similar to, “I just KNOW.”

It’s not knowledge, of course, not in the strict sense of the world. Yet, the powerful sense of surety defies logic or explanation—a gut feeling that feels more real and meaningful than any volume of verifiable data points.

Ultimately, it’s real because it feels real, and isn’t that true of much of the human experience?

The world is always shaped by the lens through which we view it.

In the new documentary It’s Coming, a Brooklyn wife and mother of five who’s been beset by supernatural entities since the age of 11 attempts to rid her house of malevolent spirits that are now afflicting her children.

It’s harrowing listening to Ashley Roland-white discuss the menacing presence she believes is haunting her and her family. It’s even more chilling to listen to her young children share their fear and trauma, including her son matter-of-factly stating, “I think I’m going to die.”

This isn’t a flashy, overly-produced spectacle like Ghost Adventures. This a sincere, thoughtful documentary that refuses to sensationalize or dramatize the claims of a sinister supernatural force.

Director Shannon Alexander merely listens, allowing Ashley the safe space she admits she’s never had to be as transparent and forthcoming as possible, free from judgment or sneering skepticism.

Regardless of how real you think the family’s experiences are, we are undoubtedly being let into the private world of a very real family with very real concerns and genuine, palpable terror.

Ashley is used to not being believed. She has seen spirits since she was a girl. However, her encounters with the supernatural escalated upon returning to her family’s ancestral apartment in Brooklyn.

A day trader, wife, and mother, she rarely talks about her paranormal experiences—all too conscious of how others perceive these claims, especially when made by a Black woman. She’s concerned about looking or sounding crazy.

Still, now that she believes the entities are threatening her children, she can no longer keep quiet and try to ignore it.

At about the thirty-minute mark, we’re invited to experience some of the paranormal experiences first-hand, and it’s admittedly eerie and deeply unnerving.

In fact, the middle hour of the documentary is by far the most engaging and chilling.

Despite knowing the risks, Ashley attempts to use the Quija board to contact the spirits. She conducted an EVP session that made the hair on my arms stand up. Convinced she may have made things worse and worried about her son Javier’s confession that he’s made friends with one of the entities, she consults outside experts and eventually seeks an exorcism.

Though never seen, the director’s voice is often heard behind the camera. He engages with Ashley and her children like a curious friend who is genuinely interested and often surprised by what’s happening.

Ashely and her children deliver their testimony authentically, without a modicum of performative dramatics or apparent exaggeration. Their experiences are presented with such mundanity that the potential threat feels all the more dreadful.

If you’re looking for the kind of thrilling, hair-raising experience you’ll get from watching a traditional supernatural horror film, It’s Coming will likely be a letdown. Yet, it is compelling and often unnerving, especially if you’re a believer. If you tend to be more skeptical, it still works as a fascinating character study that flirts with themes of generational trauma and mental health stigma while making you question what you think you know.

Momentum is somewhat lost in the film’s final, stripped-back act.

However, It’s Coming remains a fascinating and gripping watch—luring you into a false sense of comfort before delivering a potent final chill just before the credits roll.