“The Other Black Girl” Shows Us a Nightmare Job

Based on the best-selling novel by Zakiya Dalila Harris, The Other Black Girl takes the fears of racism, office politics and misogyny and channels them into a sharp horror-c0medy.

Sinclair Daniel plays Nella, the only Black woman at a prestigious New York publishing house. The staff, of course, is mostly white. That is until one day Hazel (Ashleigh Murray) starts. Nella thinks she's found a friend and a confidante, but will she become a rival or something more sinister? There's certainly something suspicious happening in the office after hours, like creepy hidden cameras, threatening notes and maybe a soul trapped in reflective surfaces.

This has all the makings of a terrific 90-minute thriller. Yet for some reason this will all play out over 10 episodes. The cast also includes TV vets Bellamy Young (Scandal), Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) and Brian Baumgartner (The Office), so there should be plenty of humor to balance out the scares.

All episodes of The Other Black Girl premiere exclusively on Hulu on Wednesday, September 13.

About Kip Mooney

Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.