On January 8, ahead of its theatrical release, IFC hosted an exclusive advanced screening of Night Patrol at the Cinemark Baldwin Hills Crenshaw in Los Angeles. The vampire thriller brought together fans, influencers, and film insiders for an evening of edge-of-your-seat horror and spirited conversation.
Directed and co-written by Ryan Prows, Night Patrol follows an LAPD officer, Xavier Carr (played by Jermaine Fowler), who returns to his hometown only to discover that a local police task force is harboring a horrific secret. As the story unfolds, he’s forced to ally with the very street gangs he once fought against to protect his community from an unimaginable threat: vampires.
In attendance were TikTok influencer Braxton Williams, TikTok influencer and singer Isaiah Jaay, and influencers Jazmine Robinson and Loren Sharice.
After the screening, attendees were treated to a post-film Q&A moderated by Eric Keith, Editor-in-Chief of The Quintessential Gentleman. The panel featured Prows along with cast members RJ Cyler, Freddie Gibbs, Nicki Micheaux, and Nick Gillie, who broke down the emotional weight, genre-bending fun, and personal takeaways from their roles.
When asked where the idea for Night Patrol came from, Prows didn’t hesitate. “We [the film writers] asked ourselves, what’s the scariest monster we can come up with? And we landed on the LAPD.”
The line landed hard, setting the tone for a film that mixes crime drama, social commentary, and supernatural horror.
For Cyler, the script was an instant yes. “First of all, it is chocolatey. Second… I didn’t die in this movie,” he joked, pointing out that in most of the films he stars in, his character doesn’t make it. Beyond the humor, the concept itself sealed the deal. “I always wanted to do a vampire movie… and when I saw this one, I was like, ‘Oh crap! They actually took some risk.’”
Cyler also reflected on the growing space for Black storytelling within the horror genre, not just surviving the terror, but actively shaping it. “Shout out first of all to Ryan Coogler for really putting us on the map in a good way. These types of extreme perspectives of Black people in horror movies because if you think about it, the black experience is scary as shit,” he shared. “But our community, we laugh at it mostly.”
For Gibbs, who plays Bornelius, a gang leader with layers and a deep understanding of mystical forces, the freedom to explore his character was key. “Ryan gave us a lot of runway to do what we want to do with the characters,” Gibbs said. “There’s parts in this that gross you out, and there’s parts that’ll make you laugh and cry.”
And while Night Patrol offers no shortage of threats from gangs to the LAPD to vampires, the scariest presence may belong to Nicki Micheaux, who portrays the fiercely unapologetic, Zulu-rooted matriarch at the center of the story. “I love the opportunity to be a badass without any excuses. Just like, I’ma fuck you up. Period. Full stop.”
That intensity is deeply personal. “I had done my DNA. And I’m from the Zulu tribe. So I was like, yeah. I’m that bitch.”
As the night wrapped, Prows was asked what he wants audiences to leave with after watching Night Patrol. “We put our heart into this,” he said. “I hope people can feel the love of what we’re trying to do… and just take that energy and continue the fight and the conversation and push forward.”
Check out the full interview below. Night Patrol hits theaters Friday, January 16.
