Film Critique: Night Patrol (2026)
Release Date: January 16, 2026; Director: Ryan Prows; Stars: Justin Long, RJ Cyler, CM Punk
Ryan Prows’s Night Patrol (2026) is about a Los Angeles law enforcement task force that is causing harm in the community rather than good. This extremely intense horror film is more than just a story about blood-sucking demons. These monsters and the havoc they cause are a metaphor for white supremacy.
WARNING: Spoiler Alert Beyond This Point
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White supremacy is defined as the racist belief that White people are inherently superior to people of other races, advocating for white dominance and privilege through every system in place in America. One group founded on white supremacy which the task force in the film closely emulates is the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The KKK or the Klan is an American white supremacist group founded in the American south in 1865 during the post-Civil War Reconstruction era. Historically, they have been known for performing acts of hate, terror, and racism against groups of other races. Many members of the KKK infiltrated law enforcement, so they could “legally” and further justify their actions.
In this film, the only police officers on this special task force are White males who are actually immortal demons disguised as humans. At one moment in the film, the task force don white coats similar to the white robes worn by the members of the KKK. The KKK is made up of White members and they are not open to members of other races (not that people of other races would desire to join). In the movie, Xavier (played by Jermaine Fowler) is a Black police officer who wants to join the task force, but he is denied and met with hostility as he is told by a White member of the force, “Your kind can never be washed in the sacred blood”. The demons disguised as human task force members have an initiation ritual by which others become demons and join the task force which is a “whites only” group. Hayworth (played by Justin Long) is a White police officer who also desires to be a part of the task force and he is readily welcomed with open arms. He undergoes the initiation into the group and navigates his new status where he finds challenges. Hayworth represents White liberals which is seen through his act of using his new found “abilities” in going against his demon “brothers” and helping to save the people of color who are being victimized.
Instead of patrolling the streets at night to ensure the safety of the community, the task force intentionally goes into predominantly Black neighborhoods and violently kills everyone with black and brown skin. These demons disguised as humans hate people of color, yet they crave Black blood. Yes, these demons in blue feast on the blood of those they hate. The task force even collects the blood from their victims in a massive container, so they can have more than enough to feed on over time to further strengthen themselves. They also further disrespect the Black community with insults. With the exception of the part about drinking human blood, these other acts are exactly what the KKK did when they were first founded and for many years after. They lynched Black people and killed them in very torturous ways. The KKK also created and used racist propaganda to reinforce their beliefs. The level of violence portrayed in the movie and that done by the KKK is similar to the very violent acts of police brutality towards Black people in America that many of us have witnessed throughout the decades. All of these acts have pushed the agenda of white supremacy. It is not a coincidence that Night Patrol premiered in theaters during this current climate in which similar acts of violence are being done by some members of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
There are Black characters in the film who are symbols of different ideals. One I mentioned earlier is Xavier who is the Black cop who is oblivious to what is really going on within the same law enforcement he is a part of. He also represents those who are not aware of the suffering Black people have endured in the United States of America. Unfortunately, this number of people who do not know about the ugly side of this country’s history could grow with the continued banning of books and omission of certain historical facts from school history books. Another important character is Ayanda (played by Nicki Micheaux) who is the mother of Xavier and Wazi (played by RJ Cyler). Ayanda represents the Black people in the community who have not forgotten their roots and who work to educate others in the community. She is also a symbol of activism against the unfair treatment of people of color. Ayanda is Black Lives Matter, the Black Panther Party, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and all of the Black leaders of the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s rolled into one. She knows exactly what the task force is and their mission and she, along with others in the Black community, fights back.
Though many fall while in battle with the task force, like those who have fallen while fighting for the rights of many in the U.S., there is a survivor — Wazi. He represents the younger generation who must continue to fight, live on and preserve Black culture and heritage which is the secret weapon that is much sought after. We see in both Night Patrol and Sinners (2025, dir. Ryan Coogler) that blood-sucking monsters are after all things Black. The blood and culture that they crave are what the Black characters in each film use against the monsters in order to be victorious. Like Sinners, Night Patrol is a clever horror film with underlying messages in order to make the audience aware of what issues are going on in reality.
Other cinematic elements that I liked in the film were the blood and some of the music. I believe that, if not every, most horror films need a good amount of blood and Night Patrol had much of it. The cheesy, synthesizer-driven, atmospheric music called Horror Synth or Dark Synthwave that was so popular in the 1980s and early 1990s thriller and horror flicks which is found in parts of Night Patrol also worked really well in the movie. If you go to see this film, brace yourself.
