Juju Stories

JuJu Stories (2022) is a Nigerian horror anthology about magic that my wife and I recently watched at an African Film Festival at the American Film Institute (AFI). The storylines follows a love story that requires a potion, some magical money on a sidewalk that turns those who find pick it up into yams and a witch at a high school who uses her powers to influence others.

This movie is codirected by Michael Omonua (Rehearsal), Abba Makama (Visions) and C. J. 'Fiery' Obasi (Ojuju) and stars Belinda Agedah Yanga (Love in a Time of Kekes), Paul Utomi (Country Hard), Don Ekwuazi (The Lost Okoroshi), Nengi Adoki (Lost Girl) and Bukola Oladipupo (You Me Maybe).

The storylines in this series are unique and entertaining. The writing, acting and circumstances are all well executed. The yam film was by far my favorite and felt the most complete of the films. I wished the first and third movie was a step more intense but that's a personal preference and they were still fun to watch unfold.

Overall this is a unique and well written horror anthology that's definitely worth a viewing. I would score this a 5.5-6/10 and recommend seeing it once.

This is honestly an entertaining watch. I know next to nothing about Nigerian culture and came across this randomly on Amazon Prime. I must say, compared to the meme-level productions I see from Nigeria on YouTube this one was definitely on a different level. Thanks to this compilation and Google I discovered what pidgin English was as well. Was wondering why I could understand most of what they were saying.

On to the technical aspects... The stories were fairly basic and formulaic, but the acting was great! Production value was totally sufficient given the budget. I would love to see what this production crew and writers can come up with in a few years with more experience. Expecting big things from African cinema in the future, and this production is certainly a pioneer.

I watched Juju Stories with my boyfriend, it was a total discovery.

This film tackles the themes of sorcery in a brand new light, this is not a horror film, but if deals with topics that could subscribe to it.

It was very refreshing to see a film attached to a different culture.

American films get old.

The photography was great, the characters were well written (the witch in particular gave goosebumps).

Some of the dialogues felt unnatural but the story in itself was more than enough.

This film shines by its originality.

I am definitely looking forward to watch something else from this collective.

Although none of the three stories is new, they are quite interesting in the cultural context of Nigeria. It's like a collection of three students' works. In addition to curiosity, the most attractive thing may be the reflection on tradition.

This movie pushes the Nollywood medium into a new territory not afraid to tell a story and not force one down the throat of its viewers. In each segment, i could feel the freedom and breeze in the writing. Each director commands their segment. The last two - Yam and Suffer the witch really shine through from great use of superb editing techniques, symbolisms of classicism and religion in YAM, stellar acting performances, STW mastering of horror element. There is no need for fairytale endings.

C. J, Michael, Abba come together like Voltron to give an unforgettable cinema experience.

• InfiniteUyi (twitter)