Juju Stories

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.

Juju Stories is an anthology film, consisting of three stories that are based on Nigerian folklore tales concerning witchcraft.

The first story is a cautionary tale about using juju to place a love curse on someone.

When a woman falls in love with a man who has a fiancé, she tries to win him for herself, by giving him a love potion, made from her period blood and water used to wash a corpse.

Whereas it works, at first...things don't end up playing out like either of them suspect.

The man uses a ritual of his own, to try and sever the connection...but it's just not powerful enough to overcome the power of juju.

The second film concerns a legend about finding money on the street and turning into a yam.

It centers around a local thug, who wanders around town, stealing money from it's local inhabitants.

One day, he crosses paths with a rambling street woman, who seems to place some sort of curse on him.

And shortly after, he finds a wad of money on the ground.

Of course, he heads to the bar, to take his friends out drinking...but he never makes it home...as he ends up transforming into a yam.

Another man, who has been considering using juju to force an abortion on his pregnant girlfriend, finds the yam- covered in the man's jewelry, and so takes it home for dinner.

However, after eating it...he finds that the spirit of the man has become trapped inside his head...so that he can hear his voice, but doesn't know where it's coming from...inevitably driving him mad.

While the final tale is about a man who is targeted by his prospective girlfriend's roommate, who just so happens to be a witch.

After luring him in with sexual advances, she scratches his belly...marking him for death.

Leading the girl he was wooing to turn on him because she thinks he was cheating on her.

That is, until his untimely death, when she cannot get over his final warning- that her friend is a witch.

So she starts to believe her friend is probably responsible for his death....because she wants her for herself.

Now, the acting in this is not the best, but for anyone who is familiar with Nollywood, that's to be expected.

The three shorts do come off a bit student filmish, but the group of filmmakers- who are part of a collective known as Surreal16- definitely show potential.

Of the three, the second film -titled "Chapter 2"- was my favourite...but all three are quite entertaining.

So it's certainly worth a watch.

4.5 out of 10.

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 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)

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.