Summary– Four secondary school friends (Osiano, Jite, Eddy and Obi) make a blood covenant that they would always stick together. Years down the line, Osiano, Jite and Eddy are still friends but they are all going through financial challenges. At their school reunion, they reconnect with Obi who is now a billionaire, Obi invites them to his house for drinks but attempts to kill the 3 of them for money ritual.
They succeed in killing Obi but unknowingly to them, Obi is into money rituals and his “benefits and commitments” were automatically transferred to them. They get rich as a result but now they must do all that it takes to maintain the wealth.
The storyline is not new, I was however looking forward to a different or more exciting style of execution. Unfortunately, there was nothing new. Infact, blood covenant the movie is a weak attempt at a money ritual movie. It pales in comparison to the old money ritual movies and even a more recent version; Living in Bondage – Breaking Free.
Great picture quality, sound was good, soundtrack was great, they also tried to teach a vital lesson but these things were not enough to salvage this movie.
The story telling was very poor, so many times we got confused and wondered what was going on. The element of fear that you would expect from this kind of movie was missing, even the supernatural aspect was watered down. For example, the shrine was nothing to write home about, the Baba (played by Olaiya Igwe) was another painful part. Why did Baba have to struggle to deliver messages from the gods in English for God sake!
The movie lacked authenticity or originality.
Another issue I had was with the ambience, set up, costume and props. When you talk about money rituals in a movie, you expect to see opulence, affluence and luxury. In this movie, everything was just basic.
For example, Obi was supposed to be a billionaire but when they showed us his house, we only saw one small sitting room with basic decor and poor lighting. They tried to make him “pop” by attaching some girls to him. Unfortunately, surrounded by girls wearing tiny Ankara tops and skirts, he looked more like a village prince in an African Magic Igbo Epic and not a billionaire in 2022.
Let’s talk about the other guys. Osiano was still doing Yahoo Yahoo, Jite only got a loan extension for his business, Eddy was getting commission from selling properties where is the big money from the ritual??? Take it from me when I say the movie premiere of Blood covenant looked more luxurious than the actual movie. The movie was giving low budget.
Plot progression was not coherent, too many loopholes, unnecessary and unexplained scenes. Why did Obi (played by Alexx Ekubo) attempt to sacrifice 3 of his friends? His 3 able bodied male friends, at the same time!
He could have decided to kill 3 random women or men, are we to assume that the gods specifically requested for him to kill his friends? This was not explained.
How possible is it that Adaugo (played by Erica Nlewedim) followed them all the way to the shrine and nobody noticed? The Baba even gave her part of the blood, How??
Why exactly did they suddenly tell Jite (played by Uzor Arukwe) to sacrifice so many people at once? Apart from his money that was stolen by his friend, there was no imminent danger, so what exactly was the issue?
According to the Baba, because of the covenant, the 3 friends became 1 entity, meaning what affects 1, affects all. So it did not make sense that they would suddenly ask Jite to sacrifice his 2 friends and his wife? I had so many questions and in my mind I kept on repeating “this is ridiculous”.
Acting and casting was just there. The 3 main guys were not fantastic but they tried, we got the message. I’ll blame the story and the director for their subpar performances because I have seen them act and I know they could have done better. Shawn Faqua stood out for me sha.
Erica Nlewedim’s performance was not great, her emotions and expressions were just not right. Being the lead female might have been too much for her.
Moving on, the movie itself was very bland. No suspense, no anticipation, no build up, no dramatic momentum, no fireworks, it simply lacked punch!
Have you seen the movie trailer? Then you already watched the highlight of this movie.
I’ll round up by saying I absolutely hated the end. After the mindless killings (I still don’t know why the killings took place) why exactly did Eddy turn himself in? Make it make sense!!
Overall, it was not worth my time or my money.
Rating: 4/10
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