Synopsis: For the purpose of those who have not seen this movie and those who will never see it, let me try to give a summary.
A man named Owo (played by Jide Oyegbile) visits an old witch (played by Bisola Ayieola). His request? He wants her to give him power so he can live forever. The witch told him that it was too late for him but she could help his sons; all they had to do was to sacrifice a virgin every twenty-five years. If they fail, they will be punished.
Next, we see the lead actress, Busola (played by Immaculata Kasum). She breaks up with her cheating fiancé and meets a rich guy, named Tunji – One of Owo’s sons (played by Efa Iwara).
Tunji sweeps her off her feet, and after her mother was killed, he was all that she had. Tunji asks her to marry him, she agrees, and they both decide to visit Tunji’s family house to meet his brothers. She gets there and realizes that Tunji’s brothers are very creepy and their girlfriends are under some form of demonic bondage. They try to kill Busola but she manages to escape. Since Tunji failed, the “gods” turned him into a wooden statue and that was the end of the movie.
The storyline was quite intriguing, the movie started well, and I was really excited. The Christian Yoruba girl in me was just whispering “blood of Jesus” over and over again (can you blame me? A demon slept with a girl), but as the story unfolded, the tension I was feeling gave way to disappointment because it seemed like someone lost control of the story.
Casting and acting was poor. No performance stood out. Immaculate Oko Kasum was the female lead, she gave the role her best shot, it just was not enough. She could not even cry and make it look real. I saw Immaculate for the first time in this movie and I must say she was not what the movie needed. As a young talent, she definitely has a lot of potential but being the lead character just seemed like expecting too much from her too soon.
Efa Iwara was the lead actor, he tried to communicate that mysterious and fierce guy vibe. I must say it was not a bad attempt but it did not quite hit the mark either. I have seen him do better.
Demola Adedoyin is always having a bad hair day. Even though he had like only 4 lines in this movie, it will be impossible to not see him because of that hair.
Apparently, Teymesan is now an actor which is a good thing but my ask is that they endeavor to give him lines because in this movie ehn, he was just looking.
As for Mofe Duncan, there is not much to say about his character. All I can say is that his clothes were too tight and he looked like he couldn’t breathe properly.
Sophie Alakija appeared like 2 and a half times but I actually think she was not bad at all. Kiekie was responsible for comic relief and she did her job. She played her normal online character and I must give credit to the fact that they did not let it drag.
I liked the fact that the movie was trying to do something different in the horror space, I also liked the fact that the movie taught some lessons:
- All that glitters is not gold. Busola is a good girl but she got carried away by Tunji’s money.
- Stop praying to have what others have, just do your thing and your time will come. Kiekie was praying to God for what Busola had not knowing Busola was dining with devils.
What were the issues with this movie?
- Character development was poor.
Before Busola met Tunji, we saw a black
demon-like creature floating around her house, at some point, we saw the creature discussing with her father in a funny language only the both of them understood (till the end, they did not tell us what they were talking about). From my deductions sha, it appeared that it had been pre-arranged that Busola would meet Tunji. So the question is why Busola? What was the link between Busola and the Owo family? How come her father knew the demon and could even understand its language? What happened to her father’s leg? Why did his injury heal up faster everytime he obeyed the demon’s instructions? Was he part of the cult? If yes, then why was he poor?
What exactly were the terms of the covenant? The monster already raped and disvirgined Busola, why did she not turn to a zombie immediately? Why did she not become Tunji’s slave as soon as that happened? What exactly was supposed to happen when she visited Tunji’s house?
These things were not clear.
I’m assuming Tunji and his brothers were immortal , maybe if they had mentioned how old they were and how long they had lived for, it would have helped us follow the story better. What exactly was the ritual about and what were the rules? What did the whole thing entail? They kept on saying “it is time” and I was wondering time for what exactly? Time to kill her? Why did they not just bash her head with a stone or something? He could have choked her in her sleep but no, it seemed like there was something they were waiting for, but this was never explained even till the end. I had so many questions ehn, I could go on and on.
I thought the story was going to be about the Owo brothers, I thought we were going to see how they lived their dark and sinister lives for so long, I thought we were going to see their affluence and the gory details of how they killed in order to stay alive. I thought this story was going to show how Busola defied all odds to escape death. Instead, they wasted so much time telling Busola’s story (even the unnecessary parts), we never really got to experience the Owo brothers.
This movie gave us a heroine that was so slow ehn, no fire. The only genuine emotion she was able to express was anxiety, other than that she gave us nothing. The story telling technique could not build up the required danger or tension, it did not give us a character we could cheer for, a character who we wanted to survive at all cost. Our heroine was not bold, she was not brave, and the only reason she escaped was not because she did anything worthy of note but because they borrowed a demon from one of RCCG teen church dramas. If you grew up going to church, you would remember that their monsters could not stand the name of Jesus or anointed oil/water. Busola drank anointing oil and the monster was unable to come near her o, it fled and that was how she survived.
Another issue was with the visual effects. Extremely poor. The person that edited that thing needs to go for extra coaching because he/she obviously missed some vital classes. The worst was where hands were sticking out of the wall and Sophie’s head was floating on a table, these things made me cringe because they looked so fake.
Regular people create Halloween houses that are more believable and scarier than the nonsense they did in this movie.
Besides the fact that the effects were not properly done, they were also inauthentic and they had no place in this movie. Let me explain what I mean by that…
Horror films are designed to elicit certain emotions such as tension, fear, and shock. Horror movies create their own monsters, they create an evil force or monster that is linked to the story. Typically, the monster would have a personality that is frightening and you would remember even years after watching. Ile Owo had a demon with black costume that looked like feathers and it had red eyes. They decided to go indigenous by using a Yoruba “Orisa” as their evil force (which is not bad) but they should have remained consistent to that concept. Instead, they decided to copy some Hollywood horror tropes. For example, they featured ghosts covered with blankets floating in the air (typical Hollywood ghost), the movie featured hands sticking out of walls (again typical Hollywood). This movie excessively relies on familiar Hollywood horror cliches/special effects and as a result, it created a demon that had no place or identity in the movie. Because why is “Orisa Sagbadewe” floating in the sky covered in blankets? Who gave it blankets???
Furthermore, most horror movies lead you through a maze of desperation or life and death featuring the main character. As the lead character moves through the scary circumstances, the audience would grip their seats in fear, scream, cover their faces and at some point sigh with relief and cheer when this character finally escapes.
In this movie on the other hand, nothing of such happened. The end was so fast, it was almost a blur. Busola put a spoon of food in her mouth and 2 minutes later we saw her with a bulging stomach like that of a pregnant woman, she struggles to the rest room, drinks anointing oil and vomits a statue, she stumbles through the haunted house and opens the door. The monster sees her but couldn’t hurt her (the anointing oil at work), she stands up and escapes, and that was it. Haba!! Is it a church drama?!!!
The movie Ile Owo fails to live up to even the minimum standards of this genre.
The end was the final straw, this movie featured one of the worst endings I have seen in a while because how do you end a movie like that? This was not a cliffhanger o, they basically left several sub plots incomplete. The way this movie ended showed an embarrassing lack of effort on the part of the director and whoever else was involved in putting this movie out.
The day I saw this movie, I was forced to ask who gave the final approval? It was not because the story was bad, it was because I genuinely wanted to find out who gave them the approval to squander a good story, a good premise and give us an incomplete movie.
Overall, Ile Owo the movie will keep you excited for the first 35 minutes, after which you’ll start to feel immense disappointment. What started as a bold statement for Nollywood in the horror movie space fizzled out into a disappointing haunted house story.
I am of the opinion that this movie is a weak entry into the horror movie space, with lacklustre direction and unengaging characters. But I’ll give them E for effort at least.
Rating: 5/10
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