This 6-part series is a multi-character story that contains different storylines playing out side by side and from different perspectives. A desperate man hustling to take care of his mother, a devoted sister who takes desperate measures to protect her sister from an abuser, an ambitious young lady, and an abandoned child victimized by her stepmother… all find themselves in captivity.
When this series started, I was really intrigued. Even though it did not earn my attention, I gave it my 100% anyway because I really wanted to get into it. But my brethren… it should not be this hard to enjoy a series o. I kept asking myself, “What am I watching?” 😭
What worked in this series?
The style was different, and even though I have my reservations, I appreciated the fact that they tried to do something unique.
Acting and casting worked to a large extent. I particularly liked the fact that there were so many new faces, and while some of the performances felt off here and there, overall, I was happy to see young actors doing their thing. I hope they all continue to grow and do better!
Cinematography was good in this series, and I think this is one major aspect many would commend. You could see the intentionality behind every shot. They wanted to immerse the audience in the dark atmosphere of the plot; each shot was thoughtfully composed, which I thought was good.
Other than that, this series did not do much but annoy me. It had so much potential but managed to miss the mark on so many things.
What were the issues?
I was not sure what the story was about or where it was headed. I don’t know about anyone else, but I was on the last episode and I was still asking myself what the main point was.
When the series started, I thought it was just a social commentary about life, death, hardships, I thought it wanted to show us different people and how they all found themselves in jail where they separate lives eventually intersect, in order to show the evil and decay in the Nigerian prison system. Towards the end of episode 4 things started getting more confusing, Episode 5 & 6 everything took an entirely different turn. The story shifted to rituals—not just rituals, but there was a tale about evil rings controlling and choosing people. Then there was a “Lesbian Queen” who was overthrown by one of her hostages. Then Chiamaka, who killed her father, was identified as the chosen one. Titi and Marshal seemed to be possessed because they both had glowing red eyes. Then… I should stop already; I’m sure you get the gist. I kept waiting for the point when everything would come together and make sense, but instead, it just got worse. At some point, they even introduced a tribal undertone: their ritual would not work on Yoruba girls, only girls from other tribes. God abeg 😭. The plot was just too erratic.
The storytelling was another issue, it was disjointed. Every new revelation left us more confused than excited. They showed us “9 months before” and “21 days ago.” These timelines were supposed to guide us and give context, but they did nothing for me. So many scenes ended up not making sense. If it was about politically motivated rituals and killings of women, what was the point of all the men in jail we saw in the first episode? Who was calling them out to shoot them at intervals? What was the point? They tried so hard to make the storytelling mysterious and deep, but the harder Clarence Peters tried to overwhelm and shock, the less he delivered. The more twists and turns he introduced, the more he pushed his audience away. I just kept thinking, “Kini gbogbo palapala yii?” (What is all this nonsense about?!)
Unpopular opinion, but I hated the setting of this series. Everything looked too grim; all the characters seemed to have the same style of home decor and setup. Nobody had electricity in their house, everyone’s house was dark and gloomy, but they all seemed to have red mood lights casting a red hue everywhere. They wanted to tell the story of ordinary people going through life, doing ordinary things as life threw curveballs at them. But the series setting did not show us ordinary people; the characters seemed to live in an alternate world where everything looked and felt the same. This uniform tone might work in a music video, but in a film, it just feels too inauthentic, everything looked too staged.
This brings me to my next point: there were too many “music video-esque” scenes in this series. It contained sequences that focused too heavily on style over substance, prioritizing visual flair, fast cuts, and dramatic edits over narrative development. Most scenes emphasized the dark mood and visuals they hoped to achieve without necessarily advancing the story, deepening character arcs, or connecting all the dots.
I did not like the makeup in this series. It looked like makeup and not part of the characters, for example, Gabriel Afolayan’s scar, his eyes, and the stickers pasted on his body to represent a tattoo. I especially hated the use of blood. It was exaggerated; days after these characters’ unfortunate encounters, they still had fresh blood everywhere on their hands, clothes, faces which was unrealistic and distracting. It felt like the makeup team was more concerned with visual shock than authenticity. Marshal who had killed multiple people and his story was being narrated after the fact had so much fresh blood like he just left the crime scene 5mins earlier. Let’s talk about sweat in this film, sounds silly yes? But I have seen people sweat in films but I have never seen it look like what I saw in Inside Life and since it was a recurring look in all the scenes, i couldn’t ignore it. It was like they rubbbed oil on their bodies then sprayed them with water to mimic sweat..the beads of water just standing on their oily bodies and not rolling down was just too unnatural. Let’s not forget how oily they all looked overall, almost like someone prepped them to walk a runway. When Ade was washing the toilet, why exactly was his face and mouth so oily, when I saw that scene in the trailer, I thought they caught him licking the toilet or something (forgive me if you just pictured that, I know that’s so gross to imagine). Everything was too much, too visually jarring.
I did not like the dialogues. You know when they’re trying so hard for something to sound deep and serious? Their lines just sounded off. Some scenes were too long and ended up having no relevance to the rest of the series. For example, Gabriel Afolayan and Meg Otanwa’s scene, it was too long, and what was the point of it? The scene before the sacrifice, where those men in white kept going on and on, had me wondering, “Is it not enough?” The scene I hated the most in this series was when the new ring bearer told those men she’d speak English so they could understand, and then said, “I understand that boys will be boys… you fuck the ass, don’t touch the product.” That scene was not only cringeworthy; the performance was terrible!
While watching, there were so many unanswered questions.
What happened to Ade and the others in jail? WhatsApp was their connection to the rituals?
The random girl who took over from the queen, who was she? Why was she chosen? What was the basis? If she was a hostage, how come she was able to step right in as if she used to be the queen’s apprentice and knew what the entire operation was about? If the queen had to take off the ring by herself, at what point did that happen? Who was the girl sleeping with the queen? How did she suddenly become the main ritual coordinator?!
What happened to Ade and the other guys in jail? What was their connection to the rituals?
The random girl who took over from the queen, who was she? Why was she chosen? If she was a hostage, how come she was able to step right in as if she used to be the queen’s apprentice and knew what the entire operation was about? If the queen had to take off the ring by herself, at what point did that happen? Who was the girl sleeping with the queen? How did she suddenly become the main ritual coordinator?!
What happened to Titi? The first time we saw her, it seemed like there was something significant about her. Then, after she was killed, she woke up again with her eyes flashing red. Did you notice Marshal had red eyes too and one of the evil rings? Alhaja was asking where he got it from. As for Alhaja, I kept on wondering, at what point do we know her main purpose in this entire story?
How did Gift know Mimi? Mimi just walked behind her in a dark one time, the scene where Titi and Mimi were kidnapped was also strange. There was no bus conductor, the bus just opened by itself, they didn’t even ask where it was going neither did the driver give them this information; they just entered. Is that how people enter buses in Lagos?
Why was Chiamaka the chosen one? How come Chiamaka’s step mother knew the Queen? What was their connection?
Finally, and this is just my personal sentiment, but I thought the series was too disturbing. Some films are disturbing and horrific but intelligent or emotionally stimulating, and even though they might haunt you forever, you watch them because they’re just that good. But this series was dark, gloomy, and depressing for nothing. I think that’s why I was more upset—it was just a waste of depression. I believe there will be a second part, and some might argue that everything else will be explained there, but I’m not expecting much, nor am I looking forward to it. If they couldn’t tell a coherent story after 6 episodes, I doubt that 6 more would do the trick.
Overall, this was a really bad watch for me. Some might enjoy it, but to me, this collection of interlocking stories left me feeling unsatisfied. After the closing credits, it felt like I’d seen something I wasn’t supposed to see, and I wished that I had watched something else with my friends on that Friday night instead of this series.
My Rating: 2/10
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Read the review of Seven Doors here.
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