JUJU STORIES.
In the spirit of Halloween and all the horrors, Adedapo Adeniyi tells us what he thinks of Juju stories, a Nigerian three-part anthology film exploring juju (magical) stories rooted in Nigerian folklore and urban legend, written and directed by the Nigerian new wave cinema collective known as Surreal16.
THE REVIEW.
The film is split into three chapters, Love Potion by Omonua, Yam by Makama and Suffer The Witch by Obasi. All of them modern retellings of Nigerian horror folklores.
I am sleep deprived and my eyes are extremely itchy, reminiscing on the first time I saw this film, February 2022, an empty theater in Ilorin, an immersive experience, the imagery lingering with me for months after, the ecstasy that came with the fact that independent cinema was thriving in Nigeria, and not just independent cinema, independent horror cinema, reminiscing on the third time I saw it, early 2023, with my mother, seeing the film through the perspective that she grew up in an era where the ingredients that went into this film were real and rampant, people found love in love potions, people touched money and turned to yams, the girl two seats away from you was most definitely a witch, the recognition she had for these concepts and the terror that emanated from that recognition, the terror that emanated from my recognition of her recognition, let us begin.
Chapter 1 is Love Potion, a story about a depressed writer who meets a man, falls in love with him, realizes he can't love her back and then decides to use juju on him, she gives him a love potion and he falls in love with her, she then realizes that they're completely different people and her fantasy cannot be translated to real life, she falls out of love with him and they end things.
Chapter 2 is Yam, a story about an overambitious area boy who picks up money from the ground, goes to spend it at a bar and then eventually collapses into a yam, a vulcanizer with quite the shitty life comes along, takes the yam home and cooks it for his girlfriend who is pregnant, he adds a concoction to the yam that's supposed to make her miscarry but she refuses to eat it,(because indomie and eggs have caught us in a chokehold and God works in mysterious ways) he's forced to eat it himself only to wake up in the middle of the night hearing the voice of the area boy yelling in his head, he loses his shit completely and runs mad.
Chapter 3 is Suffer The Witch, a story about a girl, Chinwe, in the university whose roommate is assumed to be a witch by everybody because of her seemingly mysterious powers and is also infatuated with her. Chinwe gets together with popular campus boy, Ikenna, until her friend, the alleged with, Joy, ruins it by telling Chinwe that her and Ikenna shared an intimate moment, Chinwe gets sad and because of it, Joy kills Ikenna, or rather causes his death. Chinwe is almost entirely sure Joy is a witch now but her fears are confirmed when Ikenna's best friends disappear mysteriously, Joy kisses Chinwe then tells her that nobody will ever come between us and we see them, in an extremely eerie final shot, levitating.
The film is a stunning work of art, the cinematography is particularly portraitesque, the oversaturation of pidgin, the fluidity of dialogue, cinematic parallels and the old woman in all three chapters giving the film a hovering omniscience.
The horror in this film isn't dependent on jumpscares, it's uncomfortable, this film has scenes that just abruptly come back into your mind a month later and then you can't stop thinking about it, they're essays on obsession, is anything scarier than making somebody love you and realizing you're the one incapable of loving them? is anything more terrifying than the thought that getting turned into a yam was the worst that could happen but then you eat the yam and voices drive you to insanity? is there truly a more horrifying realization than finding out your friend is a witch and she's obsessed with you and will haunt you forever?
i wonder.
The film is art, Love Potion with its Wong Kar Wai smoking, daydreaming,love potion making montage, lingering shots and Murakami references, Yam with Abba's obsession with classical music, a yam wearing bling bling and that final shot of the vulcanizer screaming with his hands on his head into the camera fading to a painting of a man screaming with his hands on his head, this was also the first shot of Yam, the painting was also made by Makama himself, genius, Suffer The Witch with that one scene of the ascent into the afterlife, the Scott Pilgrim inspired shot that was our final image, the ambiguous feel of it all, and the cool ass close-ups.
Juju Stories is a tour de force, the writer-directors translating their understanding of juju stories that have haunted us for ages into cinema, conjuring paranoia that was already fading into obscurity back into mainstream media, it is a cautionary tale, it is atmospheric and unnerving.
A perfect watch for your Halloween, take it with tea, or yam, or ice cream, there are some things we cannot escape even with our eyes closed and Juju Stories is one of them.
THE PROCESS.
Currently available to watch on Amazon Prime.