I would like to congratulate my friends and collaborators, Jay Franklyn Jituboh and Michael W. Ndiomu with their crew, including my kinsman, Saveo Viyon , on the premiere of their horror thriller, The Origin: Madam Koi-Koi, on Netflix, this very day of All Hallows Eve.
It has been, as they say, a long time coming.
I met Jay during the 2015 Lagos ComicCon and since then, he has helped found a daring, thriving audio-visual studio in the heart of Lagos. Mike, a feisty, fiercely motivated, thundering typhoon of a man, was an accomplished investment banker before deciding to join Nollywood. Where Jay persuades, Michael pulverizes. And between our grey-flecked, writer/director Tintin and our hard-going Niger-Delta Captain Haddock,, another blistering barnacle of a movie has been made, one that seeks, in it’s own way, to advance Nollywood’s current adventure in global recognition waters.
Madam Koi-Koi (or Lady Koi-Koi in some other parts of Africa) is an urban legend, up there with the satanically snivelling Bush Babies, luring unsuspecting, sympathetic victims into the woods with their hypnotic bawling or The Oni Gom’gom, a Yoruba Bogeyman, out to visit and victimize kids who dare to remain awake past their bedtimes. And then, there are the Karishika and Mami Wata stories.
The trans-continental story of Koi Koi is rather tragic but a popular version is one that revolves around an avenging ghost that announces its presence with the cold, creepy, clickety-clacking of her dainty shoes, the very ones she was murdered in. The story goes that she walks the earth, a violent, vigilante of vengeance, dishing out comeuppance to souls with evil motivation and machinations, and presumably, as she was a teacher when she was alive, haunt the halls of delinquent boarding school students.
I attended boarding school and as I watched the story unfold at the screening organized yesterday at the Filmhouse cinema at Landmark Centre,6 memories, both hilarious and harrowing, came flooding back. The movie itself explores how our society treats the weak and the vulnerable and how people will resort to unconventional and often unpredictable means to seek redress once constituted authority is unable to provide necessary justice. The cinematography is deliciously haunting, the score is well-appointed. Jude Chukwuka grounds the bizarre goings-on with his trademark gravitas, Ireti Doyle tries her valiant best with her Yoruba and the relative new comers shine. Especially Chuks Joseph. I believe the movie will rack up a lot of engagement across Africa for the antecedents of the subject alone, never mind the nostalgia factor that should bring in older folks with the younger demographic.
Speaking of nostalgia, younger viewers should6 be pleased to know that Nigerians used to have a healthy appetite for scary movies. From the sombre music and supernatural magic of Ogunde’s epics to the delightful dread of acclaimed television movies and series as Jimi Odumosu ‘s relentlessly bleak Evil Encounter to Tade Ogidan’s Reign of Abiku and NTA’s scarefests- Pot of Life, Lynx and Wily Wily, our producers did their best at horror thrillers. Alas, the real life horror of the country’s economy happened. And those sort of fare weren’t fun anymore.
But it seems the good times are gradually coming back. Horror movies are in Blum! At least, on Netflix, they continue to be in rude health at the moment. Jason Blum, James Wan, Mike Flanagan…all doing the Lord’s work. The Fall of the House of Usher, a superbly made ‘Nollywood’ series, has,6 been a particular standout, this year. And now, my boys here have joined the fray. Jay and Not-So-Silent Mike intend to create their own universe around these urban legends by crafting origin stories for them. The three of us have collaborated on a film story, going before the cameras shortly and it is very likely, the scary sequels might be next. We eatin’ good.
Go watch The Origin: Madam Koi-Koi now! The first part drops today and the explosive conclusion berths a week after. Let me know what you think. Happy Halloween. Heh.
