Ojuju (2014) Fantasia 2015

I'm torn about taking about OJUJU. It's not that it's a bad film, it's actually a pretty good one as a far as zombie films go. Hell it's a damn sight better than 95% of the low budget zombie crap that comes out of the US.  The problem is I don't think that if it wasn't a no budget film from Nigeria anyone would have paid any attention to it.

The plot of the film has some weed dealers getting bitten by a man they think is just a psycho. What he is is a zombie the first of many, and they are now infected. As the City slowly is over run the guys have to figure out what to do because they aren't feeling too good.

While the plot is nothing special, it's a basic boiler plate zombie plot line, its the location and the little details of life in Nigeria that set the film apart. Don't kid yourself the fact it was shot on the streets and inside the homes of the people making the film gives the film a sense of reality almost every other horror film.

For me the problem with the film comes from a leisurely pacing. Its not terrible, in fact it's kind of like real life, but it's a tad too slow so the film never quite sustains the tesnsion needed to generate the scares. There is some tension, but there should be more.

And such is my dilemma- here is a good and off beat horror film that is very much not run of the mill and is better than most of the zombie crap we see, but at the same time the pacing of the film never generates the frisson required to be really scary. It's probably best described as a film that's going to be admired more than it's loved (it will most certainly be liked)

The films one Fantasia screening started a short time ago, however expect this film to appear at a festival and theater near you very soon.