In the 90s and early 2000s, Nollywood had a long list of movies that frightened us and in most cases left us sleep deprived for several nights.
Scenes from these films left us screaming, crying or just straight up scarred because of the extent at which they were horrifically portrayed.
If you had experiences similar to the one depicted above, chances are that you’ve risen above all that and grown a thicker skin. But it’s never a bad idea to go down memory lane, yes?
Here are 5 Nollywood films that probably gave you sleepless nights as a child.
A typical Nollywood movie on witchcraft and juju, the 1996 movie revolved around Satan and his followers, including Karishika, who was sent to the world to initiate men; tempting them with money, sex and their heart desires.
If you can not chant along to the soundtrack: “Karishika Karishika, Queen of demons…” then maybe you shouldn’t be to be reading this article! The movie gave a lot of children sleepless nights.
2. Nneka the pretty serpent
Zeb Ejiro’s 1992 movie, Nneka The Pretty Serpent, is generally accepted as the first horror movie to explore the storyline of female demons sent to the world to seduce men of God.
It revolved around Nneka, a mermaid disguised as a human, whose mission on earth was to go after married men. I don’t believe that there was any child that could sleep comfortably after seeing this movie.
Who in his right mind steals a mask from a shrine and sells it? The lead characters in this story did that and the gods had a swell time haunting them and by extension, haunting us, the poor kids whose only crime was watching the film.
This is one of the origins of nightmares for a lot of Nigerian 90s kids. The graphic details live rent-free in the head of any child who was unfortunate enough to see it, even till date.
One cannot forget, symbols such as Abija, a thorn-in-the-flesh sorcerer, the soundtrack, amongst other things that make the work memorable.
Is there any school child who didn’t think twice about eating puff puff after seeing this movie? It depicted the dangers of children sharing food with each other at school.
Almost every parent, including mine, who saw this movie gave very strict warning to their kids as regards collecting food from strangers.
