Truth be told, the idea of a film with a merge of comedy and horror— two of Nollywood’s most potent genre is exciting! with a seasoned director like Niyi Akinmolayan at its helm, what could go wrong? apparently, a lot.

My Village People tells the story of Prince, a middle-aged man, and his tussle with witches and dark forces who want his life after a visit to his village for his sister’s wedding. the film stars , Bovi Ugbomma, Sophie Alakija, Theresa Edem, Nkem Owoh ,Venita Akpofure.

Just like the title clearly depicts—for a film that could have been innovative or even mildly novel, Niyi Akinmolayan’s “My Village People” does not deliver a worthy story for its potent and relative subject matter, not even shinny cinematography can save.

Starring seasoned comedian and actor Bovi as its lead actor and assisted by a host of other incredible actors, one would hope the film is not another cheap comedy for a quick cash grab, owing to the fact that Bovi’s first outlet to a feature lengthy ”cinema” movie was the Hilarious 2015 movie “It’s Her Day” which was executive produced by him. the film was exactly what we hoped it wasn’t.

For years now—thankfully, it is evident that crappy cinematography has become stale in Nollywood. “My Village People” does well in this regard; even dishing out impressive special effects. For a film with a supernatural theme, the scenes were properly done. The major conundrum of My Village People is its inability to fully utilize the two merged themes it uses— horror and comedy coupled with its half baked story.

One thing always stood out for Nollywood’s Old Witchy and films, which “My Village people” consciously (or unconsciously) took cues from, even with their dull plots, was their “hellishly scary scenes” — but to our surprise, My VIllage People fell short of this age-long feat. It was plagued with an inconsistent story and cheap comedy.

While the flick will have you begging for silver linings, one silver lining was Theresa Edem, who gave a terrific performance and other actors like Sophie Alakija and Bovi (the lead actor) also did well.

Just like several other Nigerian comedy films— which “My Village People’ took the ”baton’ from, the film lazily uses several Story cliches we have seen a multiple time— one is the concept of the ‘Chosen one’, apparently, the witches and the marine world think Prince (the protagonist) is the chosen one; they fight over him throughout the film, his younger sister comes out at the end of the movie to reveal that she is the chosen one and the Queen of the Marine world; she always knew she was the one. she suddenly develops superpowers and the rest of the marine world does not know this.

The initial villian turns out to be a victim just like the protagonist and she (theresa Edem) needs Prince to tell her “I love you” seven times to be freed from the witch kingdom. you start to wonder, where does this mishap ends?

Nollywood has become a haven for creativity and more correctly — a source of revenue for Comedians but only a few of these comedy fueled films hit the mark. It makes it hard not to think of this process as just a quick cash grab rather than a passion project.

.