Dead of Night (2024)

Dead of Night

If a horror story was promised to you back then, it was sure to deliver. Karishika, Igodo and Egg of Life scared us as kids with their otherworldly and mystery thrillers produced in the same period. Adults weren’t spared either these movies jumped out at them from start to finish. It is not surprising that the horror genre has been defined as the most difficult film form to execute successfully. This is because it must bring together various elements of moviemaking so as to provoke fear among viewers, all without necessarily featuring A list actors.

Therefore, aside from just supplying frights or entertainment value alonethe cold sweats, goosebumps and adrenaline rushes too must be integrated into overall experience; though unfortunately this is not what Showmax’s Dead of Night achieves with its methodology no matter how imaginative or ambitious its plot may seem.

Dead of Night represents Chiemeka Osuagwu’s first feature length directorial attempt (he is better recognized for his work on screenplays). The folklore based scary movie narrates about two little girls who due to their greediness for easy cash visit an abandoned house during late hours when it is pitch dark outside. Chinaza (acted by Favour Etim) still mourning her nephew’s death while living under care a guardian uncle with drinking problem after failing previous attempts steals Ihuoma’s heart (played by Nene Aliemeke) into participating another burglary heist promising this time bigger payout from larger unoccupied residence filled up valuable items only.

But unknown them what they will soon encounter inside there until they realize that what seemed like an “empty” building actually shelters evil spirit named Onwu along its worshippers people possessed by Onwu themselves who were sent there protect him against any external interference including that posed by these young ladies; now caught within such events beyond their control both women have no option than struggle survive or else become sacrifices offered up unto fearsome demon controlling abode.

Typically, low-budget scary movies deliver many jumpscares and at the same time have a backup plan in the form of interesting backstories so as to keep their audience engaged in case the main plot fails. Unfortunately, this movie does not meet either of these criteria. It utilizes the overused “abandoned house” concept, which could have been forgiven with some slight re-imagining.

However, it is filled with silly moments that only generate laughs instead of scares. By the time it ends, viewers may find it unsatisfying and poorly made because all necessary elements for a horror/mystery thriller are absent or insufficiently represented. Even the deaths are not gory enough to appeal to a horror fan base.

While advertised as a horror thriller, Dead of Night is dreadfully lacking in anything remotely frightening. Or maybe I’ve just seen too many scary movies because I didn’t find this one even slightly terrifying. The child ghost that shows up towards the end of the film looks more funny than anything else and doesn’t serve any purpose in redeeming the story whatsoever.

For a movie that bills itself as being scary, there’s over thirty minutes where nothing suspenseful happens at all during its runtime right before things start picking up steam (and none of them are worth rooting for) you spend entire films watching characters ramble through contrived motivations and as far as familiarity goes among cast members most likely to jump out at viewers: Kunle Idowu (Frank Donga) makes an appearance in Dead of Night alongside Chuks Joseph and Nene Aliemeke from Netflix’s The Origin: Madam Koi Koi In an unexpected twist Frank Donga (as good natured Doctor Clems) known mostly for comedic roles plays our villain but even then his character isn’t very convincing as a horror antagonist.

Perhaps if it hadn’t tried so hard with its whole horror thing Dead Of Night does not do justice to itself. Maybe a simple, urban folklore mixed with drama would have sufficed instead. And maybe we could have gone into the movie with lower expectations. This Showmax film features lukewarm writing and underwhelming performances by the actors as well as a director who still has plenty of growing to do.

Osuagwu, having honed his directing skills thus far in his short film Samaria sees some assured moments come through here alongside many ill at ease ones too while effects being ropy at best with average but uninspiring cinematography sound quality is noticeable and used cheaply (too loud in build-ups and actors’ reactions) Dead of Night is for the light-hearted who enjoy some horror on their screen and not for genre regulars who will not take it seriously.

Watch Dead of Night For Free On Gomovies.