We cannot, in good conscience, move past Anikulapo: The Ghoul Awakens until we have properly addressed the cinematic travesty that is this second season. It simply isn’t right for Kunle Afolayan to drop this series without a public reckoning—not after the hours we sacrificed to the franchise and the precious gigabytes we burned on the altar of the “King of Blockbusters.” Kunle, if you’re reading this, I’m going to need a refund on my data plan!
When the original Anikulapo film was released in 2022, it was a breath of fresh air. It gave us the legendary Saro (Kunle Remi) and Arolake (Bimbo Ademoye) in a tale of greed, mystical birds, and the consequences of “bottomless” desire. Saro died twice in two hours—a feat of legendary proportions. Then came the series, The Rise of the Spectre, where Saro defied death yet again. While it felt a bit like a stretch, we welcomed it. It resolved things; Arolake found her peace, and everyone seemed to end up exactly where they belonged.
Then, boom. Afolayan drops The Ghoul Awakens. (What in the heck is actually going on?!) Is Saro a cat with nine lives? Who will defy death again? What plot is left to squeeze out of this stone? To save you the headache, here is the core summary: Save your data. Go to YouTube and watch old Nollywood classics instead. The Ghoul Awakens is watery, lacks a central anchor, and wanders around without a head or a tail.
If you think this was a one-off disaster, please reconsider. We’ve entered an era of “quantity over quality,” and we are hosting a virtual slumber party to mourn our wasted subscription fees. If you survived The Ghoul Awakens, here are five other movies that are just as bad—if not worse.
1. The Night Market
No one is fighting for the top spot on this list except The Night Market. Released in 2025 and produced by influencer Abike Papaya, the film serves as a cautionary tale of why “clout” doesn’t translate to “cinematography.”
The movie opens with the legendary Tony Umez—who deserves better—playing with an occult dial in his palms via some questionable “teknologia” before dying. His final warning to his daughter? “Do not go to the night market.” What follows is a series of acting choices so stiff they could be used as plywood. And nothing, absolutely nothing, prepares you for the jarring, low-blow appearance of James Brown. If I were to write a full review of this, my keyboard would likely explode from the sheer frustration.
Rating: 1/10 (The ‘1’ is purely for the effort of showing up).
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2. Love in Every Word 2: The Wedding
Omoni Oboli should have ignored the internet and left Love in Every Word exactly where it was. We were all perfectly content with the “Odogwu and Achalugo” trend until she gave in to the “part two” clamor.
The result was a movie that isn’t technically “broken,” but is “bad” in every descriptive sense of the word. It is a festival of cringe. Between the aggressive, distracting product placements and a “billionaire” wedding that looked like a mid-range backyard party, it felt hollow. Odogwu, why didn’t your wedding give? Achalugo, why didn’t you stun? When you build a character as “stinkingly wealthy,” the production design needs to match. This didn’t just miss the mark; it didn’t even see the target.
Rating: 5/10 (4 points for past glory, 1 point just because I’m feeling generous).
3. Owambe Thieves
This could have been a decent heist flick if the ending hadn’t descended into chaos. It follows a struggling couple who decide to fund their lives by stealing sprayed money at parties. Now, guess who their first victim is? The wife’s own sister. Very cold-blooded something.
In a realistic world, they would have been caught at the first buffet line. But since Nollywood logic often defies physics, they survive until they decide to pull one “last heist.” The brain-racking begins when they decide to go all Isakaba with the plan. They whip out drawings of the venue (it’s giving Ikorodu Fast Five) and show a pathetic scene of mediocre theft. The real “what the heck” moment, however, is the climax. While the police are in hot pursuit, the wife chooses that exact moment to accuse her husband of cheating. In the heat of the argument and the chaos of the chase, they actually accidentally shoot their own child who happens to be in the car. Talk about “on-duty” parenting.It’s hard to root for a couple who can’t even manage a getaway without domestic violence turning into accidental infanticide.
Rating: 🫤/10 (I don’t even know how to quantify this confusion).
4. Family Brouhaha
This one isn’t “bad” so much as it is “numb.” A matriarch gathers her toxic, chaotic children together so they can make up in time for her birthday. It’s a classic trope: when you give birth to animals, you have to lower your expectations.
The movie meanders through unnecessary drama until the matriarch dies and leaves the family fortune to her “disabled” grandchild—who, surprise, isn’t actually disabled! It’s a twist for the sake of a twist. It isn’t a painful watch, but it’s entirely empty. It’s the cinematic equivalent of eating plain white rice—it fills the time, but you’ll forget the taste five minutes later. Do not waste your data on “blankness.”
Rating: 4/10
5. Ile Owo
You cannot discuss cinematic travesties without mentioning Ile Owo. If you want to see what a low-budget horror movie looks like when it tries too hard, this is it. The goal was clearly to incite fear, but instead, it induces a record-breaking amount of “sighs per minute.”
The plot involves a man who dedicates his lineage to a deity for wealth. A lady is chosen for sacrifice, and her father—in a twist of peak betrayal—is the presiding officer. What starts as a romance becomes a trap. While the premise is interesting, the execution is flat. Even exceptional actors couldn’t save this one; their personalities felt flattened by the script. Thank goodness for her mother’s anointing oil, or she’d have been a deity’s dinner. It fails to hit a single horror note, landing it squarely in the same “why was this made?” category as The Ghoul Awakens.
Rating: 2/10
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