Movie review: Alive Till Dawn resurrects the African horror genre but fails with Western style

Alive Till Dawn is a Nollywood horror movie that tries to cash in on the zombie universe by selling Africa’s version of the mythical fantasy. It stars Chisom Agoawuike, Micheal Dappa, Sani Muazu, Shine Rosman, and Uzor Arukwe and is directed by Sulaiman Omotola Ogegbe.

Synopsis: In a city overrun by a sudden zombie outbreak, a police officer, an ex-convict, and a stranded girl are forced to work together till dawn, while trapped in a building- testing loyalty, fear, and survival instincts in ways none of them expected.

The reason we didn’t enjoy this movie is that it was centred on Alex (Sunshine Roseman), the daughter of a police officer. Every other thing revolved around her affairs. We found this boring, as it sometimes veers off the zombie theme the film really should be all about.

Alive Till Dawn is Nollywood’s way of resurrecting the horror movie genre. However, we found it awkward that the producers decided to make a zombie movie. The movie wasn’t scary, compared to Hollywood’s World War Z and South Korea’s All of US Are Dead. The zombie movement was a bit too slow, just a bit faster than what 80s and 90s zombie movies looked like.

The producers should have continued with the typical Nollywood horror style, which involves witchcraft, ghosts, and voodoo, e.g., Koto Aiye. We remember watching such in the 90s and early 2000s, making it difficult to go to bed at night. With modern special effects, such stories would sell and be accepted not only by Nigerians but by foreigners. Imagine selling a zombie movie to Americans, especially when it’s poorly done. It’s more like trying to sell water to a well. But when you sell a story on African witchcraft covens, people who are strange to the African culture will be drawn to it. But trying to use Western scare tactics to scare…