Hell Cat

The biggest budget items in this movie are 1) Matilda’s closet and 2) Glassware. Disclaimer: no glassware was spared in the making of this movie.

Hell Cat is the story of a newlywed couple – Ochukwu and Liz – who are already undergoing trying times. Specifically, the husband is undergoing trying times as he finds himself in an abusive relationship with a wife who otherwise appears rather sweet and angelic.

Watching a movie like this, there are two main things that generally run through the mind. The first being why isn’t the abused leaving and the second being how couldn’t you tell from the beginning. By the end of the movie, the writer manages to answer both questions in a satisfactory manner, the problem if anything is the progression of events. It almost seems as though the story is made in sections instead of a collaborative whole: there is the ‘bad’ parts, the ‘good’ parts and the ‘repentant’ parts. The problem with this is that it almost fails to maximize the emotions. At certain points you feel intense rage towards the perpetrator and frustration towards the victims, then you suddenly move to pity. A more integrated story would have done better at making the parts seem less stretched and the audience feel more vested in the ‘realness’ of this couple and their situation.

Many aspects of this movie are just adequate enough: from the performances, the video, the audio, the lighting and many things in between. The actors never really do anything here that adds layers to the characters. Instead there are numerous moments of exaggerated responses that are highlighted by the shots the director chooses.

All that being said, Hell Cat, is neither terrible nor great. It’s your average Nigerian home video. It has a lesson to teach, it dedicates a certain amount of scenes towards them and the lesson is successfully relayed. It doesn’t drag too long and it spices things up with pretty faces and pretty costumes, what more do you need huh?