The Mystic River is a Nigerian horror-thriller series currently streaming on Netflix. It has uploaded the first season with 6 episodes on May 14, which are almost 30 to 33 minutes long and is directed by Uzodinma Okpechi. It has a huge star cast along with legendary Nigerian actor Jide Kosoko who will be seen in the series as a king.
The story is about a Nigerian culture of a village where pregnant women are sacrificed to bring prosperity. Yes, that’s right. These people kill young, innocent pregnant women to keep the affluence of the village’s land. As mentioned in the series, this culture has been going on over generations as the area has been cursed.
But things take a different route when a young couple arrives at the village. Apparently, the lady is a doctor, and she has been transferred to this village. She came with her husband and their unborn child. Yes, she is pregnant. So what will happen to her? Will she be sacrificed as the others or will she uncover some mysterious truths about the village that will bring more danger to their lives? This series does solve these queries.
When you click on the play button, the first scene with what the series opens is a pregnant woman walking towards a river to submerge herself. It will bring some curiosity to know what happens further. But as the story unfurls, it won’t really click with you. At least it didn’t happen to me. Yes, the story is sad; there are some eerie events, supernatural or magical twinklings to fall for but horror? Not really! I get scared very easily, just with a frightening sound, or a sudden ‘thud’ can give me a terrible scare, but here, in spite of watching all the 6 episodes, I didn’t feel anything except sorry for the women and disgust for the ritual.
Now let’s come to performances. This is the first time I watched any Nigerian show, so I really don’t know who does how. But I liked Lota Chukwu Elixir’s performance as Ibere (the pregnant lady doctor), Jide Kosoko as King and Ayo Ewebiyi as the priestess of the village. Other actors have done their part too to make this work but what really didn’t work is the execution of the series. The camera work or the cinematography and the background music of the series didn’t make that magic work.
Summary: The Mystic River
Well, if I had to give my verdict here, you can give it a watch if you have enough time in your hand. Otherwise, you can skip it. There’s not much thrill or suspense and definitely no horror. It’s a good try for Nigerian films or series to come in front of the global audience, but we have watched so many good horror thrillers till now that this won’t really make an impact on you.
So, this mystic river remained mystic to me, even though Ibere uncovered the truths in the series.
The Mystic River is now streaming on Netflix.
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You gave the series a poor rating. I’ve seen it and I must say that it deserves nothing less than a 4.