The 20 Best Nollywood Movies of All Time
The creator tells us that she was encouraged by her friends, who often call her by the nickname "Nollywood," to create a space online where she could post her own Nollywood musings, after she came across the nolly.babes Instagram account and submitted relevant content to the platform to no avail.
"I often posted about Nollywood on my personal page, but it never occurred to me that I could use social media as a platform for archiving," she says.
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The page went live in February of this year and has gained 11,000 followers and counting with no social media strategy other than posting organic content. Using Twitter as the space to encapsulate Nollywood culture was intentional for the creator: to give nolly.babes their due space on Instagram, the ability to layout photos side-by-side or in groups and to engage with the wit of the Twitter community.
"I like to consume as much as I like to create and Twitter makes it easier for information to travel back and forth between us," she adds.
She also emphasizes that she's grown up with the genre since Nollywood began in 1992. It's been a key part of her upbringing in Nigeria, especially when it came to family bonding.
"As a child I spent a lot of my free time at home being creative and consuming different art forms: reading, watching television and listening to music. Since I didn't have many options other than what was around me, I found myself absorbing a lot of local subject matter," she says. "I remember one summer my aunt came to visit, and we always went back and forth to home movie rental kiosks [what Nollywood was referred to back then] in Ajah Market and we must have watched over 200 movies that summer."
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Her parents owned classics including The Rich Also Cry and Diamond Ring, "and our dad owned every Nkem Owoh movie ever made, or at least an obscene amount of Nkem Owoh CDs," she adds.
The mind behind yungnollywood recalls being fascinated by the women in the film who looked liked her and has even developed her sense of style after them. "[They] were very glamourous, daring and feisty in a culture where strong women were seen as unwomanly," she says. "I've always had a thing for female villains."
The aficionado's goals for this platform are simple: to provide receipts that the film genre deserves its overdue accolades and to create a community for Nollywood fans all over the world.
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"After the viral reaction to the first meme I posted, I realized that there was a huge demand for my style of content," she adds. "I kept on creating because I wanted to drown the belief that Nollywood was 'razz' or only one type of West African content was good enough to be considered art."
She continues:
"Hopefully I can continue to show that Nollywood is a legendary industry, something to be proud of and celebrated as Nigerians. I want everyone who contributed to the creation of these movies to be immortal, and if our platform can help, then that is satisfying enough because they changed my life."
Dig into the 20 best Nollywood movies of all time (thanks to the many YouTube pages keeping the flame alive), according to yungnollywood, below. This list is in no particular order.
1. GAMES WOMEN PLAY
You'll see the lives of three friends and how their love lives play out after they play a game with irreversible consequences.
Here's part two, part three, and part 4.
2. Girls Cot
Four babes in university end up blackmailing and scamming most of the government officials in the country. What's not to love about a scamming squad?
3. OSUOFIA IN LONDON
Screenshot via Nigeria Movie Network.
We put this here because it's the most popular Nkem Owoh movie and it's the film that gave him his nickname. However, you should watch every Nkem Owoh movie you can find.
Here's part one, part two, and part three.
4. SHARON STONE
She's the greatest player who ever lived. There are also two sequels because, clearly, no one could get enough of Sharon.
Here's part two.
5. ABUJA LADIES
Here you'll see a group of women more powerful than their husbands; dedicated to acquiring more power over each other. We stan powerful career women.
Here's part two, part three and part four.
6. STOLEN HEART
The only thing sweeter than the romance in this movie are Jim Iyke and Chidi Mokeme's character's outfits.
8. DIAMOND RING
We like this movie because we relate to the short time Richard Mofe Damijo's (RMD) son left school and had fun partying in university. Everything else is pretty much scary and a lesson on avoiding peer pressure.
Here's part two.
9. KARASHIKA
'Karashika' is one of the most popular horror movies in Nollywood. This film is included because the fashion choices of the prostitutes were exquisite. Also, Karashika is the queen of seduction. Minus the demonic part, it's pretty impressive.
10. SUICIDE MISSION
We loved Regina Askia's character's fashion choices, but she was definitely crazy for using juju to put RMD's character in a bottle, in the name of love. She also turned into a dog at the end, that was pretty memorable.
11. GLAMOUR GIRLS
This is the mother of all 'use men for their money or die trying' movies. Self-explanatory.
12. SCORES TO SETTLE
Omotola's character plays a sexy witch who's back to avenge against a former witch by taking her son. She scared us, but all was forgiven after the scene with the double breasted red tuxedo.
Here's part two.
13. KEEPING FAITH
There's nothing more entertaining than the drama involved with a woman desperate enough to do anything to keep her man. Trust us.
14. SCARS OF A WOMAN
This movie taught us that there were women suffering from female genital mutilation. An educative choice, but viewers discretion is advised.
15. SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY
This film perfectly depicts who not to become when you fall in love with a man. Red flags are red flags. Kate Henshaw's character made us cringe.
16. DOMITILLA
If you like a sad story about the life of a prostitute that doesn't get better 'til the very end, you'll like this one. Warning, it's depressing and someone gets beheaded.
17. STAND BY ME
Though this movie has a lot of feminist quotables, it's still about watching your back when it comes to friends, especially around your man. Benita Nzeribe's character is the perfect villain. She's the best dressed as wellβan underrated fashion icon.
Here's part two.
18. DAYS OF BONDAGE
You haven't met a bad mum till you meet Clarion Chukwura's character in this film. We would kill for her outfits, but bullying your daughter into prostitution is not cool, mum.
20. CROSSROADS
We're still not sure what happened at the end of this film because we're still looking for part two, but it's worth watching from how much we've seen in part one! Let us know on Twitter if you're the plug to the full film.
