Director: Jerome Pikwane
Writer: Richard Kunzmann, Jerome Pikwane (Screenplay)
Starring: Petronella Tshuma, Kwande Nkosi, Dawid Minnaar, Harreit Manamela, Mandla Shongwe
Plot: Busi, a young destitute woman with dangerously repressed emotions, lands a job as a cleaner at a rundown hospital in the heart of Johannesburg. Desperate for the money so she can bring her younger sister to Johannesburg, she must cope despite the predatory and corrupt hospital manager. When Busi discovers an abandoned young girl in the hospital, who believes she is tormented by a supernatural force, Busi must face her own demons from her past in order to save the child from the abusive monster that pursues them both relentlessly.
Tagline – Where she goes it follows.
Runtime: 1 Hour 32 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Fairy Tale Horror
Story: The Tokoloshe starts as Busi (Tshuma) moves to Johannesburg to start a new life, where she gets a job in a hospital as a cleaner, where she is warned about the manager Ruatomin (Minnaar) predatory ways. Busi learns of the darkness within parts of the hospital, along with the children’s wing that includes children that have also been forgotten.
Busi starts to feel uneasy in her new surroundings where she is filled with the guilt of leaving her sister behind, despite her job being to bring her to the big city too, soon she learns her guilt and despair could have bought forward an evil spirit following her, one that preys on the weak.
Thoughts on The Tokoloshe
Characters – Busi is a young lady that has left her sister behind in hope of starting a better life for the pair of them, she gets a job in the big city and learns that she is going to need to face demons in both human and supernatural form. Busi is filled with guilt for leaving her sister behind and will do everything she can to support her, but she needs to fight her own demons first. Ruatomin is the manager of the hospital, he likes to take advantage of the women and uses his position of power to get away with it. Gracie is the young girl Busi finds around the hospital, she believes he is being haunted by the Tokoloshe and when she is left alone, the creature strikes causing her great pain, it will continue to follow her too.
Performances – Petronella Tshuma in the leading role brings us a performance that shows the pain her life has been through, while willing to show just how much she wants the change. Kwande Nkosi as the young girl that shows the horrors she has been through, while Dawid Minnaar brings us the horrible manager making you hate his every scene.
Story – The story here follows a young woman that heads to the big city to start a new life for her and her sister only to find herself needing to help a young girl that is being haunted by a mysterious creature in the shadows. The story does dive into a folklore of South Africa which tales of a creature that comes for child who are suffering. This story does address real life issues that Busi could be suffering from both in the workplace and at home with the problems her sister is facing. When it comes to the haunting side of the story we get to dive into the terror that could be experience by the people who are targets of the Tokoloshe.
Horror – The horror does have a lot going on in the background, with the game of catch and with the being dragged along the floor poltergeist like haunting.
Settings – The film does show the Johannesburg city being a place where somebody would go to make money, despite being one of the places where it isn’t as safe as she would want it to be, the hospital have plenty of haunting feelings and once we leave the city we get the area which includes extra horror.
Special Effects – The effects are saved more for the final reveal, this is strong enough for low budget which does work for the film.
Scene of the Movie – The game of catch.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The hospital has strange wings.
Final Thoughts – This is a horror that does bring a folklore to life and the gloom involved in the film to show the horror we would be experiencing.
Overall: Gloomy Horror.
