Every culture has its demons, the tales children tell each other at sleepovers to ensure that no one sleeps at all! In Zulu culture the tokoloshe is something to be both ridiculed and feared, but the recently released South African horror film,The Tokoloshe, is nothing to laugh about! Chosen as the opening feature film at this year’s Durban International Film Festival, the horror flick was the debut feature film of Jerome Pikwane, who spent ten years working on the script with novelist, Richard Kunzmann.
The tokoloshe means different things to different people and different cultures,” said Pikwane. “So we had to create our own mythology for it from our research.
The pair did intensive research into the story of the tokoloshe, but also explored the topic of patriarchy, particularly relevant as we celebrate Women’s Month:
Horror films can be a catalyst to deal with ills in our society. Jaws took on Nixon, Get Out took on race relations in America, and The Tokoloshe represents the systemic abuse and oppression of women by masculinity. The black woman, in particular, is the most marginalised sector of our society.
Visit Twitter to watch a trailer for the film that’s got everyone’s heart racing – that’s if you’re brave enough!
The Tokoloshe is set to have its premiere on the 13th October (Halloween!), and have its nation-wide release in cinemas on the 2nd November.