An African Curse takes place in horror “Tokoloshe – The Calling”

South African horror film Tokoloshe – The Calling (2021), also known as Tokoloshe: An African Curse, is based on the legend of the Tokoloshe, a boogeyman that has terrified Africa for centuries. Originally conceived as a dwarf-like water sprite, it is considered a mischievous and evil spirit that can become invisible by drinking water or swallowing a stone. Tokoloshes are called upon by malevolent people to cause trouble for others, and their power extends to causing illness or even the death of the victim. The myth has been the source of several films like Tokoloshe (1965), The Tokoloshe (2018), or Ghetto Goblin (2013)

In Tokoloshe – The Calling (2021), a successful writer and media personality takes his wife and their adopted Zulu daughter to an abandoned hotel in The Transkei, located in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, to finish his much-anticipated follow-up novel. Once there, strange things begin to occur inside the hotel. The family soon learns that the hotel has a dark past in which many murders were carried out since it opened in 1808, including rumors that the land is cursed due to being stolen from its native people.

This is the debut as a director of Richard Green, who has been the producer of a long list of films since the 1990s including Woman of Desire (1994), Guns of Honor (1994), The Sexy Girls (1998), Red Dust (2004), Ghost Son (2007), and Berlinale Crystal Bear winner The Wooden Camera (2003). He has also been the writer of the screenplay together with composer and executive producer Arish Sirkissoon, who also has a supporting role in the movie.

Tokoloshe – The Calling (2021) is also the debut feature film of many of its actors and actresses, and is starred by Angela Balkovic, Rubendra Govender, Sanjay Laljith, Lloyd Grant O’Connor, Neerusha Oogorah, Shezi Sibongiseni, Roelof Twijnstra, and Lwandile Xaba.

The movie will be released on digital platforms on September 3, 2021, and will also be part of the lineup of the South African festival Durban International Film Festival. Here you can watch the official trailer for Tokoloshe – The Calling (2021).