Idia is a Nollywood supernatural horror, that was released to cinemas in Nigeria on October 24th, 2025. Directed by Jide ‘JBlaze’ Oyegbile and Ese Ariremu, the latter of which also co-wrote the film alongside Jasper Aziegbemhin. It has a runtime of 1 hour, 44 minutes. The film, reportedly based on true events, follows a teenage orphan whose life is altered forever when she gets adopted by a strange couple, who enlists her in continuing their lineage. However, everything is not what it seems.
Premise
Troubled orphan Idia lives in the convent orphanage, hoping and praying to be adopted by a family, but it seems impossible due to the less than stellar reputation that hangs on her name. She was quite violent when she was younger due to her anger at the way she was bullied. She is haunted by visions and memories of a dark past.
Her dream soon comes true when a mysterious reverend sister, Dorcas, approaches her with an offer. Dorcas’ sister, who has been in a childless marriage for over a decade, now requests a househelp. Dorcas enlists Idia, promising that she will be treated like a daughter, lauding about how Idia is “incredibly favored”. Idia is hesitant, but ultimately takes the opportunity.
She reaches the home of the couple; Rose and Efosa Usifo, and they give her a warm welcome. The following days are somewhat peaceful, despite the couple’s odd mannerisms, some of which include creeping up and staring at her, excessive compliments about her beauty, and a ‘midnight mass’ that they attend almost every day, but claim that she cannot go with them.
Through all of this, Idia is haunted by increasingly dark hallucinations and the spirit of her stepmother who, along with certain flashbacks, implies that Idia was responsible for her death, alongside that of her stepsisters, and perhaps even her father.
One day, while Idia and Rose look through photo albums, Rose explains that she had gotten pregnant once after years of trying, but a terrible accident involving her, Efosa, and Dorcas had resulted in the loss of the child and ultimately Rose’s ability to have any more children.
Soon, Idia gets to meet the couple’s friends at a get-together hosted by them. Each of these friends display increasingly unsettling behavior, especially after being introduced to her. They make concerning comments about her body, her ‘youth’, and so on. During this party, Idia gets to meet Omonigho, a younger girl who is being raised by a local midwife. Omonigho proposes friendship, but Idia is already overwhelmed by the incredibly strange atmosphere.
It all comes to a head one day, when Rose attempts to subtly plant the idea of Efosa getting Idia pregnant, so that the couple may finally have their long-awaited child. Despite initial skepticism, Idia agrees, wanting nothing more than to see her newfound family happy. It happens with the midwife’s guidance, and Idia gets pregnant, despite Omonigho calling out the strangeness of the situation.
“You allowed your husband to sleep with your maid, because you are that desperate for a child?”
And Rose, while seemingly unaffected by this at first, soon begins to show jealousy and contempt for Efosa’s fascination with Idia.
From this point, the film is then divided into 3 sections that tie accordingly with Idia’s three trimesters and the escalating bizarreness of the situation.
Section one, Conception, depicts the initial stages of the pregnancy, Rose’s growing contempt, and the beginning of some incredibly strange pregnancy symptoms
Section two, Hunger, depicts the second trimester. Idia’s visions and hallucinations grow even more disturbing, as does her pregnancy cravings (raw and/or live meat etc.) and complications (loss of hair and teeth etc.).
Section three, Ehimwin, the final stage. Amidst even more eerie nightmares and visions, there comes a very ominous baby shower, the delivery of the child, and then the traumatizing revelation of the truth. The section’s title serves as subtle foreshadowing for those who are familiar with Edo traditional folklore.
Cast and Perfomances
- Gbubemi Ejeye as Idia
- Linda Osifo as Rose Usifo
- Tope Tedela as Efosa Usifo
- Mercy Aigbe as Idia’s Stepmother
- Beloved Osagie as Omonigho
The acting in this film started out incredibly mediocre, with only Mercy Aigbe carrying her already limited role perfectly. She starts out as Idia’s abusive stepmother and later becomes the vengeful spirit that haunts her after Idia’s crime. But as the movie progresses, we get excellent performances, especially from Linda and Gbubemi. The characters themselves are so intriguing, until that bombshell of a reveal rocks your entire world and quite literally threw everything I figured out about the characters into simultaneous understanding and upheaval. You quickly get to understand that the entire point of the film is simply: Consequences, for Idia especially.
But that’s not to say that the character work gets a 10/10 from me however. In actuality, Idia and Rose are the only characters with any sort of depth (Omonigho as well, but she didn’t get that much screen time). Efosa didn’t really do anything for me, especially as a main character. But Rose however, she gives us everything: the smugness of one who has complete control, the eerie mannerism that really foreshadow the otherworldliness of her character and yet the incredibly human jealousy and bitterness. The background characters too could really use some work, with most of them coming off as extremely awkward and unnecessary (that one weird scene in the balcony where one of them randomly starts singing the most ominous rendition of ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb, I cringed so hard.).
What I Liked and Disliked
This was a very loaded section for me to even conceptualize, as I stood in absolute befuddlement in that theatre while the credits rolled. What does one even say about this film? First of all, I’d like to point out that the pacing of the movie might not be everyone’s cup of tea. It does take a while to get to the point. However, that’s not to say that the film drags on. I firmly believe that despite its length, almost every single scene is important and needed. We needed to see the diabolism of Idia’s pregnancy as demonstrated by her increasingly disturbing symptoms. We needed to see the main characters in daily life for that long for us to understand how non-human they are. We needed to see Idia being haunted by her stepmother to understand that this entire experience was a consequence of Idia’s own actions. The eeriness is the point. We needed to be properly creeped out by their behavior, because it served to really drive home the climax of the film.
Speaking of the film’s climax, let’s talk about the elephant in the room.
Yes, that plot twist/reveal.
Rarely am I rendered truly speechless by a film’s finale, especially in Nollywood. And while this ending might be seen as predictable or normal to some, it certainly wasn’t for me. I was absolutely overwhelmed by shock, sadness, pity, and complete bewilderment. I really had to sit with it for an incredibly baffled minute to really take it in. I even stayed back in the theatre a bit to look out for a mid-credits scene, or post-credits scene, anything to provide some sort of closure. But I got none, and perhaps that was for the best. Like I said before, the eeriness was the point. A story like that doesn’t get happy endings. And now, I absolutely love the direction that was taken with the storytelling.
Final Thoughts
Idia was specifically marketed for the Halloween season (An uncommon occurrence in Nigerian culture and media), and can I just say, mission excellently accomplished. It’s the perfect way to imbue a foreign holiday with a unique homeland traditional flavor. This is not your average ghost story. And it makes me super excited for the prospect of future Halloween focused Nollywood projects.
I rate Idia (2025): 4 out of 5
Happy Halloween! Have you seen Idia? Which part creeped you out the most? Let me know in the comments.
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