Streaming media has been something of a disaster for film history, with countless much-loved films now no longer readily available to the public. At the same time it has been something of a godsend for world cinema, with small and overlooked features from around the globe suddenly having opportunities to reach a broader audience. A Green Fever is a solid case-in-point. This tense, claustrophobic thriller is directed by Nigeria’s Taiwo Egunjobi. Ten years ago you would likely had never even heard of it. Today, with an Amazon Prime subscription, you can watch it in your living room.

Kunmi Braithwaite (Temilolu Fosudo) is a Lagos architect on the road to the city of Oyo when his chronically ill daughter Ireti (Darasimi Nadi) faints in their car. Looking for urgent care, he pulls up at an isolated manor house where a young woman named Mathilda (Ruby Precious Okezie) welcomes him inside. Then her lover, a military colonel named Bashiru (William Benson), arrives and Kunmi becomes trapped in a net of paranoia without any apparent chance of escape.

This is a small, tightly wound feature, set in a two-storey house in the middle of nowhere. It is not a particularly violent film, but the threat of violence hangs over every encounter and conversation. Kunmi finds himself separated from his daughter, and left alone for periods of time where he can hear suspicious and sometimes terrifying sounds from around the house. When he is attended, it is either by Mathilda – a fragile victim desperately seeking escape from her violent relationship – or by Bashiru – the exact violent figure who frightens Mathilda so much. The tension is progressively ratcheted up throughout the film as the colonel’s suspicions of Kunmi grow, and in turn Kunmi realises that the colonel is keeping secrets himself.

Taiwo Egunjobi previously directed the 2021 drama All Na Vibes, which I reviewed about a year ago, and this follow-up shows a director improving marvellously in terms of plot and character. The performances are impressive; particularly Temilolu Fosudo as the nervous, panicky Kunmi and Ruby Precious Okezie’s brittle, heartbreaking turn as Mathilda. Egunjobi maintains an urgent pace that very much works to the film’s benefit. Gray Jones Assai’s musical score is tense and atmospheric.

Nigeria’s post-colonial history is a turbulent one, and the 1980s in particular saw the nation experience multiple overthrows of government and military-led coups. Those events appear to inform A Green Fever heavily, and inform its relatively grim tone: a combination of momentary panic, underlying dread, and sheer exhaustion. It is exciting to see Nigeria’s filmmakers and film culture improve and develop as the industry shifts from the micro-budgeted “Nollywood” of recent decades to the slick, internationally competitive and superbly-made works we are seeing today. I can only hope for more opportunities to see African talent – and their movies – on the big and small screens.