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Directed by Stiles White, Ouija, shows us the possible consequences of trying to contact the dead using a spirit board.
Ouija starts off with showing two young girls Debbie and Laine playing with an Ouija board as kids, one rule being you must never play alone, as the two best friends try to spook themselves out.
Cutting to the present day, one of the girls, now a teen, Debbie (Shelley Hennig- Teen Wolf TV series) rejects a night out with her best friend in order to mess around with an Ouija board.
When Debbie dies in what appears to be a suicide that same night, her best friend Laine (Olivia Cooke- The Quiet Ones) will not believe she would do that and thinks there’s more to her death than is being said. After watching videos Debbie took that Laine is given after her passing, Laine starts to think her friend’s death had something to do with the Ouija board that was in her house.
Laine decides to enlist the help of her boyfriend Trevor (Daren Kagasoff- The Secret Life of the American Teenager), her sister Sarah (Ana Cato- You, Me and Her), her friend Isabelle (Bianca A. Santos- The Fosters), and Debbie’s boyfriend Pete (Douglas Smith- Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters), to try and find out what happened. The friends decide to use the same Oujia board in the home where Debbie died. When they think they’ve made contact with Debbie, they feel they can finally put things to rest. However, something dark and sinister has broken through and they must figure out how to stop it before it gets stronger.
Overall, Ouija is well shot with no lazy framing, resulting in good jump scares but apart from the “scares” that do tend to be all jumping out at you, the story is relatively straight and narrow. It spends little time on developing any of the characters. Also despite the little surprise twist, Ouija starts a lot of things that it doesn’t tie up, which left me quite annoyed.
The characters all did well in their roles but no-one particularly stood out, though I do like Olivia Cooke as an actress. Their biggest strength is that they are all pretty. Possibly an attempt to distract viewers of its failings.
If you enjoy jump scares, Ouija will entertain you somewhat. But if you are looking for a terrifying story, this is not it.
WICKED RATING: 4/10 [usr 4]
Title: Ouija
Director: Stiles White
Writer(s): Juliet Snowden, Stiles White
Stars: Olivia Cooke, Ana Coto, Daren Kagasoff
Year: 2014
Studio/ Production Co: Universal Pictures, Hasbro, Media Rights Capital
Budget: $5,000,000 (estimated)
Language: English
Length: 89mins
Sub-Genre: Supernatural
