Ouija [1] (2014) [Blu-ray]
Horror
Tagline: Keep telling yourself it's just a game
A group of friends must confront their most terrifying fears when they awaken the dark powers of an ancient spirit board.
Storyline: A girl is mysteriously killed after recording herself playing with an ancient Ouija Board, which leads to a close group of friends to investigate this board. They later find out that some things aren't meant to be
played with, especially the 'other side'. Written by Marco
Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Kenneth Brown, January 24, 2015 -- Killer board games aren't exactly the stuff of nightmares, and Ouija doesn't make much of an attempt to elevate their scare factor. Instead, haunting and
possession becomes the name of the game, as the filmmakers stalk from horror movie to horror movie, "claiming" (some will call it borrowing, others stealing) familiar elements at every stop. Witchboard. The Exorcist. Insidious.
Scream. Final Destination. Paranormal Activity. The Conjuring. Bunshinsaba. So many more. Ouija is like a horror highlight reel peppered with teen drama lifted straight off the CW. The performances are weak, the
dialogue weaker, the story laughable, the deluge of tropes unbearable, the frights non-existent, the atmosphere lacking and the final ghostly minutes a horrible bore. Short version: Jumanji is creepier.
How far would you go to make contact with someone you lost? From the producers of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Insidious comes a supernatural thriller in which a group of friends must confront their most terrifying fears when they unwittingly
release a dark power from the other side. What starts as a game soon unleashes an evil they must race to stop. The film stars Olivia Cooke (Bates Motel), Douglas Smith (Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters), Bianco Santos (The Fosters), and Daren Kagasoff (The
Secret Life of the American Teenager).
"From the producers of Insert Popular Films." It's the theatrical trailer equivalent of a kid cleaning his room by shoving toys under his bed, and 99 times out of 100, it means nothing. It's as hollow and disingenuous a statement as any trailer
blurb in rotation. Designed to lure in audiences and increase box office returns, it's also sexier than the truth, or in the case of Ouija, flashing "from the writers of The Possession" on the screen. Co-writer Stiles White takes on
directorial duties this time around, but apparently only to the film's detriment. Ouija is somehow far less intriguing, plausible and effective than The Possession, if you can believe it, hedging its bets on flimsy teen angst and generic
grief while constructing a genre pic bound by blood to every supernatural cliché imaginable.
Rather than explore new ground or deliver a terrifying, twisted take on Jumanji, Stiles and co-writer Juliet Snowden settle for a by-the-book haunting in the vein of The Ring, where an ordinary object leads to hell on earth for those who
partake, and can only be stopped by an exposition-laden clue hunt that digs up the past and lays angry spirits to rest. The rest is almost a chore, both for the filmmakers and the audience. Every step is a predictable step, and even at 89 minutes,
Ouija struggles to fill out its runtime. Add to that the paint-by-numbers horror cinematography, a heap of gotcha! jolts, and a lazy ghost story that wouldn't stir up chills over a campfire, much less in a feature film, and you have a dead
on arrival bomb. Naturally, though, that "bomb" still raked in $95 million, nineteen times its budget. Whether Stiles and Snowden return for Ouija 2 is irrelevant. A sequel is practically guaranteed.
Ouija is uninventive genre drivel, so focused on concocting a coherent plot that it forgets to be anything that we haven't seen before a hundred times over. Everything from the writing to the performances to the scares fall woefully short, and
there isn't much in the way of a saving grace... unless you count Universal's Blu-ray release, that is. The film at least earns a terrific AV presentation, although its supplemental package is sorely lacking. My advice? Give it a rent if you can't resist.
Otherwise, save your money for better horror fare.
[CSW] -1.2- I agree with this reviewer:
Are you a fan of horror movies in which every character does the exact opposite of what a normal person would do? How about horror films where characters make the same mistakes over and over again, believing that repeating their errors will
somehow end up with a different result? Do you enjoy listening to the idle conversations of teenagers? Do Ouija boards freak you out? If you answered yes to any of these, then you might give Ouija a try. Personally, I thought it was more corny than scary,
and not really worth spending money on. There's a 1986 film called Witchboard that covers this same board game, and although dated it is better than this swill.
[V4.5-A5.0] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box.
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