I did a guest review for my friends over at The Grand Shuckett for this one; however, I will post it here as well.
Halloween is right around the corner! And with that comes a string of scary films opening in theatres. With Ouija receiving the most promotion this was an easy pick for me.
The title of the film, Ouija, leaves little to the imagination of the general plotline. For the most part we understand the purpose behind the use of a Ouija board; it’s to summon spirits that have passed on. That’s the premise of this film, except Debbie (Shelley Hennig from Teen Wolf) gets more than she bargained for when she uncovers an old one in her attic. She inadvertently summons a spirit at the cost of her own life. Her closest friend, Laine (Olivia Cooke), unable to wrap her mind around it seeks to figure out the circumstances surrounding her best friend’s death. She discovers the mysterious Ouija board and with it she recruits their closest friends to help summon Debbie’s spirit in order to find out answers. But is she summoning Debbie, or being that’s taken her?
What I Liked: I’m not really easy to scare, especially when it comes to horror films. So while I didn’t find this film particularly frightening, I did laugh quite a bit. To be honest, the audience in general was laughing a lot and that helped make it a slightly more entertaining experience. There were a few unsuspected scenes that made the audience jump in their seats more than I did, but for the most part I spent my time laughing at those moments.
What I didn’t like: If you’re interested in a compelling a horror story then this isn’t or you. This film treads no new ground whatsoever. As I said, I spent most of my time laughing at the film, and I don’t believe it was intentional, but it was the only thing that saved it from being a complete bore fest. The film is under 90 minutes so it’s short but it lasts long enough. To be honest, when the MPAA slaps a PG-13 rating on a horror film, what can you really expect? While there is a tiny short list of exceptions, in general these films tend to hold back a lot more compared to their R-rated counterparts and rely much more heavily on the standard clichés, especially when they star actors that aren’t well known. So far I would say The Ring remains the most effectively creepy PG-13 film I’ve seen, but that had Naomi Watts.
I’ve seen better horror films already this year, and apparently other audience members did too. Without spoiling too much, there is a certain scene in the film that caused one person in the crowd to belt out “Annabelle!! Annabelle!” That ended up being the best part of the entire evening, but I don’t know what that says about the creative merits of this film. I think viewers in search for real horror are better off perusing the horror section on Netflix, RedBox, or OnDemand than giving this one any of your precious time.