Ouija (2014)

Ouija boards are a readymade plot device in horror films.  There are so many rumors and tales about them despite the fact they are a product of the 1890s spiritist movement and, for over a century, have been marketed as a mere boardgame.  Despite frightening tales of possession and evil spirits the whole idea of moving a planchette around the board to answer questions boils down to either one of the participants pranking the others or involuntary movements giving subconscious answers to the questions.

The fact that it is a board game is most important.  This form of "spirit board" was popularized by Elijah Bond and Charles Kennard who sold their patented version through the Kennard Novelty Company.  It eventually became the property of Parker Brothers, and later Hasbro when they acquired that company in 1991.  Ouija, the movie, was produced by Hasbro as well as Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes, so rather than being a creative, if flawed, independent horror film like Witchboard it is one of a number of dull toy tie-ins.  It is also one of the worst examples of the PG-13 horror trend. 

Laine Morris (Olivia Cooke) is shocked by the apparent suicide her friend Debbie Galardi (Shelley Hennig).  Along with her sister Sarah (Ana Coto), her boyfriend Trevor (Darren Kagasoff), Debbie's boyfriend Pete (Douglas Smith) and their mutual friend Isabelle (Bianca A. Santos), they begin to look into why.  Wanting closure they try to contact Debbie with an old Ouija board she found in her attic.  

At first they think they contacted Debbie, but it soon turns out to be a girl named Doris Zander (Sierra Hawkins) who appears to have been killed by her mother (Claudia Katz Minnick).  Laine tracks down Doris's surviving sister Paulina (Lin Shaye) and finds out the origin of the spirits and how to do away with them.  As her other friends begin to die Laine must stop the ghosts before she falls victim as well.

Like many horror films of the time it is heavy on jump scares and light on blood.  I have to admit a few of the scares worked, and to the credit of director Stiles White they are not all accompanied by musical stings.  Most of them, though, are silly, and the false scares rarely make sense.  What they do is make Pete seem creepy, something that never pays off, as quite a lot in the movie also fails to do.

This is because Ouija was once quite a different movie.  Everyone was brought back for reshoots after it didn't test well and a good portion of the plot was changed.  The reshot footage and the original doesn't always mesh, and much of what was in the original made the trailer but never the actual film.  It also means characters that should have had more of a presence are never developed while none of the main stars, all of whom are obviously too old to be teenagers, never connect as well. 

The worst part of Ouija is that the movie is dull.  Some predictable scares and plot twists happen toward the end, utilizing mediocre CGI rather than practical effects, but a good half of the movie just creeps along, with occasional ham-handed attempts at causing tension between the main characters.  It is sad that it worked out this way as there are some interesting ideas on the origin of the board, none of which, again, are truly explored in this film.

I mention Witchboard because it and its first (and only true) sequel are examples of what can be done if someone puts thought into the story, even if those movies feel like slightly more violent expanded episodes of Tales from the Dark Side.  They do have surprises, twists and lots of the usual b-movie goodness and just random scenes a good '80s horror film does.  Ouija, on the other hand, is a predictable and cynical commercial for a toy. 

Ouija (2014)

Time: 89 minutes

Starring: Olivia Cooke, Daren Kagasoff, Ana Coto, Sierra Hawkins

Director: Stiles White