MOVIE OF THE WEEK (10/24/14): OUIJA
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| "Dude ... This is NOT the doorstop I was looking for!" Debbie (Shelley Henning) looks on with a bit of concern as she hold the key piece that forces her and her friends to confront their deepest, darkest fears in a scene from co-writer/director Stiles White's supernatural thriller – a.k.a. a horror movie – OUIJA. CREDIT: © 2014 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved. |
KEY CAST MEMBERS: Olivia Cooke, Ana Coto, Daren Kagasoff, Douglas Smith, Bianca Santos, Shelley Henning and Lin Shaye
WRITER(S): Juliet Snowden and Stiles White; based on the Hasbro game "Ouija"
DIRECTOR(S): Stiles White
WEB SITE: http://ouijamovie.com/60 SECOND PLOT SYNOPSIS (OR AS CLOSE TO IT AS ONE CAN TRY TO MAKE): Debbie Galardi (Shelley Henning) and Laine Morris (Olivia Cooke) have been best friends a long time ... And growing up, they would sometimes hang out and play with a Ouija board. But there were rules: They had to [1] Never play alone and [2] Always make sure they said "goodbye" once they were done. Now, they are teenagers and Debbie has a Ouija board of her very own, which she one days decides to play alone.
Then Debbie ends up committing suicide ... Or at least, that what everyone thinks. Except Laine.
Hanging out at Debbie's home following her funeral, Laine discovers the Ouija board – the same one Debbie had tried to burn before her mysterious death – and convinces her sister Sarah (Ana Coto), Trevor (Daren Kagasoff), Isabelle (Bianca Santos) and Debbie's boyfriend Pete (Douglas Smith) to play the game in hopes of contacting their deceased friend. And they make contact ...
With whom or what, however, remains to be seen ...
WHO WILL LIKE THIS FILM THE MOST?: People who like films with a couple "jump" moments; teenagers; Ouija board enthusiasts and toy stores looking to profit from a possible increase in product sales.
WHO WON'T – OR SHOULDN'T – LIKE THIS FILM?: Most horror movie fans looking for something with more substance (and scares); anyone who gets creeped out by Ouija boards in general; toy store employees worried about having to deal with creepy people who are way into Ouija boards.
FINAL VERDICT – IS IT GOOD, GREAT, BAD OR DOWNRIGHT AWFUL? Out of all the movies based on toys – Battleship, The Lego Movie, Transformers, etc. – Ouija had perhaps the best chance to pull off a decent flick in terms of what it was going for (in this case, something scary). Unfortunately, Ouija proves one thing and one thing only: The truth in the old adage that a fool and his money are soon parted – especially if they think this D.O.A. film will add any life to the horror genre.
Ouija has pretty dumb dialogue, even worse acting than Annabelle and a storyline that is lackluster at best. Other than that, there is really not much to say about Ouija, unless you really want to see characters die seemingly at random, a plot twist that isn't a real twist at all and an ending that is more 'wait, what?' than "Wait, WHAT?!?!' As opposed to wasting more time telling you all the reasons the film is not destined to become a Halloween classic as one would hope, all I have to say is this.
Much like a real game of Ouija, you'd be a lot better off saying "goodbye" to the film version than you would actually dropping a dime to see it.
WHO WON'T – OR SHOULDN'T – LIKE THIS FILM?: Most horror movie fans looking for something with more substance (and scares); anyone who gets creeped out by Ouija boards in general; toy store employees worried about having to deal with creepy people who are way into Ouija boards.
FINAL VERDICT – IS IT GOOD, GREAT, BAD OR DOWNRIGHT AWFUL? Out of all the movies based on toys – Battleship, The Lego Movie, Transformers, etc. – Ouija had perhaps the best chance to pull off a decent flick in terms of what it was going for (in this case, something scary). Unfortunately, Ouija proves one thing and one thing only: The truth in the old adage that a fool and his money are soon parted – especially if they think this D.O.A. film will add any life to the horror genre.
Ouija has pretty dumb dialogue, even worse acting than Annabelle and a storyline that is lackluster at best. Other than that, there is really not much to say about Ouija, unless you really want to see characters die seemingly at random, a plot twist that isn't a real twist at all and an ending that is more 'wait, what?' than "Wait, WHAT?!?!' As opposed to wasting more time telling you all the reasons the film is not destined to become a Halloween classic as one would hope, all I have to say is this.
Much like a real game of Ouija, you'd be a lot better off saying "goodbye" to the film version than you would actually dropping a dime to see it.
OVERALL RATING (OUT OF FOUR POSSIBLE BUCKETS OF POPCORN):
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