Film review: Ouija
This film is pretty much summed up by its title — it's a derivative teen horror about a ouija board. Ouija is based on a Hasbro board game, which is probably where it should have stayed. The best that can be said for the movie is that it tells an uninspired story in a competent manner.
Starring: Olivia Cooke, Daren Kagasoff, Douglas Smith
Director: Stiles White
Category: IIB
This film is pretty much summed up by its title — it's a derivative teen horror about a ouija board. Ouija is based on a Hasbro board game, which is probably where it should have stayed. The best that can be said for the movie is that it tells an uninspired story in a competent manner.
The tale begins on a gloomy night inside a Hitchcockian house in the suburbs. Debbie (Shelley Hennig) tries to burn a ouija board, but it won't catch light. She looks through the planchette and then calmly hangs herself from a chandelier with some fairy lights.
Her distraught group of friends, led by the sensible and responsible Laine (Olivia Cooke), can't understand why she committed suicide. So when the ouija board turns up in their dead friend's wardrobe, they use it to try and contact her, awakening malignant spirits, intent on harming them.
To her credit, Ouija's lead actress tries to act like she's in a proper drama rather than a genre film. Her character, Laine, never screams, even when she's terrified, so Cooke has to find more subtle ways of expressing her terror. Her measured performance makes the movie watchable.
Director-writer Stiles White and Juliet Snowden's script tries to give Laine some different sides. She's a caring sister, good daughter, thoughtful friend, and even a passable detective. It's commendable that Laine is written as more than a stereotypical female victim.