‘Keep telling yourself it’s just a game’
Ouija is a 2014 American supernatural horror film directed by Stiles White from a screenplay co-written with Juliet Snowden.
Main cast:
Daren Kagasoff, Douglas Smith, Olivia Cooke, Ana Coto, Bianca A. Santos (Little Dead Riding Hood), Erin Moriarty, and Vivis Colombetti.
It is the first Hasbro property to be produced by Platinum Dunes as well as Hasbro’s first horror film.
Plot:
After a friend is brutally killed in an accident, a group of close teenage friends must confront their most evil and demonic fears when they awaken the dark powers of an ancient spirit board by attempting to contact their friend. They soon realise that the ouija board is not just a game; it’s real life…
Reviews:
” … most of the scares in Ouija are gimmicky and repetitive “gotcha!” moments, owing more to d.p. David Emmerichs’ whip pans and a series of ear-splitting thwacks and shrieks than to any deeper, more psychologically grounded shivers. Still, White, a longtime special-effects maven before he and Snowden shifted into screenwriting, demonstrates a reasonable grasp of how to use silence and stillness to build tension and atmosphere…” Variety
“For anyone who’s seen even a few noteworthy ghost pictures previously, nothing in Ouija will stick, shock, or fascinate. This film being produced in association with Hasbro, however, does of course render it One Big Ad. Therefore, it’s interesting to note that like Parker Brothers in the 1980s, Hasbro can’t allow the Ouija board to be all bad, even as it must also cling silently to its I-dare-you allure for marketing purposes.” Twitch
“Ouija has a steady directorial hand, some attractive young actors who taking the silliness seriously and few admirable genre elements. It renounces the faux-found-footage ShakyCam style, instead employing a traditionally smooth visual style. It prizes suspense over shock, realizing that waiting for The Thing is harder on a moviegoer’s nerve than seeing The Thing.” Time
“Shot by veteran camera operator, David Emmerichs, Ouija is a glossy hoot, showing more flair than a throwback to the 80’s horror movie should. As a lifelong horror movie viewer, I wasn’t scared by the film, but I dug the many ways it tried to goose me.” RogerEbert.com
“In the absence of anything truly original in the screenplay he co-wrote with Juliet Snowden, director Stiles White vainly attempts to ratchet up the tension with a series of cheap jump scares fueled by loud noises that are the cinematic equivalent of shaking hands with someone wearing a joy buzzer.” The Hollywood Reporter
“Ouija is but a shadow of a true horror film, one that struts and frets its hour and a half upon the screen, and then the end credits roll as the audience departs to make way for the next round of multiplex-goers—but both they and the Ouija board deserve better.” Fangoria
Buy: Amazon.co.uk
