Bored of the Board
When her best friend Debbie (Shelley Hennig) commits suicide after acting a bit cagey the last time them met, Laine (Olivia Cooke) believes her death is in some way connected to an Ouija board, something they played with as children. With the help of her friends Laine decides to try and contact Debbie with the use of the Ouija board but in doing so releases a vengeful spirit of a woman who had lived in the house long before Debbie did which won't stop until it kills Debbie and each of those who tried to contact the dead.
Imagine there is the "line of movies", a line which is dead centre between what is good and what is bad. "Ouija" firmly sits on that line as there isn't anything technically bad about it as it has a nice looking cast, some teen characters to appeal to a young audience, a variety of sudden shocks as well as a storyline with not just the whole evil spirit hunting a group down but with a twist thrown in there as well. Whilst being picky I could find flaws in "Ouija" I could also pick out some things it does better than expected for the sort of movie it is trying to be.
But that is very much the problem with "Ouija" as it sits so firmly on that line in the middle ground it ends up disappointing for those whose teenage years are long behind them. What that means is that whilst the characters are visually appealing they are also generic and forgettable, the whole use of the Ouija board is under done and the frights are pretty standard with things appearing on screen for a split second. Yes if I had watched "Ouija" as a horror virgin the frights would have worked but at times it literally felt like this movie had been made in the late 90s and probably had sat on a shelf collecting dust some where.
What this all boils down to is that "Ouija" ticks a lot of boxes when it comes to delivering horror for a teen crowd with little horror movie experience but it fails to tick the one for originality and as such for anyone who loves a good horror movie the chances of this grabbing your attention is slim.
