Review of Ouija (2014) by Andrew F — 29 Oct 2014

Ouija is a flawed but great Horror film and it is a very neat Horror film to watch for Halloween along with Annabelle. Ouija is about a group of friends who lost their friend after their friend committed suicide and one of them decided to try to use the Ouija board to contact her but soon they learn that they did not contact their friend and instead the group learns that they unleash an evil force that is ready to kill them and the group must find a way to end the haunting before they all get killed.

I just came home from Robinsons with my parents in watching this film and I have to say it was a great experience and this film and Annabelle are worth watching for this Halloween. At one point when I saw the trailers I was kinda expecting a Horror movie that at least uses the genuine Horror elements from the 60's-80's the result is the movie delivers instead another Insidious or The Conjuring type style Horror film and it does work at one point and I love that these are the type of Horror movies that are showing now a days instead of films like Saw or Hostel back from 2003-2010 movies like Saw were successful at the box office and this year movies like this are now successful beginning with Insidious and The Conjuring.

What's very good about this film is that the movie has a unique, creepy and grim atmosphere from start to finish and it gives the film a creepy feel and sends a lot of chills down on my spine. The other good things about this film is that the movie has a couple of good scares and creepy moments(The opening scene, Scenes with the group using the Ouija board, The attic sequence and the creepy sequence when Lin Shaye starts to react at the main protagonist)plus the soundtrack is creepy and the editing by Ken Blackwell(Friday The 13th remake)is outstanding oh and the pacing is good, deliberate and neat.

Now like I said the movie itself is flawed and the film suffers from a few issues. One of the film's main problems is the film's shallow screenplay which is also full of plot holes and missing plot points.

The film also isn't suspenceful. There's hardly any tension in several scenes. There are a few dull moments. Most of the CGI is poor. There are a few scares that at times worked but some tried to work but ends up failing.

A few also of the scares are a bit predictable and the ending is flat, disappointing and overwhelming. Now the acting is pretty good the casts did a decent job with their performances in the film mostly the acting range from good to decent and I think out of all the casts Lin Shaye was the best out of all the casts and I love her performance in this film as much as I enjoy watching her in the Insidious film and I love that in the Insidious films her character is a loving, kind and helpful person and then when she appeared in this film her performance range from kind hearted to super creepy and chilling.

Director Stiles White did a great job with his work on this film and for a first time director he at least delivered a great Halloween Horror film and hopefully he'll make another good Horror film either next year or in the near future.

Overall Ouija is a flawed but entertaining Horror film with a couple of good scares and worth watching for this Halloween along with Annabelle. This movie could have been better if it was directed by James Wan and written instead by Leigh Whannel and Mike Flanagan.

I would dare say that if you want a perfect Halloween movie I highly recommend The Conjuring, Insidious 1 and 2 along with Oculus oh and Oculus is still the best Horror film of 2014. This movie gets an 8/10.