Ouija (2014): Dir: Stiles White / Cast: Olivia Cooke, Darren Kagasoff, Douglas Smith, Shelley Hennig, Lin Shaye: Exploring the mysteries and rumors behind the Ouija board might have made a compelling thriller had the screenplay and characters not been as stupid as represented here. Olivia Cooke and Shelley Hennig play a couple of college ding bats who played with this so-called toy when they were young. Now news is out that Hennig hung herself along with her Christmas lights. This doesn't make for a jolly good festive holiday. Cooke gets together with her younger sister, her boyfriend, Hennig's boyfriend, and a waitress friend and they explore this board in the decease's house. It's all too convenient when every parent and adult seems to have something better to do out of town for plot convenience. Or perhaps they knew how stupid this film is and skipped town. At any rate director Stiles White fails to impress viewers with phoney jump scares, many of which have been done in other equally idiotic films. He loves to linger that camera on that board piece that resembles an oversized guitar pic with a glass piece. Much of the so-called scares are hokey and more laugh worthy than a Three Stooges short film. Lin Shaye even makes an appearance as a bat crazy elderly to remind us that she was in the superior, but not great Insidious. The lighting and production is fair at best but the best thing to do with a film this bad is to join the characters when they toss the Ouija board in the fireplace. Sure, the board survives, but with a little hope, this pathetic showcase will burn. Score: 2 / 10
Review of Ouija
