Having knocked out all the doll, clown, and nun horrors cashing in on trendy subgenres lately on Prime, it was time to take on any Ouija movies I hadn’t seen. So let’s get into these four.
OUIJA DEATH TRAP (2014)
A Ouija board is used for about two minutes tops in this found footage film. I imagine the title was changed merely to cash in on the Ouija movie craze. It didn’t help any.
This is as badly basic as found footage gets. Kids go into a building with cameras because it’s supposedly haunted. They meet a creepy janitor.
They see a scary doll that seems to follow them around the place. They use the board. And then…
They run around shrieking endlessly at things we never see because it’s all dark, spastic footage. Near the end, the final girl gives her big Heather “I’m sorry” speech to the camera. You’ve seen it all before, done better.
OUIJA ROOM (2019)
The director of Babysitter Massacre, Amityville: No Escape, and Scarewaves takes on adult autism and agoraphobia in one character and wraps it in a Ouija bow.
In a sense it reminds me of the awesome film The Evil Within, but this has a quirky, low budget feel.
An autistic young woman lives with her brother, who brings home board games for them to play…including a Ouija board. The sister uses it on her own and unleashes a variety of “friendly” spirit buddies that act as the devil on her shoulder in a mostly goofy and campy way.
It’s an odd choice of tone when taking on rather serious subjects, and it’s not a “scary” movie, but I actually liked the genuine feel of the camaraderie between the brother and the sister he cares for. A visitation by their well-meaning deceased mother proves to be the creepiest part of the film!
OUIJA EXORCISM (2015)
I’d say the opener is the most compelling part of this film, with kids using a Ouija board in a tent during an indoor sleepover.
Flash ahead thirty years, one of the kids is now grown, it’s his father’s funeral, and he can’t remember what happened that night with the Ouija board. But he’s invited to a weekend getaway with friends at a cabin.
Although this film is slow, it’s oddly compelling. The actors are quirky and bring a subtle dry humor to the situation. Situation being…a sexy bear is cheating on his woman with a female shaman, and his woman has the hots for the main guy.
What’s most notable here is that the main man is Jewish, which plays a part in the supernatural story. There’s also minor mention of the gender-bending aspects of shamanism.
Meanwhile, it’s not until almost an hour in that someone uses the Ouija board. This becomes a fairly typical film about the evil spirit jumping from person to person, and the final exorcism is quite tame.
OUIJA SEANCE: THE FINAL GAME (2018)
This one just falls completely flat. A young woman inherits a home and goes there with her friends.
After the obligatory warning from a creepy caretaker not to go in the attic…they go in the attic.
They use a Ouija board, and the main girl pushes the caretaker to tell her more about what really happened to her deceased mother.
Eventually someone becomes sort of possessed, the caretaker runs around with an axe, there are flashbacks about the main girl’s mother, and I really had no idea what was happening at all, because I wasn’t entertained enough to stay focused.
