Movie Review: Ouija (2014)

by StevenHelmer

A review of the 2014 horror film starring Olivia Cooke and Darren Kagasoff.

Synopsis: When her best friend, Debbie, dies of an apparent suicide, Laine Morris has a hard time accepting it and convinces both her sister and a group of her friends to attempt to contact Debbie using Debbie's Ouija board. The board works. However, instead of contacting Debbie, they inadvertently awaken an evil presence that killed her.

Review

My wife and I had seen this movie before, but it was a long time ago and I couldn't remember a whole lot about it (other than we didn't enjoy it all that much). After seeing the prequel film and enjoying it, I decided to give this movie another try. Unfortunately, I just didn't like it as much.

I think the main problem with this film is it tends to drag things out a little bit too much. Other than a couple jump scares, the movie just lacked any real action. In other words, there was a lot of build up and, toward the end, something finally happened. And, yes, you could probably say the same thing about the prequel, to an extent, but at least that movie managed to have a bit of a creepy vibe to it. This film was just dull.

Let's put it this way. The friends make contact with a spirit they believe is Debbie (Hennig) then go home/to school/to work. They then make contact again and realize it is an evil spirit before once again going home/to school. Heck, even the death of one of the group wasn't enough to keep them from going to class. It was nice of that evil spirit to give them time to study for that math test.

I also could describe the movie as being predictable. As I mentioned, I remembered absolutely nothing about the movie from the first time we saw it but was able to predict various deaths based on obvious foreshadowing, especially when the movie showed the pool near the beginning. It can't be said enough, predictability and horror films don't mix.

The thing that irritated me the most about this movie was how it also sort of managed to hurt the prequel as well. If you are going to make two movies that are connected to each other, you should at least attempt to have the important details match up.

To be fair, I know this movie was made first and it was technically the prequel that screwed that up. Regardless, it made me regret watching this movie even more than I already would have had I not seen the prequel.

Final Opinion

This was a movie that had some potential but fails to reach it because of poor execution. I would have liked it a lot better if there had been a little less talking and a lot more action.

My Grade: C-

Updated: 01/01/2021, StevenHelmer
 
Thank you! Would you like to post a comment now?
6

Comments

Only logged-in users are allowed to comment. Login
StevenHelmer on 01/08/2021

A long time ago. I only remember bits and pieces of it though.

DerdriuMarriner on 01/08/2021

StevenHelmer, Thank you for the practicalities and the product.
The theme of contact with the dead makes me think of a film that I'm wondering if you and your wife have seen, Skeleton Key with Kate Hudson.

You might also like

Movie Review: Reasonable Doubt (2014)

A review of the 2014 thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson and Dominic Cooper.

Movie Review: The Tingler (1959)

A review of the 1959 horror movie starring Vincent Price and Patricia Cutts.

Movie Review: The Uninvited (1944)

A review of the 1944 horror/mystery film starring Ray Millard and Ruth Hussey.


Disclosure: This page generates income for authors based on affiliate relationships with our partners, including Amazon, Google and others.
Loading ...
Error!