The talking in the movie theater died down as the previews ended in anticipation of fear. A few minutes later, the audience’s mouths gaped open, but in tiredness instead of terror.

Oujia’s opening night was  on October 24, 2014. It was directed by Stiles White and starred Olivia Cooke and Daren Kagasoff.

The plot of the film revolved around the mysterious death of Debbie Galardi and the attempts of her friends Laine, Trevor, Peter, Isabelle, and Sarah to understand the premise of  her demise. The friends used a Ouija board to try and contact Debbie, and in the process released a malevolent spirit that attempted to stalk and kill them.

The acting in the movie was decent, especially for a cast that revolved around teenage actors. None of the parts went particularly above and beyond what is typically expected, but the scenes seemed generally realistic, especially in the scenes where the teenagers were upset over Debbie’s death.

The movie’s plot was decent, if not slightly cliched, for the first third of the movie, but after that huge plot holes became apparent and the movie’s claim to realism and the horror fell apart. At one point there was a twist where one of the characters is revealed to actually be the main villain, but this character seemed to have no motivation for her actions.

Throughout the film, various rituals were  used in attempts to banish the demon, but it is never explained how the characters knew to perform these acts or even why the Ouija board itself housed the demon.

The film also suffered from the fact that it was confined to a PG-13 rating. Almost all of the horror came from jump scares meaning to startle the viewer, and the demon was shown so early on in the movie that by the end of the film it became easy to predict when a jump scare would occur.

Overall, Ouija had acting that was undermined by its weak plot and lack of real horror. It might be a fun film to watch at home, but it’s not worth seeing in theaters.