Ouija

Asian horror first came to spotlight when the Japanese horror movie "Ringu" has become very popular with the Western world. Since then, "A Tale of Two Sisters", "Ju-on: The Grudge", and "The Eye" followed. Western horror relies on horror violence. Meanwhile, Asian horror relies on mysterious atmosphere and scary music, making its own name. "Ouija" is another addition to the Asian horror genre.

Half-sisters Aileen (Judy Ann Santos) and Romina (Jolina Magdangal) along with their cousins Ruth (Rhian Ramos) and Sandra (Iza Calzado) play the Ouija board in their hope to talk to their deceased grandmother. Unfortunately, they summon a deadly spirit.

I like how the film develops the characters' connections to one another. Shooting in Camiguin is a good idea, adding up to the lonely atmosphere. Building the scary aura is at good pace. Jump scares are adequately used, but not overused. The climactic scene is intense. Plot twist is very amazing. If you've watched the Thai horror film "Alone", it may somehow remind you about this film. By the way, some people hate this "copying" Sadako. Well, the black hair girl ghost is common across Asian horror. I just don't understand why the hell they're complaining.

I've seen this on TV before. And I wanna see this again!

To be honest, I'm not quite sure what to make of Ouija. As a devout Horror fan with a special liking to Ghost-Stories, I've seen my share of séance related films and other ghost films. Ouija seems to have very little, if at all, original content.

The main idea of the story is pretty good, and could have been used much better for the film. The script is rather annoying, with constant jumps between two or three languages, sometimes in mid sentence (you get used to it after a while, in a way). The acting is OK but not fancy. The cinematography is quite suitable for a ghost story, but the direction simply lacks. Too many scenes seem either stacked together or not at all related to each other. It appears that director Topel Lee has taken features from famous Asian horror films like Thai film Alone (2007), Shutter, and the famous Ju-on (The Grudge), and the film feels like a non original puzzle put together in quite a clumsy way.

Many might disagree with my personal opinion, and I am of course in no position to pass judgement, but I simply didn't enjoy Ouija. It's not original, not scary, and not good. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

This film essentially begins in a rural part of the Philippines with four young girls playing with a Ouija board on a beach which is located near a cemetery that is now submerged under the sea. Needless to say, the children are become horrified once the Ouija board reacts to their inquiries and they immediately cease all activities at that point. The scene then shifts to almost 20 years later with these same people having now become adults and reuniting again at the same place to attend a funeral. As it so happens, all of these women are related with "Aileen" (Judy Ann Santos) and "Romina" (Jolina Magdangal) being half-sisters while "Sandra" (Iza Calzado) and "Ruth" (Rhian Ramos) are their cousins. Also accompanying these women is a friend of Sandra's named "Lucy" (Desiree del Valle) and Ruth's boyfriend "Gino" (JC de Vera). Be that as it may, eventually these same four women decide to once again pass the time by playing on the Ouija board but this time-to their horror-they release an evil ghost who proceeds to kill everyone around them and unless they can give its body a proper burial, they will become its victim as well. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was a fairly routine horror film which lacked enough suspense or gore to really distinguish it from any number of similar ghost movies. Admittedly, having two attractive actresses like Iza Calzado and Rhian Ramos certainly helped to some extent but even so it wasn't enough for me to rate this film any higher than I have. Slightly below average.

When I first heard about this movie, it was from a reviewer on IMDb who rated it as highly as the original Ring and A Tale of Two Sisters. I respectfully disagree with this assessment.

This isn't to say I hated it but rather it was a bit more obvious, linear and formulaic than The Ring and A Tale of Two Sisters.

The first half hour of Ouija is cliché driven plot development, but without much merit. There is nothing to really set it apart or grab the attention.

The movie feels utterly lukewarm. But then the movie starts to take off as the after effects of the Ouija unopposed begin to manifest. In fact almost every scare in the movie was predictable, ineffective, and uninspired. They needed to dig a lot deeper to be anywhere in the league of A Tale of Two Sisters. But I digress.

The movie begins with 4 girls playing with a Ouija board as kids calling out to the "Spirit of the Glass", which leads them to experience some rather odd things but grandmother stops it with an incantation at the water's edge.

We then move 10 years into the future, where the girls on the beach call forth the grandmother who had recently died, with the use of the Ouija board again which leads again to bizarre happenings, but this time the grandmother is not there to stop it.

The girls are really quite beautiful, which doesn't hurt, but I cannot say the movie was scary at all. And while it wasn't scary, it wasn't terrible either. It was just too simplistic.

And like another mentioned, it stole many elements blatantly from other films in the genre including Ju-On, where at least one entire scene was stolen, The Ring, Dark Water, and others.

Ouija is a horror movie for kids just watching their first scary movies.

6/10

This film borrows heavily from other more successful horror films. There were times that it seems like Ouija was lifting scenes from the original Grudge series and other successful J-horror films. The scary scenes are generic yet moderately effective, but I give it credit for exploring the family conflict while delving into the supernatural aspects and the location shooting added a bit. Picturesque locations contributed a bit. Not that there is anything wrong copying more successful trends, this film just doesn't add enough originality of its own. I expected more from the cast. With Calzado and Santos (and yes she can turn in wonderful performances, armchair critics!) onboard with some good actors around, acceptable performances can be considered a let down from them. While Filipino horror films like Sukob, Feng Shui, and Pa-Siyam featured local Filipino superstitions, Ouija is happy to borrow trends, successful ones at that. Try those horror films before renting this. Those films can compete with the best the continent can offer. Horror fans and those looking for Filipino films could certainly pick better films than this.