Ouija: A New Beginning

Needless to say that I had, of course, never heard about this 2025 movie titled "Ouija: A New Beginning" prior to stumbling upon it by random chance. And with it being a horror movie that I had neither seen nor heard about, and with my love of all things horror, of course I opted to check out what writer and director Jason Hawkins had to offer. Sure, I harbored zero expectations, as movies with the word "Ouija" in the title are usually laughable affairs.

"Ouija: A New Beginning" had snagged a staggering 3.3 rating here on IMDb at the time I sat down to watch the movie. So that wasn't exactly proving that I would be in for a stellar movie experience here. But I still opted to give the movie the benefit of the doubt.

The storyline in the movie was pretty straightforward. It wasn't as if writer and director Jason Hawkins had conjured up a particularly bad script here. The problem with the storyline was that it was very, very formulaic and generic. If you've seen one movie that deals with the Ouija phenomena, then you've essentially already also seen "Ouija: A New Beginning". So yeah, you're not in for anything overly impressive here.

Of the entire cast ensemble, I was actually not familiar with a single actor or actress aside from Elissa Dowling and actor Neil Green. And that was actually a good thing here, as I enjoy watching new and unfamiliar talents on the screen whenever I sit down to watch a movie. The acting performances in "Ouija: A New Beginning" were fair.

The movie doesn't really make use of special effects, so there was very little assistance to be had here in terms of sprucing up the movie.

My rating of writer and director Jason Hawkins's 2025 movie "Ouija: A New Beginning" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.

If you've ever wondered what it would be like to watch paint dry while actors mumble through a script written on a napkin, Ouija: A New Beginning has you covered. This cinematic disaster manages to take the concept of a haunted Ouija board and do the unthinkable: make it boring.

Let's start with the acting, which is less "scared of ghosts" and more "confused to be on set." The cast delivers their lines like they just woke up from a nap and are still unsure what movie they're in. Emotions range from wooden to slightly less wooden, and not a single performance makes you care about anyone's fate. Honestly, I was rooting for the spirits-if only to put these characters (and the audience) out of their misery.

The directing? Imagine someone trying to build suspense but accidentally filming a slow-moving soap opera instead. Scenes drag on forever, with all the energy of a DMV line. The only thing terrifying here is the editing, which seems to actively avoid anything scary.

And then there's the story. Calling it "silly" is generous. It's a convoluted mess of clichés, plot holes, and nonsense logic. You could probably summon a demon faster than you could figure out what the heck is going on in this script. Best of all, despite being a Ouija movie, the actual board is barely in it. It's like making a Jaws sequel with no shark-just people standing around talking about maybe swimming someday.

Pacing? Think molasses in January. Scares? Nonexistent. Atmosphere? Only if you count the fog of confusion you'll be stuck in while watching.

Ouija: A New Beginning isn't just a bad horror movie-it's a masterclass in how not to make one. It'll leave you terrified that you wasted your time and money.

Whoever did the sounds n music for this should never work again! Constant, loud noises, cracks, bangs n shower noises! It's irritating AF! And it looks like it was made in 2005 not 2025! The footsteps are super loud n it all sounds so off putting! The girls are great in it.

It honestly sounds like the movie is being filmed next to a 4th grade music class when the teacher has left the room and they are just messing around! Wooden blocks being his together, a bass drum banging n awful sudden bursts of really loud crappy Orchestra music! It annoyed me throughout the whole movie, sometimes silence is a lot scarier!

Much like everyone else here I chose to watch this thinking it was part of the Ouija franchise, which actually weren't too bad for what they were. It definitely is NOT, and it doesn't take long to realise.

Ouija: A New Beginning toes the line of falling into the 'so bad it's good' category, but much like in every other area it falls short of that too.

The acting is terrible, and I mean terrible. There isn't a good performance in the whole thing, although to defend the cast slightly they aren't given a lot to work with in the first place.

For example at one point a guy finds a LITERAL dead child while out for his morning run, and just nonchalantly rings someone to tell them.

The special effects are drama school, but the sound design is the real horror show here.

The music doesn't feel right, the audio is often muffled, and dramatic stings play for absolutely no reason.

A car drives down the road - dramatic sting. The waitress arrives with some food - dramatic sting. Someone blinks - dramatic sting.

I think the production company purposefully made it seem like this was a prequel to the second Ouija film (which was a prequel in itself) to trick people into watching.. and I'm ashamed to say it worked.

Please, don't fall victim to the same fate and give this one a miss.

So at first I was disappointed because I realized right away this was not part of the other ouija movies. However, I loved the acting even though it's a b-movie vibe the entire time. There was just something endearing about the wonkiness and awkwardness of it. Especially the teachers at the school. Very Napoleon Dynamite-esque. It was a fun watch if nothing else.