Ouija: A New Beginning

I guess they were not able to copyright the basic name and concept of Ouija, so just like when Amityville became a hit there were official sequels but even more knock offs or mockbusters, this is clearly a mockbuster exploiting the popularity of the official 2 films produced by Universal Pictures and Hasbro. I guess they were not able to copyright the basic name and concept of Ouija, so just like when Amityville became a hit there were official sequels but even more knock offs or mockbusters, this is clearly a mockbuster exploiting the popularity of the official 2 films produced by Universal Pictures and Hasbro.

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.

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.

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.

I put this on thinking its new why not, I don't mind a horror even on in the background, however the hair and make up aren't great, the dialogue is even worse its not engaging or thought provoking and the music composition seems out of place and amateurish. I don't want to be unduly harsh but I think the problem is ouija the beginning gives the impression that it is at the bar expected from other films with similar names almost as if its part of a franchise but it isn't. Overall my standards were set with the title and it was let down by the delivery. If you want a low budget nice try movie maybe for if you have younger viewers I can't see it being an issue the only reason they will be up at night is due to the shock they suffered at how badly executed this 'horror' was. Happy viewing 😏