The Mystifying Ouija

Always say goodbye

On Oct. 24, the shadows that lurk in the corner of the room that have never been noticed finally demand attention in the skin-crawling nightmare, “Ouija.”

When a long time friend, Debbie (Shelley Hennig), passes away on suicidal assumptions, friends Laine (Olivia Cooke) and Sarah Morris (Ana Coto), Trevor (Daren Kagasoff), Isabelle (Bianca A. Santos) and Peter (Douglas Smith), investigate what really happened the night Debbie decided to take her life.

Laine was convinced that Debbie did not hang herself knowingly, so she and the other four friends decided to use the Ouija board to try and get answers from her dead friend. Going through the three unbreakable rules, Never play in a graveyard, Never play alone, and Always say goodbye, they unknowing break the first rule, by playing in the house Debbie died in. Throughout the movie one by one the characters are terrorized by the spirit pretending to be Debbie, calling herself D. Just saying ” Hi Friend” causes panic and scare.

Of all scary movies that have recently jumped from the shadows of the deep, sadistic minds of directors and producers of Hollywood, “Ouija” turns your dreams into nightmares with the intensive faces, surprising twists and dark moments. Watching the shadowy figures come to life and chase the characters one by one to cause terror, cause tremors and numerous screams from the audience. Not to mention the mysterious and totally unexpected ending to this thriller.

From chalk rolling across the concrete walkway mysteriously, smashing faces into bathroom sinks or bodies being taken over by an unknown, the effects created in this film were incredible and unbeatable on every level. Not to mention the plot twists throughout the movie, which caused more panic to flood the minds and facial expressions of each adult and teenager in the theatre. The surprising faces and the suspenseful moments of who would live and who would die were well thought-out and well-written.

According to the well known critics of Rotten Tomatoes, they believe that “Ouija” was better left on the shelf and never touched. That the movie was more of a PG-13 “Paranormal Activity” movie than an actual scary movie. Whereas, high school students enjoyed the film’s, horror, surprises and “shifting objects and startling people in the dark. Boo.”- according to the New York Times review. And who would know better other than high schoolers who know what a good scary movie is?

“It was the scariest movie I’ve ever seen,” sophomore Kiah Anderson said, “but I’d definitely see it again.”

Frame by frame, scene by scene and scream by scream this movie created a haunting dream . With “D.” Laine and her friends running from the spirit that they allowed back into the physical world. Bringing the spirits into the physical world is way easier then sending them back and Laine would soon figure that she would need more than just her best friends to send this demonic spirit back to the shadows. If you decide to play with the haunted spirit board, just remember to always say goodbye.