The Ouija Board was created in the late 1800s, or at least popularized at that point. I don’t think that the original creators could have ever thought, or wanted it to be used in such a way, and frankly, neither did I.
Michael has gathered a group of his friends together at his house for a fun experiment with a Ouija board. Lynette, her brother Calvin, his current girlfriend Shay, and their friend, apparent videographer, Brandon, all sit down for a fun time with Michael’s Ouija board. Michael lays out the “rules” before they start. Never ask how the spirit died, never ask how you will die, and never ever forget to say goodbye. Once the seance starts, they make contact with Gracie, and talk to her. She tells them about Joseph and Lisa, and what happened to them. After a while, things turn sour with Calvin as he doesn’t believe what is going on is real and he leaves. After the second session, the group forgets to say goodbye immediately and things go bad.
The Ouija Experiment is NOT the movie that I wanted to watch. I knew there was another Ouija movie coming to theaters soon, and thought maybe this would be a fun experiment of my own. Much like the characters in this movie, my experiment ended… Poorly. Unless that experiment was an attempt to bore me until the end punchline/joke. I guess it was a joke. It seemed like a joke, anyways.
The Ouija Experiment has a run time of 92mins, and for the first 45mins there was little more than “found footage” conversations. I could see where the movie wanted to take me, but it took its sweet ass time getting there. It does some decent work with practical effects (jump scares etc.) with people walking through frame, or literally ducking out of frame. Not a lot of actual special effect work is here, but it doesn’t really detract from the film as a whole. What DOES detract from the movie is the overall lack of faith in the story itself to convey the plot. As an example, not once are last names given in the film yet Brandon is able to “do some research” and find out the back story of the spirits they were talking to. I guess there has only ever been one Lisa/Gracie/Joseph combo. It’s just lazy.
I sat through the entire movie and can only speculate that the ending is just a big joke, literally. I’ll spoil it for you now. LyNette and Brandon have to get to Michael’s house and “save him”. They are eventually confronted by the spirit of Lisa while attempting to burn the Ouija board. In the struggle, Michael loses the camera. The Ouija board burns, and the spirit is gone. Michael picks up the camera, stares down the barrel and says “hey good looking.” before turning around to see LyNette cradling Michael’s own body on the floor. He then sees Joseph and Gracie, and follows them to the bathroom. Michael confronts them in the bathroom asking “what’s going on?” He turns to the mirror and sees that he is not there, but the camera is floating on its own. Credits. I legit laughed out loud. I don’t recommend you watch this movie. I probably should not have watched this movie. However, there is a sequel to The Ouija Experiment, so I’ll probably have to watch that too. Once again, this marathon is a cautionary tale.
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