Ouija is a film based on the best-selling game by Hasbro, with clear sponsorship from Apple. That’s really all you need to know – of course any film with any connection to Michael Bay is going to turn into a filthy money-grabbing exercise rather than an actual attempt to dignify the genre with a plausible Halloween flick. Ouija fails to scare on all counts, relying on spectral jump scares and deafeningly loud noises that will make even the most timid of cinema goers only the slightest bit frightened. Ouija’s need to take itself seriously even drags it out of the ‘so-bad-it’s good’ category.

The film is based around two friends, Laine and Debbie (played by Olivia Cooke and Shelley Henning respectively), who used to play the Ouija board game in the comfort of their bedrooms when they were younger. Shoot forward ten years and we find one of the friends, Debbie, hanging from some Christmas lights in the family home. Laine soon discovers a mysterious Ouija Board in Debbie’s room and, remembering the game her and Debbie used to play as children, quickly rounds a gang of attractive friends in an effort to contact the deceased Debbie regarding the unusual circumstances of her death. Little do they know they are about to awaken the spirits of hell.

Although director and co-writer Stiles White and writing partner Juliet Snowden have both achieved some success in this genre with a couple of uninspiring flicks, such as Knowing, The Possession and Boogeyman, this one falls well beneath previous successes (if you can call them successes). What we get with Ouija is a film with an awkward commercial premise, poor and at times laughable dialogue, and an overindulgence of irritating jump scares. The addition of relative newcomer Ana Coto and insidious star Lin Shaye help to claw back some respect and occasionally the long tracking sequences do help to build suspense, but we are often let down to find one of the main characters on the other side of the door. This can give the feeling that Ouija is like a joke without a punchline. Halfway through the 90 minutes of torture that I was enduring, I found my eyes straying down to check my iPhone – but hey, I guess the sponsors of this ridiculous enterprise achieved what they had set out to in that respect.

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