Read our original review of Ouija, by clicking here.
Every once in a while, something amazing happens where you see a film in the theater, hate it and then watch it again only to find that you actually really love it. This has happened to me exactly twice in my lifetime, first with the Black Christmas remake and then with Rob Zombie’s retelling of Halloween.
Unfortunately, this was not the case with Ouija. I didn’t like it in the theater and I didn’t like it again upon a second viewing. I had hoped that maybe there were some subtleties that I had perhaps overlooked the first time or even some tongue-in-cheek references but they just did not exist. What you see is what you get with Ouija.
The one thing I did enjoy about the home release was the bonus features. The first one I watched was a featurette called The Spirit Board: An Evolution. I enjoy featurettes like this because you get a history lesson instead of ten straight minutes of the writers and directors telling you why you should like this movie that you have no reason to like. I left this featurette with some historical knowledge on the Ouija board including famous people who were known to use them. These are the things I find interesting. I wish they would’ve included a little history in the film itself.
The next feature was called Adapting the Fear. In this featurette, the actors in the film discuss their personal experiences with Ouija boards and the paranormal. The director showed how they would use unexpected loud noises to give the actors authentic screams and frightened looks and how they used mirrors and magnets to make the planchette move on the board. This time there was no historical aspect but it was neat to find out that Olivia Cooke was British. I had no knowledge of that before today.
The last bonus feature on the disc was a featurette called Icon of the Unknown. This discussed how the Ouija board works via your subconscious. Your brain tells your hand what you want the board to say and sends that message to your hand. So while you may not know you are moving the planchette, you are. They also said that some might say that you invite spirits into you when you use the board and that it is, in fact, a spirit moving the planchette through you. I feel like the only thing missing from this featurette is the crazy alien guy from the History Channel Alien specials.
Again, I wasn’t a huge fan of the film itself but the features were worth watching. There wasn’t a single second where they tried to cram the movie down your throat or where they even tried to explain why the movie should be impressive. They obviously felt secure with the film itself to not feel the need to endorse it further. While I do not agree that the film stands alone well, I respect that the filmmakers want us to come to our own conclusions.
For those who did enjoy Ouija, the Blu-ray is worth buying for the solid bonus features alone.
Ouija is available now on Blu-ray and DVD from Universal Pictures.
=========================================================================================================Ann Ann Hale is the horror editor for Pop-Break.com and a senior contributing writer, reviewing horror movies and television shows. She is also the American Correspondent for Lovehorror.co.uk and writer for Geekandstuff.com. Ann attended East Carolina University, majoring in English Literature. She is a collector of Halloween (the film) memorabilia and is a self-admitted opinionated horror nerd. You can follow her, her collection and her cat, Edward Kittyhands on Twitter and Instagram @Scarletjupiter
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