Ouija is an 2014 American horror film directed by Stiles White. It was co-written by Juliet Snowden and Simon Kinberg. The film was released on October 24, 2014.
Plot
Debbie Galardi recalls playing Ouija with her best friend Laine Morris as children. In present day, Debbie throws her Ouija board into the fire, burning it. Debbie implies to Laine that something strange happened with the Ouija board. After Laine leaves, the Ouija board reappears in Debbie's bedroom. Debbie becomes possessed and hangs herself with Christmas lights inside her home.
Laine attends Debbie's wake with her boyfriend Trevor, younger sister Sarah, friend Isabelle, and Debbie's boyfriend Pete. The five friends meet at Debbie's house and use her Ouija board to try communicating with her. Strange things happen, and a presence smashes Pete's hand and face into a mirror. Later, the friends start finding the phrase "hi friend" (a message communicated during the Ouija board session) written in different places, like Isabelle's car window, a tunnel wall, Pete's desk, and Laine's computer. Thinking Deb is trying to communicate with them, the group has another Ouija session. They then discover that they are actually in contact not with Debbie but with a spirit calling itself "DZ." Laine sees the image of a little girl with her mouth sewn shut. The girl warns them to run because her mother is coming. Laine sees an old woman, and everyone flees. Laine later learns that Deb found the Ouija board in her attic and played alone.
Isabelle is possessed and killed by being smashed into her bathroom sink and cracking her skull open. Laine and Pete search Deb's attic and find a box of old photographs that belonged to the previous residents. While researching the previous family's history, they learn of a little girl named Doris Zander who went missing, and whose mother was suspected in her disappearance. Laine visits Doris' sister, an old woman named Paulina, who is now committed to a psychiatric hospital. Paulina explains that her mother was a medium and used Doris as a vessel for the dead to speak through. Their mother went mad and sewed Doris' mouth shut before killing her. She tells Laine that there is a secret room in the house where Laine must find Doris' hidden body and unstitch her mouth in order for the girl to banish their mother. The remaining friends go back to the Galardi house, where Laine finds Doris' corpse and cuts the stitches on her mouth. Doris' mother's spirit protests, but Doris' spirit appears and chases away the ghost of her mother. Pete becomes possessed and is killed in his home, appearing as a soulless ghost with his mouth stitched up.
Laine revisits Paulina and realizes that the old woman, revealing that she was in allegiance with Doris, intentionally lied. Doris was the evil entity all along and her mother was trying to stop the friends from summoning her.[5] The Morris's grandmother, Nona, advises the sisters to destroy Doris' body and the Ouija board at the same time. Doris' ghost throws Trevor into a swimming pool covered with a plastic canopy, trapping and drowning him. Laine and Sarah return to the Galardi house cellar, where Doris captures Sarah and prepares to sew her mouth shut. Laine plays the Ouija board alone to draw the spirit's attention. Doris starts possessing Laine, but Deb's ghost appears to help Laine defeat Doris. Sarah throws Doris' body into the furnace, and Laine throws the Ouija board, stopping the paranormal activity. Later, Laine finds that the planchette has mysteriously appeared back at her home in her bedroom, and as she sees through the planchette the film ends:
List of deaths
| Nr. | Name | Cause of Death | Killer | On Screen | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Debbie Galardi | Hanged to death,Neck snapped | Doris Zander | Yes | |
| 2. | Isabelle | Head smash into bathroom sink | Doris Zander | Yes | |
| 3. | Pete | possessed,killed | Doris Zander | Yes | |
| 4. | Trevor | Drowned in swimming pool | Doris Zander | Yes | |
| 5. | Doris Zander | Spirit vanished | Sarah Morris | Yes |
Cast
- Douglas Smith as Pete
- Olivia Cooke as Laine Morris
- Daren Kagasoff as Trevor
- Matthew Settle as Anthony Morris
- Ana Coto as Sarah Morris
- Bianca A. Santos as Isabelle
- Erin Moriarty
- Shelley Hennig as Debbie
- Vivis Colombetti as Nona
- Robyn Lively as Mrs. Galardi
- Bill Watterson as Diner Manager
- Sierra Heuermann as Doris Zander
Production
Ouija has suffered a long production period, nearly being cancelled on more than one occasion.
Development
In late May of 2008, THR reported that Michael Bay, Andrew Form, and Bradley Fuller were producing a film based on Hasbro's board game Ouija. Universal Studios would also be attached. On November 1, 2009 Universal Studios announced that Adam Horowitz and Richard Jeffries would be writing the script for the film. By late 2010, there were three directors in talks with Universal to direct the film: Pierre Morel, Sylvain White, and Scott Stewart. In 2011, it was announced that none of the previous three would be directing and that Joseph "McG" Nichol would be directing. In April of 2011, it was announced that Evan Spiliotopoulos would make final revisions to the script, however, Simon Kinberg was later brought in to additional work. On August 23, 2011, Universal confirmed that they had officially dropped the Hasbro adaptation to develop a more original film. They cited high budget costs as the main reason for scrapping the adaptation.
Throughout late 2011 and 2012, the film's script went through both major and minor revisions. On March 5, 2012, it was confirmed that Universal had brought Hasbro back to film, albeit with a much smaller budget. However, with the original film being scrapped they had lost both a writer and director. Jason Blum was the only returning producer. It was announced on July 16, 2012 that Universal had hired Juliet Snowden and Stiles White to rewrite and direct the film. It was given a preliminary 2013 release date but was later moved to the current date of October 24, 2014.
On July 16, 2014, the poster and first trailer were released.
Casting
In December of 2013, Daren Kagasoff was the first person to be added to the film's cast. Later that same month, Douglas Smith and Olivia Cooke were confirmed to be playing the lead roles. A couple of days later, Santos, Moriarty, Coto, and Colombetti were added. Filming was set to begin later that week in Los Angeles.
