I didn't get a review started Sunday, but I did get a movie watched at the very least. I was wanting to get a movie watched for my other blog, instead, I watched one for here. I was thinking of going to the theater in order to watch a movie there, but I wanted to hold off to make sure I would have enough money after paying off bills. So, I hit up Amazon Prime for my next movie, which ended up being Ouija Summoning (2015). This is a movie that doesn't have a very high average rating, but it did manage to surprise me all the same.
Sara (Tara Shayne) has decided that she wants to go on a camping trip with her boyfriend Brian (Marty Dew). Her mother (Lindsay Stock) isn't very happy about it, as she feels Sara should be training for tennis instead. Sara wants a break from all that and leaves anyway, only to discover that Brian has invited his friend Santiago (Richard Muller). Along the way, they stop so Santiago can take a piss. Brian stops near a house that has police tape up around the entrance and Santiago thinks he heard someone crying from inside. Sara goes in to investigate, thinking someone might need some help, but finds nothing. Santiago finds an Ouija board they take off after a loud bang. Against Sara's wishes, Brian and Santiago use the board. They start to talk to a spirit who wants Sara to kill Santiago or...but the spirit stops talking.
Ouija Summoning was written and directed by Marwan Mokbel. The original title for this movie was You Will Kill, which actually fits the theme of the story much better than what we ended up with. Having a spirit tell you to kill someone and if you don't the person will die anyway, was an interesting concept. I was pretty confused by it at times though. Mainly, I just couldn't figure out why the spirit would tell someone to kill, only to kill the intended person itself. The film opens with the same thing going on but with a different woman being told to kill. The story tries to justify the spirit using Sara to kill because Sara doesn't believe in forgiveness. She can't forgive her dad for cheating on her mom that causes them to split. When the little group first talks to this spirit, the spirit says she regrets that she killed someone, which causes Sara to not want to talk to the spirit at all. Sara tells her dad that she can't forgive him because forgiving a cheater still makes him a cheater. Even though she never says anything like that to the spirit, it still twists and uses those words to justify using Sara. The story almost goes out of its way to explain this, but it doesn't explain why the spirit was doing this before Sara. Of course, I have no idea if it happened more then the two times that is known from the film. It was just one of those things that the more I thought about it all, the less sense it started to make. There was a scene with Sara and her dad, played by Thomas Garner, that struck me as odd. Sara is reaching out to her parents for help after her dad's mom has passed away and he goes off on her for it. Telling her she isn't the only one who just lost someone. For me, this highlights something I don't like about movies sometimes. Since we know very little about Sara, I don't know if Sara tends to make things about her all the time, which is why her dad went off about it or if it was just this odd reaction from him because of the stressed situation.
There wasn't much going on for special effects. A little bit of blood here and there, but nothing major at all. The acting was a bit shaky at first, I wasn't all that impressed by anyone right away. I didn't care for Mart Dew much. I thought his acting came across as rather flat in all his scenes. I somewhat liked Tara Shayne in the lead role. I wasn't all that impressed with her, but she was at least trying. Tony Colitti plays the part of a priest who tries to help Sara and does an okay job with it. Denise Hernandez played the part of the spirit that is haunting Sara. I actually liked her, or more what they did with the character. There were times that I thought that spirit was pretty creepy. Even more so when the spirit would suddenly run towards Sara. That would freak me out I think if I saw that.
Even though I thought that the acting was just okay, at best, I have to say that they stepped it up in a big way for the final scene. The scene was mainly between Sara and her dad, but we also got to see the spirit reacting in a different way and Sara's mom had a small but important part in this as well. It got really emotional and it hit me pretty good. I was all set to give Ouija Summoning a two-star rating as I entered this last scene thanks to the things I complained about above. After the last scene, I decided it deserved at least an average rating, which is what I will give it. Ouija Summoning isn't the best film around by any means and I completely understand what people give it a low rating. If the ending didn't get to me as much as it did, I would be right there giving it a low rating as well. I would likely watch this one again someday, but I don't think I would go out of my way to do so. If I have managed to peek your curiosity about it, give it a try sometime. It might surprise you like it did me.
3 out of 5 Never trust a Spirit that cries
Sara (Tara Shayne) has decided that she wants to go on a camping trip with her boyfriend Brian (Marty Dew). Her mother (Lindsay Stock) isn't very happy about it, as she feels Sara should be training for tennis instead. Sara wants a break from all that and leaves anyway, only to discover that Brian has invited his friend Santiago (Richard Muller). Along the way, they stop so Santiago can take a piss. Brian stops near a house that has police tape up around the entrance and Santiago thinks he heard someone crying from inside. Sara goes in to investigate, thinking someone might need some help, but finds nothing. Santiago finds an Ouija board they take off after a loud bang. Against Sara's wishes, Brian and Santiago use the board. They start to talk to a spirit who wants Sara to kill Santiago or...but the spirit stops talking.
Ouija Summoning was written and directed by Marwan Mokbel. The original title for this movie was You Will Kill, which actually fits the theme of the story much better than what we ended up with. Having a spirit tell you to kill someone and if you don't the person will die anyway, was an interesting concept. I was pretty confused by it at times though. Mainly, I just couldn't figure out why the spirit would tell someone to kill, only to kill the intended person itself. The film opens with the same thing going on but with a different woman being told to kill. The story tries to justify the spirit using Sara to kill because Sara doesn't believe in forgiveness. She can't forgive her dad for cheating on her mom that causes them to split. When the little group first talks to this spirit, the spirit says she regrets that she killed someone, which causes Sara to not want to talk to the spirit at all. Sara tells her dad that she can't forgive him because forgiving a cheater still makes him a cheater. Even though she never says anything like that to the spirit, it still twists and uses those words to justify using Sara. The story almost goes out of its way to explain this, but it doesn't explain why the spirit was doing this before Sara. Of course, I have no idea if it happened more then the two times that is known from the film. It was just one of those things that the more I thought about it all, the less sense it started to make. There was a scene with Sara and her dad, played by Thomas Garner, that struck me as odd. Sara is reaching out to her parents for help after her dad's mom has passed away and he goes off on her for it. Telling her she isn't the only one who just lost someone. For me, this highlights something I don't like about movies sometimes. Since we know very little about Sara, I don't know if Sara tends to make things about her all the time, which is why her dad went off about it or if it was just this odd reaction from him because of the stressed situation.
There wasn't much going on for special effects. A little bit of blood here and there, but nothing major at all. The acting was a bit shaky at first, I wasn't all that impressed by anyone right away. I didn't care for Mart Dew much. I thought his acting came across as rather flat in all his scenes. I somewhat liked Tara Shayne in the lead role. I wasn't all that impressed with her, but she was at least trying. Tony Colitti plays the part of a priest who tries to help Sara and does an okay job with it. Denise Hernandez played the part of the spirit that is haunting Sara. I actually liked her, or more what they did with the character. There were times that I thought that spirit was pretty creepy. Even more so when the spirit would suddenly run towards Sara. That would freak me out I think if I saw that.
Even though I thought that the acting was just okay, at best, I have to say that they stepped it up in a big way for the final scene. The scene was mainly between Sara and her dad, but we also got to see the spirit reacting in a different way and Sara's mom had a small but important part in this as well. It got really emotional and it hit me pretty good. I was all set to give Ouija Summoning a two-star rating as I entered this last scene thanks to the things I complained about above. After the last scene, I decided it deserved at least an average rating, which is what I will give it. Ouija Summoning isn't the best film around by any means and I completely understand what people give it a low rating. If the ending didn't get to me as much as it did, I would be right there giving it a low rating as well. I would likely watch this one again someday, but I don't think I would go out of my way to do so. If I have managed to peek your curiosity about it, give it a try sometime. It might surprise you like it did me.
3 out of 5 Never trust a Spirit that cries
