Movie Review: Ouija Seance: The Final Game
Horror movies come in many flavors. There are the ones that are ultra serious and very intellectual, and then there’s the fun, popcorn movies. The movies that follow the tropes and follow even some of the beloved cliches, but you still find yourself enjoying watching them – partially because of some of the familiarity, partially because you’re a horror fan.
When it’s all said and done, horror fans are said to be some of the most flexible and easy to please. As long as there are enjoyable features of a movie, we tend to gobble up anything you send our way. That seems to be predominantly true as we seem to be less demanding than some of our other genre fan brethren.
We love the horror genre. We love everything horror stands for.
Ouija Seance: The Final Game is one of those movies where it’s not breaking new ground, it’s not going to make you question reality or move you to tears. But it’s a heck of a lot of fun. And as a horror fan, at the end of the day, sometimes those are the movies you want. You want something that you just kick back, pop open your drink of choice, probably grab a giant buttery monstrosty of popcorn (preferably with chocolate mixed in) and enjoy the heck out of it. Tune out from the rest of the world, take a break from the real world, and enjoy something fun. Yeah, it’s weird to some that movies like this are fun to us. But, as a horror fan, they are captial F-Fun.
Ouija Seance is special in the fact that it has such a strong Italian influence. Here we have an Italian writer, an Italian director, and an Italian setting. We even start the movie with this beautiful piece of Renaissance-style Italian artwork – setting the tone of the movie in many ways. The painting is of a mother and child looking over their shoulder to this demon like creature. That, right there, is the heart of the story. It’s not the one-liner that you’re given for this movie, but it is the heart of the story. Family secrets and the darkness in places that you generally shouldn’t go seek.
As far as the tropes that this movie finds itself falling into, you do have the harbinger – the old man who tells you don’t do that, don’t go over there, don’t look in the attic. It’s young adults going on vacation in a house full of secrets. Yes, you’ve seen that movie before. But, what makes this fun is what it touches on differently: Instead of the Ouija board by the Parker Brothers, you see this really cool artifact. Instead of everything being so front and center, it toys with the ideas of European witches. Instead of the Americanized bubblehead, you have the European sexpot. So, although it does travel some familiar ground, it still is a cool look into a different take of this supernatural quasi-haunted house thriller.
The movie basically centers around four college-aged kids. You’ve got the bimbo/sexpot; the jock type who seems to only have sex and beer on his mind; then you’ve got the good boy and the good girl who you are just sitting back and hoping they get together. (Hook up as the cool kids call it. Cool kids still say that, right?)
There are tons of relationship drama between the characters, and these actors do a great job of carrying the bulk of the movie. Although, there are a couple other characters that pop up here and there, easily 80 to 90 percent of the movie, is just those four faces. They’re likable and believable, even as the world around them begins to unravel.
And unravel it does, over the course of the movie you see how their actions from playing with this spooky, unusual artifact of an Ouija board in the attic just undermines everything. The tagline for this movie is “Sarah and her friends decided to spend the weekend in an old villa which Sarah has mysteriously inherited. After finding an Ouija Board in the attic Sarah and her friends unknowingly awake an evil force connected to the villa’s hidden secrets. To fight the imaginable horror they will have to face their darkest fears and worse nightmares.”
As a horror fan, I definitely enjoyed it. It was a fun watch, it had some really cool nuances on the genre in part due to those European influences. It was not exactly the same movie you’ve seen before, although it did feel familiar. If you only watch movies that break the newest ground you may leave a little disappointed. But if you’re just a horror fan who loves movies, new takes on topics – you will enjoy this movie.
You’ll get a kick out of the old harbinger. You’ll get a kick out of the different way they spin this supernatural genre and the way they bring the theme of family into it which is something that sometimes happens with Americanized movies but often doesn’t. It seems like American horror movies often go for a more independent take where a lot of foreign movies, depending on the country of origin, you’ll get this more kind of family vibe or family history of the story. There definitely is the female strong lead, even when she is leaning on her friends to make it through.
The name is the only thing that truly kind of stood out to me as an unusual choice. Ouija Séance: the Final Game, that it makes it sound a bit like a sequel and as far as I can tell it isn’t. It also isn’t part of the separate Ouija series that’s popped up in the states. This is a totally separate entity and it seems to be technically a made for TV movie which is a little surprising. The quality is completely there and it’s far from what I would consider typcial low-fi made for TV quality movie.
If you’re looking for something different. If you love the spirit board sub-genre, if you love supernatural movies – this guy definitely deserves a spin. The director Andrea Mugnaini did a really good job with pacing and kind of giving you these hints early on without really showing what’s going on. I’m very much looking forward to seeing more from Mugnaini.
Ouija Seance: The Final Game is currently available on VOD platforms and via DVD.
850 Music & Entertainment 
WOW SPOILER ALERT – JKJK notttt sure if i’d be able to sleep after watching this! But I loved reading about it!!
I’m such a wimp! Sounds terrifying!
I too and such a wimp!! But that’s kudos to you for reviewing this so well.
Great review! Made me want to see it and i am NOT a scary movie fan. lol