THE OUIJA POSSESSION (2016)

Studio:       Wild Eye Releasing
Director:    Luis Carvalho
Writer:       Luis Carvalho
Producer:  Gary Andre
Stars:     Jocelyn Padilla, Nicole LaSala, Ryan Boudreau, James Barrett, Rob Roy, Brinke Stevens, Aaron Peaslee, Cesar Pereira

Review Score:

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Summary:

Six teenage friends inadvertently resurrect a vengeful murder victim during a Ouija board séance.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Francis and his girlfriend Barbara, Tony and his girlfriend Lydia, and their friends Johnny and Jessie hang out in Francis’ basement after spending the day together. Looking for something to do that evening, Francis goes up to the main house where his parents are hosting a party and retrieves a Ouija board.

Tony refuses to play, but the other five friends contact a spirit named Jonah Matthias who tells them that his wife murdered him with poison to inherit Jonah’s money. When Lydia becomes briefly possessed by Jonah’s spirit, the friends decide to try fully summoning him. Lydia, Barbara, Francis, Jessie, and Johnny go into trances and start convulsing while using the board. Tony smashes the planchette, snapping everyone back to reality. Outside, Jonah rises from his grave.

Jonah comes to the house and kills Tony. Francis thinks the killer is their drugged-out friend Joe, but the others insist that Jonah has returned from the dead. The five friends barricade themselves in the basement. Jessie dies from an asthma attack when his inhaler empties.

Meanwhile, the adults continue partying upstairs. One of the guests is Zora Matthias, Jonah’s widow.

His psyche tormented by guilt over Tony and Jessie’s deaths, Francis goes in search of Jonah. Johnny accompanies him. Barbara reveals to Lydia that she is pregnant with Francis’ baby after Francis exits the room. Johnny tries distracting Jonah when Francis is cornered in the hallway, but Jonah kills Francis. Johnny returns to Barbara and Lydia and barricades the three of them in the basement.

Barbara convinces Lydia and Johnny that they can send Jonah back to the grave by using the Ouija board. Assuming that they successfully banished Jonah following their second séance, the trio tries to leave. Laughing maniacally, Lydia opens the basement door and allows Jonah inside. Barbara and Johnny flee back to the basement room with Lydia and lock themselves inside once again.

Jonah breaks into the room. Lydia willingly invites Jonah to tear apart her neck with his teeth. Lydia drops dead.

While Barbara hides, Johnny battles Jonah using a shovel. Jonah wrestles the shovel away from Johnny and uses it to sever the boy’s arm. Jonah then punches Johnny in the head and kills him.

Jonah retrieves the Ouija board, destroys it, and leaves the basement. Barbara emerges from her hiding spot and makes her way up to the main house where she collapses in front of the party guests. Alarmed, Francis’ father runs to the basement and screams in horror when he finds the bodies.

In the morning, paramedics arrive for Barbara as police process the crime scene. Zora gets into her car to leave. Jonah surprises his former wife by revealing himself to be waiting for her in the backseat.

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Review:

This is what went through my mind when I started watching “The Ouija Possession:”

“Damn.  This seems familiar.  Like really, really familiar.  Sure, I’ve seen more movies featuring typical teenagers summoning supernatural spirits with Ouija boards than can be counted, but I feel like I’ve seen this specific one before.

“This Skeet Ulrich-looking dude.  That pale-skinned thin kid with curly blonde hair.  This goofily staged scene of two-on-two football played on a field the size of a child’s bedroom.  Yeah, I could swear I’ve seen this.  How is that possible when it was only released a few weeks ago?

“Let’s see.  The director’s name is Luis Carvalho.  That vaguely rings a bell too, unless I’m thinking of Lee Carvallo’s Putting Challenge from “The Simpsons.”  What else has he done?  Only one other movie: “Jonah Lives.”  Wait a minute.  The evil spirit in this flick is named Jonah.  Except this isn’t a sequel, this is… oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.  I’m watching something I’ve not only already seen, but even reviewed last year, and it took me this long to fully figure it out.”

More than once a movie has caught my attention and in determining if I wanted to watch it, I’ve looked up coverage online only to stare straight at a review I forgot I wrote.  One of the perils of watching so many unmemorable microbudget horror movies, I suppose.  But this is the first time I’ve followed all the way through on pressing Play and sitting with a confused sense of déjà vu for several minutes.  Congratulations on accomplishing that much, “The Ouija Possession.”  You’re the first, and Crom willing the last, movie to ever trick me into an undeserved repeat viewing.

That’s right.  2016’s “The Ouija Possession” is actually 2012’s “Jonah Lives” sneakily rereleased under a new title.

An IMDb user mentions, perhaps speculatively, that the film has been reedited, even assessing that this supposedly updated cut is an improvement.  I don’t believe the movie has been altered at all.  Times like these are when the detailed plot synopses included under ‘spoiler’ buttons above come in handy.  “The Ouija Possession” follows notes I kept for “Jonah Lives” in perfect order.  If changes exist, I didn’t spot any and can’t imagine where or what they would even be.

The bigger question is, do I have to write a new review for “The Ouija Possession” or can I simply cut and paste the one I wrote for “Jonah Lives” a year and a half ago?  I mean, if a movie can repackage old material and present itself as a fresh product, shouldn’t a critic be able to do the same with his/her previously published words?

Here’s a relevant paragraph from my “Jonah Lives” review (full review here):

“Having filmed in 2011, “Jonah Lives” debuted in 2012, had its film festival premiere in 2013, and finally received wide home video distribution in 2015.  In those four years, “Jonah Lives” was the only film made by writer/director Luis Carvalho.  Several of the actors did not appear in any other features during that time, either.  These notes are relevant because it offers an idea of how entrenched some of the associated talent is (or is not) in professional filmmaking careers.  In other words, this is a group of predominantly amateur family and friends making a DIY one-off.”

Sadly, 18 months hasn’t falsified that last sentence.  “Jonah Lives/The Ouija Possession” remains Luis Carvalho’s only directorial outing and much of the cast hasn’t had a fresher credit since.  The movie merely has one more pin to drop on its bumpy timeline of 2012 debut, 2013 festival premiere, 2015 release, and now 2016 repurposing.

To save you the click/tap of moving over to the other review, here are excerpts that explain why the movie shouldn’t have been released once, much less three times:

• Cuts read like editing room errors, as though arranged how Nostradamus ordered his quatrains by throwing individual shots in the air and piecing them back together according to how they hit the floor.
   
• Bizarre mistiming creates an off-balance rhythm highlighting a confused concept of how to tell a story through film.
   
• The movie doesn’t even get the basics of a vengeful ghost plotline right.
   
• There is no rescuing “Jonah Lives” from its underdone acting, overbaked dialogue, and derivative setpieces.

In to-the-point terms, “The Ouija Possession” is still as forgettable as it was when it went by the name “Jonah Lives.”  And now I have two reviews to prove exactly how forgettable it is.

Review Score:  20

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