Single mom, India (Lois Wilkinson) is moving herself and her baby into a new house. She’s got a lot on her plate – new house, needing to seek a new job, parenting all on her own. It’s all stressful and a lot for anyone to take on. Thankfully she has a supportive and wonderful family who are helping her every step of the way. However, a ouija board is rooted up on the property, and one late night after a few drinks India and her best friend Becca (Gabriella Calderone) decide that it couldn’t hurt to play and experiment with it a little bit. They couldn’t be more wrong. 

That same evening, things start to go awry. Becca has a terrible accident and falls down the stairs, putting her into a coma and requiring brain surgery. Just a few days later, baby Emily falls into the bathtub and suffers horrific burns. Their dog runs away after acting odd for days. Becca doesn’t recover from her injuries and passes away. The threatening call of the spirit board is getting stronger and stranger, and soon India is going to have to face her demons.

OUIJAGEIST nods to the horror/paranormal greats – Poltergeist & Poltergeist II, Exorcist, and others. They make no effort to be subtle in their homages, which adds to the charm. The scares are inconsistent, and some downright silly, and the last few minutes of the film happen in such rapid succession and with such chaos that it makes it difficult to make heads or tails of anything that’s happening. Oddly enough, the multi armed demon woman (maybe?) featured on the poster is not featured in the film, which I think works out for our benefit. The overwrought scares would be made much less effective with such a creature. Speaking of creatures… for some reason there are also zombies in this movie. Sort of. I still don’t really know why, and I don’t know what they actually had to do with the story. Another case of throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks, OUIJAGEIST in moments is as simply unoriginal and on the nose as its title. Subtlety is lost but somehow also leads to confusion and a lack of clarity that takes away from what could be an interesting story.

One thing that stood out to me about OUIJAGEIST is the bold synthesized score. Relying heavily on electronics, it’s reminiscent of The Shining or Clockwork Orange. It’s rare for a soundtrack, particularly at the independent film level, to be so different and potentially iconic. The score is by Liam W Ashcroft, credited under the name Liam Smith, and while he has composed a few horror scores, I’m interested to see him make a bigger name for himself, if the score for OUIJAGEIST is any indication of his talent and unique ability.

Once again I find myself inspired upon reading up on the cast and crew to find that this is yet another “little crew that could”. There are pros and cons to working in this way, and it can lead crew members to be overworked and underpaid, but in my experience on set, it can also build families. 

The final product of OUIJAGEIST isn’t perfect, and loses much steam and clarity in the third act, but I’d argue that the vision and intent is there. It’s always disappointing when just a few confusing and conflicting choices can mar a whole film, but OUIJAGEIST remains original and interesting, in spite of its flaws.

5/10 stars