Has Universal just released a new UK trailer for the upcoming horror film Ouija? The planchette points to yes.
The new feature, wherein a group of friends try to summon the spirit of Tawny Kitaen – wait, Tawny Kitaen is still alive? Wow. Okay. The new feature, wherein a group of friends try to summon the spirit of a recently deceased pal -- only to find something much darker and far more menacing -- is due out just in time for Halloween. You can get a sneak peek at what’s in store in this new trailer, posted on the Movies Coming Soon YouTube channel.
All in all, Ouija looks like a pretty predictable horror affair. For a film about contacting the souls of the dearly departed beyond the veil, the whole thing feels, well, kind of soulless in this clip. You can basically make a horror movie cliché drinking game and get a pretty good buzz going in well under two minutes if you’re keeping pace at home. From laughing ghostly children, to spooky shadows and apparitions, Ouija hits all the notes you’d expect – all while landing a PG-13 rating sure to scare off the hardcore horror geek crowd.
That Ouija is even releasing at all is something of a minor victory given the title’s tumultuous road through production. The feature was first announced way back in 2008, and plans were to create an event film like Pirates of the Caribbean. The budget was set at $80-100 million and the aim was to release the movie during the holiday season in 2012 with director McG overseeing the supernatural shenanigans. The studio eventually got cold feet about the budget (which was probably a good thing after the whole Battleship fiasco) and pulled the plug on the project.
By 2012, Hasbro had convinced Universal to re-commit to the movie, albeit with a lower budget. Horror producer wunderkind Jason Blum was brought in to work alongside Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes, and here we are, with the film ready to release just in time for Halloween on October 24.
Needless to say, McG bailed when the project was initially dropped by Universal, so now Stiles White is handling the directorial duties. He’s working with a cast led by The Quiet Ones’ Olivia Cooke and Stage Fright’s Douglas Smith.
Ouija generated some minor buzz recently, when it was revealed that the Jason Blum produced Paranormal Activity 5 would shift from an October release back to March of 2015 so he didn’t have two horror films competing at the box office. Was this the right move? We’ll know when we see Ouija’s opening weekend numbers.
