It is never good to judge a book by its cover, even in the film industry. A movie that looks god-awful can always be a nice surprise and vice versa.

When the book cover involves Michael Bay’s horror company Platinum Dunes and the board game Ouija, it is ok to judge.

“Ouija” (Rated R; 89 min) contends for the title of worst film of the year and the worst from Platinum Dunes.

“Ouija” is directed by Stiles White and stars Oliva Cooke, Ana Coto and Daren Kagasoff.

Laine Morris, played by Cooke, is devastated by the mysterious death of a childhood friend. When Morris agrees to watch the home she died in, she finds an old game they played with as a child, a game known as the Ouija Board.

The Ouija Board is said to hold a connection to the spiritual realm. After continuing to struggle with this death and a fractured home life, Morris decides to use the board to contact her friend.

Morris and a group of her friends gather to participate in the board’s rituals. In doing so, they invite a ghostly being into their lives. The paranormal entity turns violent and they must do everything they can to stop it.

Using a board game as a plot device is a terrible idea in general. Add a board game that nobody has used in 50 years, and you have a cheap marketing tool that will only make money because it has a small budget.

“Ouija” fails at being a film. This sounds like the over exaggeration of a film critic, but it is true. This movie fails on every fundamental level of story telling, let alone screenplay.

The only differences between characters in this film come at a completely aesthetic level.

All of the characters speak the same. They are tools used by the screenwriters to speak dialogue with no individualism to them and to move the plot forward. Their opinions and personalities do not differentiate or clash, which is essential in film.

The inability to differentiate characters seeps into the setting of this world. We as an audience do not know anything about this world. We do not know who these characters are to each other, their ages or even why they are friends. Things just are what they are, and nothing is ever explained.

Both of these situations could easily have been rectified. The main character of this film is Morris. She could have been a complex character. She loses her best friend, her mother left at a young age and she has an estranged relationship with her sister. These are all character-driven plot points the film could have focused on.

There are two reasons why nothing feels real in this movie. One is the writing and the other is the acting. It feels weird harking on the acting of this film. Most of the actors are young and have not worked much. With that being said, the acting is high school level and that is unacceptable.

Lines are plainly said. There is no emotion or drive behind the words. It is like a YouTube real of bad horror movie acting. It is comedic and at times makes this film slightly enjoyable from an ironic point of view. That is about all the enjoyment you will get.

There is nothing redeemable in this film. It is 89 minutes of boredom that you will never get back. In the month of October, it is disappointing that there are no good horrors movies to see.

Jacob Pierce can be reached at , on Twitter @JacobPierce1_DE or at 536-3311 ext.273