The Halloween horror season was brought to a close with the lackluster Ouija, which initially outshined expectations but then proved to be less than acceptable.

The film follows Laine, played by Bates Motel’s Olivia Cooke, who turns to the board game, Ouija, after her best friend dies. She meets four other friends in said best friend’s house and play the game in an attempt to gain closure, only to awaken something much darker.

There’s a surprisingly dark tone about grief and the nature of dealing with grief that runs under the film’s sparse 90 minute run-time. The feelings of loss that Laine convey come off as somewhat authentic, and really carry the film in an emotional sense. Unfortunately, the scares did not carry the same quality.

Throughout the movie there’s an underlying feeling that it would be commonplace on networks such as ABC Family or Lifetime. That’s a bad sign for a film that’s marketing itself as something scary.

Often-times throughout the film, the scares are of the jump variety and have little substance and or consequence.

The few death scenes that did take place were either off-screen or very vanilla. It left a tone that the film earned its PG-13 rating in the lightest way possible.

Early in the film Laine’s grandmother approaches her and notices a Ouija board in her bedroom. She says something along the lines of, “Don’t mess with that sort of thing!”

Well, don’t mess with this film if you’re looking to get a bang for your buck.