Ouija Japan

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2:04

Ouija Japan

2021

1h 18m

Action

Horror

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Popcornmeter

40%

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5 Reviews

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Karen is an American housewife living in Japan who desperately wants to fit in with her Japanese community, until peer pressure forces her to play the Kokkuri-san (the Japanese Ouija) with the other housewives, unwittingly disrespecting a local deity, who sets them up to fight each other in a deadly game of battle royale. A mysterious app gets installed on their phones to aid them in their battle. It offers the women tools to fight each other, which they buy with credits. But they better be careful with their spending.

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Brandon Stanwyck

InSession Film

The film gives her a slow and steady build, but by the time Karen reaches her final rank, I had regrettably already checked out.

Rated: D+

Jul 16, 2024

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MontiLee Stormer

MovieReelist.com

The high school level insults and afterschool special histrionics make the whole first act uncomfortable. The action for what it's worth is the best part so I hope that's where the budget went.

Rated: 1.5/5

Nov 20, 2021

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Cass Clarke

CBR

Ouija Japan lands as more of a wily action thriller than a horror movie.

Oct 28, 2021

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Bobby LePire

Film Threat

Ouija Japan is not well-acted, as every cast member comes across as stiff or wooden. As a horror entry, it is never remotely frightening, even once.

Rated: 4/10

Oct 19, 2021

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Sarah Boslaugh

TheArtsStl

Ouija Japan is an odd little film with a promising premise that is most interesting when it's focusing on interactions between the characters and their environment, and less so when it's trying to stage battle scenes.

Oct 19, 2021

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A M

Well, at least all the shots were in focus.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

09/29/24

Full Review

Audience Member

What if you combined a Ouija movie and a riff on Battle Royale? This is a question that I never would have thought to ask but here this movie is to answer. Karen — yep, that's her name — is an American housewife living in Japan who desperately wants to fit in. This leads her to play Kokkuri-san, which is like Ouija but also astoundingly Japanese in that it summons an animal spirit that is a mix between a fox, dog and raccoon. The fox (kistune) is the trickster, the racoon (bare-danuki) is the bearer of both mischief and fortune, while the dog (inugami) is often used as a curse. By using three bamboo rods arranged to make a tripod and a pot is placed on the tripod. Three or more people ask questions of the spirit and the pot either moves or remains still, which can be explained away just like a Ouija board. And just like one, this game has plenty of urban legends. As far as I know, it does not install an app on your phone and give you credits to buy weapons and kill other housewives to the death. This is director and writer Masaya Kato's first movie as well as the initial effort for much of its cast. It also shifts between bad English and subtitled Japanese and none of the voices match up. All of the blood seems to be CGI. Man, should I keep this laundry list going to let you know just how rough this movie is? Great idea. Weird idea. Goofy idea. Whatever — the execution fails to live up to what this could have been.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

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Masaya Katô

Director

Ariel Sekiya

Karen Fujimoto

Miharu Chiba

Satsuki Murakami

Eigi Kodaka

Akiyo Yoshihara

Masaya Katô

Screenwriter

Hao Rong

Producer

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Ouija Japan: Trailer 1

2:04

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Synopsis

Karen is an American housewife living in Japan who desperately wants to fit in with her Japanese community, until peer pressure forces her to play the Kokkuri-san (the Japanese Ouija) with the other housewives, unwittingly disrespecting a local deity, who sets them up to fight each other in a deadly game of battle royale. A mysterious app gets installed on their phones to aid them in their battle. It offers the women tools to fight each other, which they buy with credits. But they better be careful with their spending.

Director: Masaya Katô
Producer: Hao Rong, Wilco C. Rullens
Screenwriter: Masaya Katô
Production Co: Tokyo Bay Films Entertainment
Genre: Action, Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 19, 2021
Runtime: 1h 18m

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