Showing posts with label Ouija. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ouija. Show all posts

"Bates Motel" Star Grabs Lead Role in "Ouija" (Opens Oct 29)

7:51:00 PM

She’s currently starring alongside Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga on A&E’s acclaimed television series “Bates Motel.” Now, young British actress Olivia Cooke will be seen in the big screen as she plays lead character, Laine, in Universal Pictures’ supernatural thriller “Ouija.”

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The film revolves around a group of friends who must confront their most terrifying fears when they unwittingly make contact with a dark power from the other side. What started as a game will unleash an evil only they can stop.

The principal cast is composed of five friends, led by the fearless Laine, a high school student looking for answers. Filmmakers searched for a great deal of time for the best actress to fill the role. Little did they know, she was right in front of them…as a placeholder in White’s “Ouija” tone book.

Director Stiles White explains: “The first role that we needed to get right was Laine. I had watched some episodes of `Bates Motel,’ so Olivia was already on my radar when we were putting `Ouija’ together. As well, I had this tone book filled with photos of how I wanted everything to look. There she was in the photo of who I thought the lead should be. It turns out Olivia was exactly who we all had in mind. It felt like, for the first time, I was seeing the living, breathing version of the character that Juliet and I had imagined.”

Producer Brad Fuller concurs with his director’s decision: “Horror movies are a great way to meet young talent, and we knew Olivia as this great British actress and had seen her in `Bates Motel.’ Still, at the end of the day, at her audition, she just blew us away.”

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As it so happens, Cooke was able to identify with Laine, who fills the maternal role of watching over her rebellious younger sister, Sarah. She shares: “I am from a single-parent family and I have a little sister who is 14, so I connected to that with Laine. I also connected to my character’s loyalty, as I, too, am fiercely loyal to my friends and family.”

To get into character, Cooke had to put all of her trust in the man at the helm. Of White, she enthuses: “Stiles is the calmest director I’ve ever worked with. He’s very soothing and reassuring.”

Though Laine’s insatiable curiosity leads her into dire situations in “Ouija,” Cooke admits she’s never used a Ouija board. She laughs: “I was always told not to mess with a Ouija board because I’d heard of people who had these horror stories about contacting a spirit. Though I do remember saying to my friends, ‘Let’s take a Ouija board into an abandoned barn and play!’ and they were definitely not into it.”

Cooke was born in Manchester, England. Upon graduating from Oldham Theatre Workshop, she landed a key role in “Blackout,” a BBC series directed by Tom Green, for which she starred alongside Christopher Eccleston. She then took the lead role in a BBC miniseries set in the 1940s “The Secret of Crickley Hall,” directed by Joe Ahearne.

Cooke was most recently seen in the Lionsgate thriller “The Quiet Ones.”

Opening across the Philippines on October 29, “Ouija is distributed by United International Pictures through Columbia Pictures.

"Ouija" Benefits from Imprint of Horror Experts

9:34:00 PM

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Platinum Dunes (“Transformers,” “The Purge” series, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”) joins forces with Blumhouse Productions (“Paranormal Activity”) and Hasbro to bring to the screen “Ouija,” a supernatural thriller in which a group of friends must confront their most terrifying fears when they unwittingly make contact with a dark power from the other side.

Several years ago, Hasbro and blockbuster producers Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller of Platinum Dunes approached Universal Pictures to discuss making “Ouija” as a microbudget film that explored the supernatural elements of the iconic board. Fellow powerhouse producer Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions was brought on to complete the team—which includes Hasbro’s producer Bennett Schneir, who has a multipicture production deal with the company—and “Ouija” was a go.

Schneir reflects that the Ouija board’s combination of wish fulfillment, desire for closure and fear of the unknown allows for an ideal vehicle for this type of movie: “You want to connect with the other side; you have questions. In the many, many stories of the Ouija board, there are always the rules that must be abided: Never use it in a graveyard, never use it alone, always say goodbye. If you follow the rules, good things will happen; if you break them, you better be careful.”

After penning the films “Knowing” and “The Possession,” husband-and-wife team Stiles White and Juliet Snowden were eager to continue writing character-driven thrillers. When they were approached to craft the screenplay for “Ouija,” with the offer for White to make his directorial debut, it was just the project for which they were searching.

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Snowden recalls the thriller’s inception: “When we got the call, we were given the opportunity for Stiles to direct for the first time and for us to write. All they said was, ‘Ouija. What would you do?’ Our first instinct was to consider our memories of the Ouija board: playing as teenagers, sitting around with our friends and wanting an answer to something…anything.”

White elaborates on the duo’s writing style: “We gravitate toward the psychological elements of horror. Juliet and I have always been drawn to stories that are about relationships or family dynamics being tested by a supernatural force. Whatever the setting is, we try to create a compelling situation centered around people up against something larger than life. And that’s exactly what we’ve done with `Ouija.’”

The Ouija board was imagined out of humanity’s intrinsic desire for answers to the seemingly inexplicable. So, when White and Snowden began writing, they knew they needed to first sort out their protagonist’s intense need. The more that the duo looked into the reactions following the loss of someone, and how traumatic death is for many of us, the more they found their story’s motivating force. With that driving the narrative, one young woman’s obsession with finding out what happened to her best friend was the clear through-line.

There is a long held belief that if you don’t follow the procedures of game play with the Ouija board, it’s possible for you to open a door to the spirit realm. As well, unless you do certain things to close that door, that phenomenon might follow you beyond playing at the table.

This was a jumping-off point for the creators of our story. White gives: “We thought, ‘If you didn’t play properly, could weird things continue to happen to you after you’ve played?’ That’s what we loved about what was possible with this story: All kinds of things could happen if you played it wrong.”

We first meet our heroine, Laine, as she comes over to check in on her close friend Debbie, who, unbeknownst to her friends, has broken a cardinal rule of the Ouija board: playing alone. When Debbie dies in a very gruesome way, she leaves behind footage and diaries with clues as to what went on immediately before she died. Still, Laine simply cannot accept her death. When she starts to look deeper, she realizes all clues lead to the antique Ouija board that resides in her friend’s home.

To ground the story in reality, White and Snowden were careful to write characters who had varying degrees of trust in the board. Fuller shares: “Stiles and Juliet made sure to focus on the journey itself, which is either the people who had a big belief in it being right, or the people who had no belief in it being surprised at what they unleashed. This conflict among the group is something they wrote remarkably well and is the glue that holds the film together.”

Opening across the Philippines on October 29, “Ouija is distributed by United International Pictures through Columbia Pictures.

This Halloween, Play the Deadly Game of "Ouija"

7:37:00 PM

“Yes.” “No.” “Goodbye.”

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These words that are printed on a classic Ouija board seem so innocent. This Halloween, find out what happens when a deadly presence refuses to say “Goodbye.”

Platinum Dunes partners Michael Bay (“Transformers” franchise), Brad Fuller (“The Purge” series), and Andrew Form (“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”) join Blumhouse Productions’ Jason Blum (“Paranormal Activity”) and producer Bennett Schneir (“Battleship”) to bring to the screen “Ouija,” a supernatural thriller in which a group of friends must confront their most terrifying fears when they unwittingly make contact with a dark power from the other side.

What started as a game will unleash an evil only they can stop.

After Laine’s (Olivia Cooke of TV’s “Bates Motel”) childhood friend, Debbie (Shelley Hennig of TV’s “Teen Wolf”), suddenly dies, Laine, alongside Debbie’s boyfriend, Pete (Douglas Smith of “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters”), discovers an antique Ouija board in Debbie’s room and tries to use it to say “Goodbye” to her best friend.

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When the curious teen begins asking questions and stumbles upon the mystery of Debbie’s death, Laine discovers that the board’s resident spirit calls itself DZ and doesn’t want these sessions to end.

As stranger and stranger things start happening, Laine enlists her younger sister, Sarah (Ana Coto of TV’s “DISconnected”), to fall down the rabbit hole alongside her and help discover who DZ is and what it wants from them. Joining the sisters in their dangerous game are Laine’s friend Isabelle (Bianca Santos of TV’s “The Fosters”) and Laine’s boyfriend, Trevor (Daren Kagasoff of TV’s “The Secret Life of the American Teenager”).

As the five friends dig deeper into the history of Debbie’s house, they find that Debbie wasn’t the first victim and won’t be the last. And if they don’t figure out how to close the portal they’ve opened, they will meet the same fate as the friend who introduced them to the game…

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Stiles White (writer of “The Possession,” “Knowing”) makes his directorial debut with the supernatural thriller that is written by White and Juliet Snowden. Joining their talented creative team are director of photography David Emmerichs (“X-Men: First Class”), production designer Barry Robison (“X-Men Origins: Wolverine”), costume designer Mary Jane Fort (TV’s “Do No Harm”) and editor Ken Blackwell (“The Expendables”). The music is composed by Anton Sanko (“The Possession”) and Academy Award® nominee Mike Smithson (“Avatar”) provides the special-effects makeup for the dark spirit who has been waiting for years to be discovered.

Opening across the Philippines on October 29, “Ouija is distributed by United International Pictures through Columbia Pictures.

Psychic Prank Video Promotes "Ouija" Movie by Scaring Patrons

11:06:00 PM

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A special kind of viral marketing agency called Thinkmodo scared unsuspecting New Yorkers to run for their lives in yet another prank ad. This time by inviting customers to walk in and experience a free Ouija readings session.

During the session, the psychic would tell her customers to feel relaxed and to focus on their thoughts and just a few moments later, she pops her eyes out and scares them roughly, telling them to RUN!

If the unusual psychic’s eye-popping wasn’t enough, the next thing that happens is that a dead person comes out of the wooden floor and makes the clients really run for their lives.

This ad was created to promote the upcoming supernatural horror movie “Ouija” from director Stiles White.

Check out the hilarious reactions of Ouija’s customers in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ncQN_7I7hk.

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Universal Pictures presents the horror thriller “Ouija” just in time for the upcoming Halloween season.

In the film, a group of friends must confront their most terrifying fears when they awaken the dark powers of an ancient spirit board. “Ouija” stars Olivia Cooke (“Bates Motel,” “The Quiet Ones”), Douglas Smith and Bianca Santos.

Stiles White (“The Knowing”) directs the supernatural thriller that is produced by Platinum Dunes partners Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller (“The Purge,” “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “Friday the 13th”) alongside Blumhouse Productions' Jason Blum (“Paranormal Activity” and “Insidious” series), Bennett Schneir (“Battleship”) and Hasbro. Juliet Snowden and Stiles White wrote the script.

Opening across the Philippines on October 29, “Ouija is distributed by United International Pictures through Columbia Pictures.

Universal Launches "Ouija" Poster, Images

1:47:00 AM

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Universal Pictures has just launched the poster art and first images of its upcoming Halloween presentation, “Ouija.”

In the film, a group of friends must confront their most terrifying fears when they awaken the dark powers of an ancient spirit board. “Ouija” stars Olivia Cooke (“Bates Motel,” “The Quiet Ones”), Douglas Smith and Bianca Santos.

Stiles White (“The Knowing”) directs the supernatural thriller that is produced by Platinum Dunes partners Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller (“The Purge,” “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “Friday the 13th”) alongside Blumhouse Productions' Jason Blum (“Paranormal Activity” and “Insidious” series), Bennett Schneir (“Battleship”) and Hasbro.

Juliet Snowden and Stiles White wrote the script.

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Opening across the Philippines on October 29, “Ouija is distributed by United International Pictures through Columbia Pictures.

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