Nerds That Geek Movie Review - 'Ouija 3: The Charlie Charlie Challenge'

Written by Scott Edwards

One of the greatest things about Halloween, aside from the awesome costumes, crazy parties or the chance to get candy in a bag, are the Haunted Houses that open up. I will admit that I have had some of the best times going through the doors of these houses, mainly because any chance to have a little scare, well, I am all for it. I love watching the reactions of the folks in front of and behind me, mainly because genuine fright is some that you don’t see any more. It is just supposed to be a good time had by all and there should be nothing to hold you back from attending them, especially when you want to make sure you are still alive in this wild and crazy world. 
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Walking up to the ticket window and noticing the lack of a line, Gene ‘The Ringmaster’ is beside himself. With no customers, he cannot make any money to keep this haunted house afloat and must come up with some sort of plan to get some action there again. As his employees are making sure that ‘The Ringmaster’ is feeling their pain as well, since they have yet to be paid, the boss sees something the on television that interests him; the not guilty verdict that a jury bestows upon a ‘possessed girl’ who went on a killing spree, because it would seem that her troubles came about from a game called ‘Charlie Charlie’, and that kind of wicked fun is something that Gene can get behind. Making up some fliers, ‘The Ringmaster’ is ready to put his haunted house back on the map, but little does he know what that will entail.

Deciding to take a detour on their way to a party to try out the Charlie Charlie Challenge in the haunted house, Sarah, Charlie, Pete, Skeeter and Gwen make their way into the attraction. Being given wavers to sign if something happens to them, the group is curious as to what the grand prize at the end of the night will be once they win. Skipping around the question and giving his guests a rather frightening backstory of the Charlie Charlie Challenge’s history, ‘The Ringmaster’ is off and leaves the kids to their own devices, since he has some attempted scaring to do.

Sitting around and wondering if they should really do this after being left alone, Charlie is urged to start the game and asks the spirit if he is there. Needing to ask several more times before getting a response, the pencils start to move around and nobody believes that what they are seeing is real. With a little orb leaving the table and traveling around the haunted house, the group has no idea their haunted house stalkers may be a little more demon than human. As the workers are picked off one by one and ‘The Ringmaster’ sees that there is something amiss, nobody knows that the only grand prize that will be handed out will be their lives, if they are able to end the game before it is too late.

Overall, this movie just has a fun tone to it throughout, even when the killing starts taking place. I did not know where it was going to go overall, but when it got there, it was pretty clever, as was the addition of another contestant during the game. While I did not get completely engulfed in the story, I did like the haunted house workers the best and what they were going to do to try and scare the kids was pretty funny, even after Charlie Charlie took care of them. With a failing haunted house, a popular internet game, a pissed off spirit, some pencils, some weapons, some blood and a Ringmaster who has no idea what he has unleashed, this movie just made me smile. While I am not sure why anyone would want to summon a spirit, I am sure that these crazy games are fun, but count me out, I already have enough bad juju following me around. Stay Scared.

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