I Am ZoZo is a psychological thriller about five young people who play with a Ouija board on Halloween and attract the attention of a malevolent demon. The film is based on real experiences with an ancient and malevolent spirit called ZoZo that attaches itself to people exclusively through Ouija boards. I Am ZoZo was shot last fall on location on San Juan Island, WA and Seattle entirely on Kodak Super 8mm negative film stock.
Now, I’ve stated in the past, that I have a respect for spirit boards and the supernatural, so I tried to do some research into this “Zozo”, because sometimes a story has a spark of truth, or at least a history that can be investigated. The only information I could find on any “real” encounters with a Zozo demon, spirit, etc., was through a small handfull of websites (badly designed) all articles published around the time this movie was being written and produced. Most of these articles are actually copy/pasted on multiple accounts with free services, like blogspot. So, I’m going to take a wild guess and say that any articles about the demon/whatever were an attempt at a viral campaign.
This whole thing seems to be an (not so) elaborate attempt at a CreepyPasta. CreepyPasta’s are a collection of internet folklore, scary stories and urban legend.. the most famous of which, would be The Slenderman.
The movie itself is.. horrid. Yes, I understand this is an independent film – and I gave it leeway for that fact.. but this is nothing more than a bunch of teenagers playing with a ouija board, which someone films. Really, the thing that bothered me the most is the lack of any sort of imagination in this story.. it’s all been done before, in various ouija-based films since the 80’s.
I will give it credit for actually using proper ouija etiquette.. calling the Planchette a planchette, and not a “pointer” or whatever foolishness I’ve seen in other films recently. The figure-8 movement was clearly taken from “Witchboard (1986)” – and used over and over again in other ouija movies since. Never use it alone, Always dismiss (say goodbye) before leaving the board.. good calls.
I can’t, in good conscience, recommend this video – unless you want a lesson in how to bore your audience to tears.
