In 1967 Los Angeles, widowed mother Alice Zander (Elizabeth Reaser) unwittingly invites authentic evil into her home by adding a new stunt to bolster her séance scam business. When the merciless spirit overtakes her youngest daughter Doris (Lulu Wilson), the small family must confront unthinkable fears to save her and send her possessor back to the other side.
✰✰✰✰ out of 5 stars. The year 2014 was a pretty slow year for the horror genre. There were only a handful of horror films that is worth remembering. Unfortunately, it doesn't include the very bad Ouija. The film was so bad and boring to death. It's story (and it's final twist) even resembles a 2007 Filipino horror film of the same title.
Surprisingly, it's 2016 prequel, Ouija : Origin of Evil is a hundred times better that the first film. Changing directors was one of the film's best improvements, with Mike Flanagan (Occulus, Hush) helming the period horror film. It's change of time and environment (though the characters still live in the same house where the characters of the 2014 lived) added a breathe of fresh air to this budding franchise. The 1960's setting, complete with the looks and sounds of the era adds a certain charm to the film. The leads also are way better than the teen stars that comprised the cast of the first film. Particular praise for Lulu Wilson for her amazingly creepy performance as Doris Zander. Though not entirely scary, the film manages to pull some clever jump scares here and there. The ending is not entirely surprising, given that we already know the character's fate as this story happens before the 2014 film (obviously, they're all dead) but still, it's planchette moves to better directions compared to it's predecessor.
Starring Elizabeth Reaser, Annalise Basso, Lulu Wilson, Henry Thomas, Parker Mack and Doug Jones, directed by Mike Flanagan.
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