Ouija: The Origin of Evil
Ok so it’s October and the only thing scary about this time of year is the lack of horror films out, what’s even more frightening…the lack of good ones! So when Ouija:Origin of Evil was up, I got a bit excited.
Ouija: Origin of Evil is the prequel to the 2014 flick itself based on the Hasbro board game. The film is set in 1967 nearly 50 years before the “Original”. The film starts of with Alice Zander (Elizabeth Reaser) conducting a séance fir a grieving widower and his greedy daughter. After the pair leave the home, we find out that the whole thing is a scam, with Alice’s daughters Paulina (Annalise Basso) and younger Doris(Lulu Wilson) assisting in the charade. This is sets up the stage for the rest of the film, where the characters are in limbo between what is real and what is make believe.
Although the film has some serious jumpy moments the story development has some major holes that leaves more questions than answers leaving the viewer scratching its head about the true identity of evil. Director Mike Flanagan sticks to the horror genre clichés, but as with his former films Absentia and Oculus he achieves a lot with a little. But that is also what makes this film forgettable. Although the creepy factor is high the lack of story telling and the weak plot ends up feeling like a weak version of The Conjuring. Younger audiences and people whom frighten easily will no doubt get some thrills, but for the rest of us Horror fanatics, well, keep your fingers crossed that something heads our way.
5/10
By Hiram Trillo
Rated PG-13
Running time 99min
Release Date Oct 21 2016
