Ouija: Origin Of Evil

This review may contain spoilers!

The first Ouija was disappointing, so imagine my surprise when the prequel turns out to be one of the most bone-chilling horrors of the year. I would give Ouija: Origin Of Evil a 7/10.

Making the follow up to Ouija a prequel makes perfect sense, it's genius and is masterfully done within this film. The 60s setting works to the narrative's favour; creating a fresh take on the Ouija story while also appearing unique and interesting. The possession of Doris is a really unnerving story that unfolds to become a horrific slaughter of most of the main cast. I don't think a film has had me more scared than this all year, you see a little girl's face and body contort in ways that are just too hard to watch at times. The score for the film is really haunting but it also helps to trick you by making you feel optimistic when first Doris starts talking to the spirits, the soundtrack also does a good job in placing you within the time period and amplifying the terror.

Elizabeth Reaser, who played Alice Zander, really did a great job as the lead mother figure of the film; Reaser's desire to help people with her spirit readings is different and makes her role easy to like. Lulu Wilson, who played Doris Zander, is just absolutely creepy as hell for most of the film; the scene where she describes strangling someone alive is one of the better monologues delivered this year by a character. Henry Thomas, who played Father Tom, takes a while to really take off but is quite charismatic as the plot progresses; I enjoyed the scene where Thomas reveals he tricked the spirits - it makes everything more real and you feel like the conflict is about to come to a satisfying head.

However the best performance came from Annalise Basso, who played Lina Zander. This young protagonist has the tough rebellious streak and distance from her parental figure that we've come to expect in horror films, however Basso performs it incredibly well. As the film progresses we come to grow more afraid as Basso shows how frightened of Wilson's role her character is. Ultimately it all comes to a head when the character of Lina must step up and take responsibility for saving her family from the spirits that have possessed Doris; it's heartbreaking to see the grief she has to go through following this and then the loss of her sanity immediately after.

The film doesn't always know how to handle it's more mundane elements; a group of teenagers sneakily hanging out, school life, the awkward date between mother and priest, none of it portrayed very well at all. In fact these servants felt like loose plot points tying things together before the next horrific spirit or possession scene. The cinematography was also a bit disappointing, it certainly picked up near the end but for most of the film the framing felt rather simple and stationary. The editing didn't heighten thing either, the cuts were slow and the pace only ever picked up in a few select scenes.

Parker Mack, who played Mikey, was the film's awful attempt at a bit of romance; Mack really lacked chemistry with Basso which just made his presence a bit redundant. Sam Anderson and Kate Siegel, who played Mr Browning and Jenny Browning respectively, were a rather generic start to the film; the scenario felt tired and predictable before it was even halfway through. Halle Charlton and Alexis G. Zall, who played Ellie and Betty respectively, had made worried that we were going to get the flaws of Ouija all over again at first; this teenage fear of a board game failed the first time and I didn't want to see it portrayed by bland actors all over again.