FRIGHT FEST: OUIJA: ORIGIN OF EVIL

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! Every year, during the Halloween season I search for a film good enough to watch in theaters during October. This year, we got Ouija: Origin of Evil and Boo! A Madea Halloween. I chose the film that seemed to be the most Halloween-y, and sat down to watch Ouija: Origin of Evil. How was it?

It's 1967, and the Zander family (mother Alice, played by Elizabeth Reaser, and daughters Lina and Doris, played by Annalise Basso and Lulu Wilson respectively) has a pretty decent business going as fake mediums. When Alice purchases a Ouija board to spice up their act things start to turn sour fairly quickly. It would seem that youngest daughter Doris actually has psychic abilities, which sinister spirits are preying on. Can Alice and Lina, along with the help of Father Tom (Henry Thomas, aka Elliott from E.T.), rid Doris of her spiritual problem?

Ouija: Origin of Evil is actually a full fledged prequel to 2013's awful awful awful Ouija. Essentially, the studio is trying to legitimize that film posthumously. It's clear that Mike Flanagan (from hidden horror gem Oculus) is having a ton of fun here, and indeed Ouija: Origin of Evil is a pretty fun film though it gets pretty dark and bleak in it's last act and is never all that scary (There were a handful of scenes that gave me a few chills though).

The actors all do pretty good jobs. I like that we get the return of Annalise Basso, who was previously Young Kaylie in Oculus. She was one of the standouts in that film, and she's pretty great here. Henry Thomas is also fairly great and is in the film a good deal as Father Tom, the principal of the school the daughters attend. I'd say the standout (for me at least) was Lulu Wilson as Doris. She sold both of her roles perfect (cute, innocent little girl and creepy possessed medium/psychic), and was very likable and quite creepy and freaky when she needed to be.

As I said before, this IS a full fledged prequel to 2013's Quija, showing us the events of what happened in the Ouija house that led to Doris' angry vengeance in the first Ouija film. I don't understand why the studio didn't just decide to do an original story instead of try to breathe life into a failed film....but that said, Mike Flanagan and crew did a pretty good job with this prequel. Flanagan brought with him Jeff Howard (Co-writer of Oculus), The Newton Brothers (composers for Oculus), and Michael Fimognari (Cinematographer for Oculus). With Ouija: Origin of Evil essentially being an Oculus reunion, you would hope the film would be at least as great as Oculus. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Ouija: Origin of Evil isn't great, it's not even really super good. There isn't much death in the film, and most of the action takes place during the last 30 minutes or so of the film. It also doesn't help that the script just isn't all that good either.

All the negatives aside, Ouija: Origin of Evil is still entertaining and fun. It's certainly eons better than the first Ouija. While I didn't love this film, I certainly liked it and will gladly admit I enjoyed my time with the flick. It's not super memorable, but for a fun, creepy time I'd say it fits the bill fairly well. Ouija: Origin of Evil makes for a decent Halloween treat.

3 STARS