You know how they say "You can't polish a turd"? Well, usually that's true. But there are exceptions to every rule, and the exception to this one is the prequel to 2014's OUIJA. Based on the Hasbro boardgame (you know, as if a zillion other movies about ouija boards have never been made), the first film was uninspired and dull. It tread familiar ground and did so in lifeless and dumpy manner. The only plus was an appearance from genre great Lin Shaye, but those two minutes of screen time were not enough to save the clunky, predictable mess that made up the rest of the film.
But like I said earlier, exceptions to every rule. OUIJA: ORIGIN OF EVIL takes up the mantle and proceeds to tell a story that is scary, emotional and entertaining. A complete 180 from its source. This prequel fills in the backstory that was thrown lazily into the mix during the third act of the first film. Set in Los Angeles in 1967, the film follows widowed mother, Alice (Elizabeth Reaser) and her two daughters, Lina (Annalise Basso) and Doris (Lulu Wilson). Alice works as a medium, providing psychic readings and seances to grieving people. Though her work is 100% showmanship (she doesn't actually channel any spirits), she does it with a sense of purpose. Not a mere con artist, she believes in her work as being an important part of the healing process, helping her clients to make peace with the loss of loved ones and being the process of moving on. Alice knows from personal experience that moving on can be difficult; she is still reeling from the loss of her husband, Roger, as are the girls.
One day she brings home a Ouija board to try to spice up her readings. Her latest addition quickly becomes something more than just another prop when Doris begins to experience strange and otherworldly things while using it, and seems to be communicating with her dead father. Alice is overjoyed to have a connection with her husband, and to see the extent of Doris' newfound powers. Lina, however, is more cautious, and believes there is more going on with Doris than her mother cares to admit. In addition to being able to communicate with the spirit world, Doris is also beginning to behave in a strange and alarming manner, and Lina believes whatever she is communicating with may not have the best intentions.
If there is any director who could not only make this work, but make it fly, it is Mike Flanagan (ABSENTIA, OCULUS, HUSH). He has a skill for rooting his horror stories in emotion and giving us characters that we genuinely care about, and this film benefits greatly from that talent. At its core is a grieving family, struggling to understand the hole in their lives and to move on from it. The story explores that sense of loss and the desire to reconnect with someone who is gone, and uses that as the basis for the horror that follows. The characters are all well-developed and we get a good sense of who everyone is, where they are on their lives and how they are adapting (or not) to the changes they are confronted with. The best horror gives us an emotional connection with the people onscreen and urges us to care about them, and that's what Flanagan does with this film.
The cast is incredible, hitting all of the emotional beats but always embodying the scarier elements as well. Particularly Annalise Basso, who plays teenage daughter Lina. This is a great next step after her work with Flanagan on OCULUS, and she turns in a rich portrayal that makes us just as concerned for Lina as a teenager, trying to navigate the path of growing up as we are when the malevolent presence in her home begins to grow more powerful.
If you are familiar with the first film (and you don't have to be to enjoy the new one), this story does a great job of weaving itself into the established mythos, without hammering the fact that it is, in fact, a prequel. The direction and presentation are stellar. The story embraces and settles comfortably in its period setting without feeling out of place or reminding the audience awkwardly that this is a story of the past. The scares are well-placed and well executed, and Flanagan does an incredible job of playing on our expectations and delivering something that surprises and gets under our skin at every turn.
OUIJA: ORIGIN OF EVIL is the horror movie that you wanted this Halloween season - it's just coming from a slightly different place than you might have anticipated.
