Ouija: Origin of Evil

Father Tom (Henry Thomas) is nonplussed by the antics of young Doris Zander (Lulu Wilson) in the spooky ooky Ouija: Origin of Evil.
Father Tom (Henry Thomas) is nonplussed by the antics of young Doris Zander (Lulu Wilson) in the spooky ooky Ouija: Origin of Evil.

Ouija: Origin of Evil is the rare sequel to eclipse the original. Then again, the first film was so tedious and clumsy there was nowhere to go but up.

The first film was a transparent attempt by Hasbro to monetize another board game. Apparently, nobody bothered to think of characters audiences could love or hate or any sort of jolt beyond ineffective jump scares.

Ouija: Origin of Evil

80 Cast: Elizabeth Reaser, Annalise Basso, Lulu Wilson, Henry Thomas, Chelsea Gonzalez, Parker Mack, Doug Jones

Director: Mike Flanagan

Rating: PG-13 for disturbing images, terror and thematic elements

Running time: 1 hour, 39 minutes

The new film seems like a miracle in comparison simply because it has a plot and solid performances from underappreciated journeyman thespians who are overdue for meaty roles. In this case Elizabeth Reaser, who's best known as the vampire mom in The Twilight Saga, gets a chance to do something other than smile while Edward Cullen whines in the foreground. Reaser was terrific as a German mail order bride in the neglected indie Sweet Land, so it's great to see her in another leading role.

She plays Alice Zander, a widow who makes her living telling fortunes because her husband has recently died. She and her daughters Paulina (Annalise Basso) and Doris (Lulu Wilson) use parlor tricks to help abruptly bereaved folks deal with their grief. It's not a lucrative or legitimate trade, but at least they can relate to the few people who come to get in touch with the people they've lost.

The pocket money the family makes from the light show becomes far more substantial when Paulina discovers Ouija (Hasbro has to get the product plug in there somehow). Alice figures out how to use magnets to get the planchette, or pointer, to move, but that proves unnecessary when the 9-year-old Doris can move it without any sleight of hand. Pretty soon she's calling up spirits and even speaking in their voices.

Even if you don't remember the subplot of the first movie, it's not a promising development. It doesn't help that somehow the Zanders have trouble following the three rules:

  1. Never play alone.

  2. Never play in a graveyard

  3. Always say goodbye.

What's intriguing about Origin of Evil is that it's most entertaining before the preordained conclusion rolls around. The only value the previous film had was in some unintentional giggles thanks to some clumsy dialogue and stiff performances. If you haven't seen the first film, don't bother, because it actually spoils the twists here.

Director Mike Flanagan benefits for the 1965 setting because the new setting has a creepy sense of atmosphere the more recently set first installment didn't have. Flanagan also deserves some credit for using oldies that fit the era but aren't familiar. In so many films, hits from the past often bring the action to a halt, whereas these songs establish the period and keep the story going.

In addition to Reaser's solid turn as Alice, Henry Thomas, who's probably always going to be known as E.T.'s best friend, is wonderful as a sympathetic Catholic priest who fears the Zanders may be messing with supernatural forces that even he can't extricate them from. Casting perennial ghoul Doug Jones from Guillermo del Toro's movies doesn't hurt either. He gets more out of black latex than most actors get out of the entire play of Hamlet.

Unfortunately, Flanagan is still stuck with using some of the same jump scares from the previous movie. While he has a better eye for plot, pacing, character and atmosphere than his predecessors did, he's still telling a story that doesn't require a Ouija board to figure out.

While Hasbro will certainly make royalties from this film and any future ones their greedy little hearts want to make, it's hard to imagine anyone buying the game after seeing either movie. It's sort of like charging cows to pass through a slaughterhouse.

MovieStyle on 10/21/2016

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