Review: 'Ouija: Origin of Evil' is more like the stepping stone to evil
Secret ending? Yes.
Running time: 99 minutes (~1.5 hours)
“Ouija: Origin of Evil” is a horror movie that’s the prequel to 2014’s “Ouija”. It sees a suburban family in the 60’s dealing with the passing of the father. When an Ouija board enters their life, chaos ensues. It stars Annalise Basso (Paulina Zander), Elizabeth Reaser (Alice Zander), Lulu Wilson (Doris Zander), Henry Thomas (Father Tom), and Parker Mack (Mikey). It is rated PG-13.
I must confess that I forgot most of the plot of the first film, but then “Ouija” was a rather lacklustre Halloween offering. As a result, I had to read up on the plot of the original to understand the connection between that and “Ouija: Origin of Evil”. By its own merit, “Ouija: Origin of Evil” is an average horror movie, even if the frightening elements are muted in comparison to other scary movies. Compared to the previous one though, it’s a gigantic improvement.
Highlights
Doris is genuinely creepy
The whole premise of the film is that you see how Doris (Lulu Wilson) comes to be, since she’s the antagonist of “Ouija”. She’s introduced as an innocent child who wants nothing more than for her mother and sister to be happy. Doris literally exudes joy every time something good happens to her family. So when she turns into the monster we’ve seen in the trailers, it’s a chilling 180-degree change. Her cold anger is nothing like the exuberant warmth we see earlier in the film, making it evident that a terrible force of evil lurks inside her.
Quaint setting
Surprisingly, the 60’s time period works well for the film. It’s a cheery, sunny era (sometimes a bit too sunny to be believable) when everyone was more altruistic and straightforward, and the large house they live in is wonderfully decorated with choice props. The attitudes and language are also amusing to watch, and there’s even a little inversion of the chauvinism of that time.
Letdowns
Overcomplicated backstory
So, to explain Doris’ transformation, “Ouija: Origin of Evil” goes into a long and lengthy tale of the house’s gory history. It’s got too many unnecessary details and is, quite frankly, boring. The other problem with this exposition is that the first “Ouija” relied on a complicated backstory to explain its ghost, and we get yet another complicated backstory to explain the ghost again. Will it ever end? Will we see the true “Origin of Evil”?
Scares are tame and mild
The scares feel restrained, probably to garner a lower censorship rating allowing a wider audience. If you’ve seen the poster, then you’ve seen the worst that “Ouija: Origin of Evil” has to offer. Even the climax lacks a real scare as it prevents you from seeing the unspeakable horrors that one of the protagonists has to resort to (all you see is a POV shot).
Ending is a downer
The ending is one of the most pessimistic ever for a film. Part of it is due to the fact that Doris is such a likeable girl in the beginning, and the movie ends with her transformation into the creature we see in “Ouija”. The other problem is that there’s no catharsis for the viewer, since the most sympathetic character in the film becomes utterly corrupted.
“Ouija: Origin of Evil” is more like a steppingstone to evil, rather than the origin of evil.
Should you watch this if it’s free? OK.
Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? If you like horror.
Score: 2.5/5
“Ouija: Origin of Evil” opens in cinemas:
- 3 November 2016 (Singapore)
- 3 November 2016 (Malaysia)
- 26 October 2016 (Philippines)
Marcus Goh is a Singapore television scriptwriter. He’s also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. He Tweets/Instagrams at Optimarcus and writes at marcusgohmarcusgoh.com. The views expressed are his own.
