Starring: Elizabeth Reaser, Annalise Basso, Lulu Wilson, Henry Thomas, Kate Siegel, Alexis G. Zall, Parker Mack, Sam Anderson
OUR RATING: ★★★☆☆
Story:
Supernatural horror prequel directed and co-written by Mike Flanagan in which the story is set in 1965 LA. We follow widowed mother Alice Zander (Elizabeth Reaser) and her two daughters Lina and Doris Zander (Annalise Basso and Lulu Wilson) who run a scam séance business. When they add a new stunt to bolster their business they unwittingly invite authentic evil into their home and the youngest daughter is overtaken by the merciless spirit. This small family confronts unthinkable fears to save her and send her possessor back to the other side.
Best Quotes (Total Quotes: 23)
[Alice is doing a séance with two clients]
Alice Zander: Mary, we invite you into our circle. If that’s you blow out the candles.
[suddenly the candles go out]
Male Client: Oh, my God.
[suddenly Lina bursts through the curtains in the dark and scares off the clients]
Female Client: This is a scam!
[after scarring off their clients]
Alice Zander: We do not attack the clients.
Lina Zander: She deserved it, mom!
Alice Zander: It’s your job to stand at the curtain and not attack the clients.
[opens up the cupboard where Doris is hiding]
Doris Zander: What’s a scam?
Alice Zander: [to Doris] We help people, we give them closure.
School Girl: [to Doris] You are so weird.
[referring to Doris]
Alice Zander: Does she have a lot of problems?
Priest: It’s nothing too concerning.
[referring to the Ouija board]
Doris Zander: What’s this?
Alice Zander: A Ouija board, for work.
[using the Ouija board]
Alice Zander: Spirit can you hear me?
[Doris hears something in whilst sat in her room and answers]
Doris Zander: Yes, we can. And we can see you.
Lina Zander: Who are you talking to, Doris?
[Doris turns to look at Lina in confusion]
Doris Zander: What?
[playing with the Ouija board]
Doris Zander: Daddy, are you there?
[looks through the planchette lens ]
Doris Zander: Who are you?
[suddenly gets possessed]
Alice Zander: Your sister’s taking you to school today.
Doris Zander: I don’t want to go!
[she slams her hands on the table in anger]
Doris Zander: I’m going to stay here and talk to my friends.
Priest: Did you see her writing this?
Alice Zander: No.
Priest: Because it’s Polish.
Alice Zander: Doris, who did this?
[Doris, Lena and Alice are sat at the Ouija board]
Alice Zander: What friends?
Doris Zander: I’ll show you. Are you here?
[the planchette moves towards the answer “yes”]
Alice Zander: [to Lena] Something is happening that we can’t understand.
Priest: [to Alice] I’m concerned about your girl.
Alice Zander: What’s this about, Father?
Priest: The spirit world is dangerous. By using the board you’ve opened up a portal.
[referring to the sprits; to Alice]
Lina Zander: They were watching us all those years.
Doris Zander: Want to hear something cool?
Lina’s Boyfriend: Sure.
Doris Zander: Do you know what it feels like to be strangled to death? First you feel the pressure in your throat, then you start to taste something very sour in your mouth, then it’s like someone lights a match right in the middle of your chest, and then that fire grows, it feels your lungs and your throat and all the way behind your eyes. Then the last thing you feel is cold.
[Lina’s boyfriend looks at Doris in confusion and horror; Doris smiles]
Doris Zander: Goodnight, Romeo.
Lina Zander: Something is wrong with Doris!
Alice Zander: She is experiencing something amazing!
Priest: I believe she is channeling powers we do not understand.
Lina Zander: Doris! Are you there! Are you there!
Lina Zander: It’s just a game.
[referring to Doris]
Alice Zander: Where is she?
Father Tom Hogan: She’s part of the walls now. And she told me the most wonderful, awful things.
Alice Zander: Let her go. Speak to me. I’m a vessel – I can help you.
Doris Zander: [possessed] She’s a better vessel.
Alice Zander: What do you want from her?
Doris: [possessed] Voice.
Alice Zander: Take mine. You can cut it out for all I care, but you leave my girls alone. Let them go! Take me!
Doris Zander: [possessed] We’ll take all of you.
Alice Zander: [crying] I just wanted to be able to talk to Daddy again. I just wanted you to be able to talk to Daddy.
Doris Zander: [possessed] He’s gone. He lives in the dark and the cold, and he screams, and screams, and screams.
Total Quotes: 23
Trailer:
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Yes, Ouija: Origin of Evil is better than its predecessor. But watching a potato bake in an oven for an hour and a half is more entertaining. But is the prequel any good?
Set in the 1960s, Ouija: Origin of Evil follows a widow named Alice (Elizabeth Reaser), who works as a Medium with her daughters Paulina (Annalise Basso) and Doris (Lulu Wilson). Alice buys an Ouija board, a prop used to talk to the dead. Things turn deadly when the game summons an evil spirit that possesses her youngest daughter, Doris. With the help of a priest (Henry Thomas), Paullina and Alice must stop the spirit before it destroys their family.
Ouija: Origin of Evil is a valiant effort by director Mike Flannigan to put life back in this dead franchise. While he succeeds with some aspects, particularly during the film’s first act, Ouija: Origin of Evil quickly loses steam. Flannigan, best known for the underrated Oculus and masterfully crafted Hush, makes a good looking film. Everything from the old school Universal logo, clothing, and the use of “cigarette burns” puts you right in the 1960s. But Flannigan fails to pull the trigger during his best moments of tension. When he finally goes for broke, viewers will have to settle for subpar scares and a terrible CGI evil spirit.
What the film did get right was the casting of Lulu Wilson. Wilson is tremendous as Doris. She must be from the same factory the cast of Stranger Things were made in. Unfortunately, Wilson is subjected to about every cliché in the book and an insanely ineffective use of CGI. The rest of the cast is rather dull, delivering some painfully forced dialog. Basso is unable to recreate the intensity she displayed in Oculus, Reaser’s portrayal of Alice lacks fortitude, and Thomas is the dullest of them all. He blandly explains the dangers Doris and the family are facing without any sense of urgency in his voice. None of the actors besides Wilson seem to care about the film and neither will the viewer.
The third act of the film is where the biggest problems occur. While Flannigan slow burns through the first two acts, he decides to cram in an annoying amount of laughable cheap thrills during the film’s finale. In an effort to heighten the scares, Flannigan somehow connects Nazis to all of the madness. It doesn’t work. Instead, the film goes from a mildly interesting tale to a confusing mess lacking any sense of urgency. Upon hearing the news that her daughter has been taken over by an evil spirit, Alice seems unfazed. This becomes a wildly frustrating reoccurrence as the actors continue to undersell the dangers of the evil spirit.
Maybe Ouija: Origin of Evil was muddled down by its restrictive PG-13 rating, but they are many films with the same rating that were able to be effectively scary. The film does have striking similarities to 2012’s Sam Raimi produced, The Possession, which was received rather poorly by critics but is the superior of the two. It’s a shame the film turned out so poorly as Flannigan is certainly a competent director. And there are sparks of where he shows his range of abilities. But Flannigan made the mistake of making a prequel to a film no one liked, giving backstories to characters no one cared about. It would have been wise for him to make a reboot with no connection to the 2014 abomination. But the wisest thing to do is to stop making films based on board games. Sorry Hasbro.
Rating: 2/5