Over a decade in the past, Hasbro and Blumhouse teamed up for a film based mostly on the Ouija board sport. It was a fairly worthwhile hit in 2014, and a prequel, Ouija: Origin of Evil, adopted two years later.
Each of these movies are at the moment on Netflix, however Ouija: Origin of Evil is the one you actually need to see.
Not like its predecessor, Origin of Evil is a horror film that transcends its board sport origins, and it deserves to discover a bigger viewers.
That’s why Watch With Us has put collectively three causes to look at Ouija: Origin of Evil earlier than it leaves Netflix on August 15.
‘Ouija: Origin of Evil’ Utterly Outshines the Unique Film
Maybe probably the most stunning factor about Ouija: Origin of Evil is how little it wants the film that spawned it. The story that unfolds on this movie expands upon the occasions teased by the primary Ouija. Nevertheless, the prequel is much more gratifying in the event you haven’t seen the unique film in any respect. Should you don’t know the twists, then a few of them are literally stunning.
Setting the movie in 1967 additionally gave Origin of Evil an interesting throwback model. Committing to the style and design from that period went a great distance in direction of reaching that look. However the actual purpose individuals go to horror films is to expertise the scares. Origin of Evil‘s scary moments aren’t as intense as a number of the different fashionable horror flicks, but it surely works remarkably properly as an adaptation of a preferred board sport.
The Solid and Route Are Glorious
Mike Flanagan cowrote and directed Ouija: Origin of Evil, and he deserves nearly all of the credit score for this improve over the unique. Netflix followers might recall that Flanagan was additionally the showrunner for Midnight Mass, The Haunting of Hill Home and The Fall of the Home of Usher. Origin of Evil predates all of these exhibits, however Flanagan is aware of the style properly, and his experience was put to good use.
The first solid additionally deserves reward, particularly Elizabeth Reaser as a faux medium, Alice Zander, with Annalise Basso and Lulu Wilson as her daughters, Lina and Doris. At the beginning of the movie, Alice and her ladies depend on trickery to idiot their determined shoppers who wish to communicate to their deceased family members. When Doris shows a pure present for channeling spirits with a Ouija board, Alice treats it like the very best factor that has ever occurred to the household.
Henry Thomas in Ouija: Origin of Evil Justin M. Lubin/© Common Footage /Courtesy Everett Assortment
Wilson’s efficiency is within the custom of a protracted line of creepy younger ladies in horror, together with Linda Blair‘s flip in The Exorcist. Wilson goes from lovely to menacing with exceptional pace. Henry Thomas additionally has a fantastic low-key efficiency as Father Tom Hogan, the principal of the sisters’ college and a possible love curiosity for Alice. The dinner scene between Father Tom and Alice is among the movie’s highlights, and it doesn’t want ghosts. Simply two veteran performers demonstrating some understated chemistry with one another.
The Movie Doesn’t Shy Away From Going Darkish
As famous above, Origin of Evil works greatest whenever you don’t know the way the Zander household components into the primary Ouija film. In any other case, the reveals late on this movie aren’t actually that stunning. But as a standalone expertise, Origin of Evil bucks the horror custom of letting its most important characters emerge largely unscathed from what they’ve been by way of.
The Ouija board does come into play at sure components of the film, but it surely’s amusing that the Zander household doesn’t understand they broke all three of the foundations for enjoying the sport till it’s far too late. That might not be the very best promoting level for Hasbro’s board sport, however that is possible the very best film that anybody will ever make based mostly on that franchise.
Ouija: Origin of Evil is streaming on Netflix till August 15.
