Old-fashioned storytelling provides some scares
OUIJA: ORIGIN OF EVIL. Directed by Mike Flanagan, with Annalise Basso, Elizabeth Reaser, Henr y Thomas, Lin Shaye and Lulu Wilson. AN OUIJA board serves as a portal to the spirit world in this prequel to the 2014 horror hit. A hauntingly old-fashioned atmosphere infuses the film, a superior prequel to the 2014 horror film which used the parlor board game as its inspiration. Set nearly 50 years earlier, with its visual style evocatively rendering its period setting, the film delivers a satisfying quotient of scares before lapsing into genre clichés in its final act.
Taking place in 1967, the story concerns the Zander family, including widowed mother Alice (Elizabeth Reaser); teen daughter Paulina, known as Lina (Annalise Basso); and 9-year-old Doris (Lulu Wilson).
Alice runs a fake medium business out of her home, using her daughters as confederates to help fool her bereaved clients with illusions simulating contact from the dead. The financially struggling single mother doesn’t think of herself as conning her clients, but rather comforting them in their time of need.
Director/screenwriter Flanagan (Oculus, Hush) slowly ratchets up the tension, foregoing a heavy reliance on cheap jump scares. Infused with psychological complexity and nuanced characterizations, Ouija falters only in the final section, featuring a demon looking like a renegade member of Blue Man Group and a backstory involving the Holocaust that feels wholly unearned.
The visually sumptuous film, featuring Michael Fimognari’s autumnal cinematography and Patricio M. Farrell’s perfectly vintage-looking sets and costumes, actually appears to date from the period in which it’s set. The clever credit sequences, employing the old Universal logo and inspired by Ouija board graphics, are another plus. The film works as a stand-alone story, but fans of the 2014 predecessor should stick around through the end credits. - Hollywood Reporter