“Ouija” conjures frights worthy of Halloween
Horror. PG-13. 99 minutes.
The latest entry in the milder PG-13 branch of the possessed-child genre spawned by the original “The Exorcist,” “Ouija: Origin of Evil” is, somewhat unexpectedly, not that bad. (Unexpectedly because it is a follow-up to the 2014 “Ouija,” which was simply awful.)
Directed by Mike Flanagan (“Oculus”), the new film conjures shivers worthy of Halloween. Flanagan has a good eye for spirits flitting in and out of the corners of the frame, for shadows lurking in an old house and for a basement loaded with – well, never mind. The plot has a spine and good actors to flesh it out. There are even moments of actual humor.
“Origin” is a prequel to the earlier film, in which a teenage girl died mysteriously after pulling her old Ouija board out of the attic and playing with it alone — a Ouija no-no — thus releasing an angry spirit. Friends who tried to contact her spirit via the board fared badly too. “Ouija: Origin of Evil” shows how all that began.
Set in 1967 Los Angeles, the film follows recently widowed fortune teller Alice Zander (Elizabeth Reaser) and her daughters: 15-year-old Paulina, known as Lina (Annalise Basso), and 9-year-old Doris (Lulu Wilson). The girls help Mom with special effects for her sham act.
But when Alice picks up a Ouija board to add pizazz to the mix, somber little Doris plays with it.
She shouldn’t have done that.