By Emilio Frenk.
Director: Mike Flanagan
Cast: Elizabeth Reaser, Lulu Wilson, Annalise Basso, Parker Mack, Doug Jones, Michael Weaver and Henry Thomas.
Rating: Good.
Mike Flanagan, director of “Oculus” and “Hush” brings another horror movie this Halloween season with “Ouija: The Origin of Evil” and I was surprised with the result.
Set up in Los Angeles, during the 1960´s, the movie tells the story of Alice Zander (Elizabeth Reaser) a widowed mother who has two daughters: Lina (Annalise Basso) and Doris (Lulu Wilson) who make their living doing readings like tarot and palm hand; in reality everything is a scam so they can make money and pay their bills and mortgage.
Everything will change for Alice when she goes to the store and see’s a Ouija board which she buys.
The one that uses the board the most is Doris and claims that she is talking to her father in the afterlife. Eventually Doris’s behavior will change thanks to the hours that she spends with the board and begins to affect both her mother and her sister.
The family seeks the help of Father Tom (Henry Thomas) who also notices Doris’s behavior and tries to save her by performing an exorcism.
Now the family must be together to bring Doris to reality and get rid of the Ouija board before it’s too late.
I have been really impressed by the horror genre this year, since I´m not a big a follower but the quality of the work I´ve seen lately has really surprised me and with “Ouija: The Origin of Evil” was not the exception.
The directing by Mike Flannagan was clever, smart and knew how to manage the tension in the scenes and that’s realkey factor for this genre. The timing is essential and he knew how to manage it correctly.
The script written by Jeff Howard and Flanagan was very smart written and you can tell they both did their research about the origins of the Ouija board and they managed it pretty well.
The visual effects and cinematography played a big role here as well, and portrayed how the family lives in a dark and isolated environment and the transformation of the character of Doris when she is having the effects of the Ouija board are frightning and work at all levels, despite of sometimes they can look a little comedic.
I liked the fact that this movie is kind of a homage to one of the most frightning films of all time: “The Exorcist” and this due to the thematic of the film, but with all do respect this movie is not even close.
Although the movie could have been better and by moments the major flaw was that it became to predictable and that could have been avoided. By moments I felt the movie gave to much information and as an audience member I anticipated some moments that were coming and did came.
The ending was another flaw and I don’t think it really worked. I think there should have been another element of suspense but again there were elements that were revealed to early..
Movies like “Lights Out” and “Don’t Breathe” have been the biggest surprises of this year in the genre and I add “Ouija:The Origin of Evil” as another big surprise.
Despite of the movie’s flaws I give “Ouija:The Origin of Evil” a big recommendation and for horror fans and I think you will enjoy it as much as I did.