OUIJA: ORIGIN OF EVIL is about a fortune teller in pretend, Alice Zander, who uses her daughters to convince customers that they're speaking with the dead. Alice gets by while earning a few bucks from it. Then suddenly, she brings home a Ouija board after catching her oldest daughter, Lina Zander, playing it at a party. Her youngest daughter, Doris Zander, tries out the game for herself while everyone else is sleeping. Everything goes downhill form there.
I had no expectations when I went to see this movie. I didn't have to watch the first movie since ORIGIN OF EVIL is technically a prequel. After watching this, I watched the first out of curiosity. While I consider the original to being garbage, ORIGIN OF EVIL is definitely not. Although, I still wouldn't say it's good despite its mass improvement.
The acting performances were exceptional for the most part. The actress that impressed me the most was Annalise Basso as Lina Zander . I was convinced that she wasn't the typical child actress just attempting to act in another movie for fun. She brought so much talent to the table. I'm expecting her acting career to skyrocket within a few years. As for Lulu Wilson playing the possessed child, Doris Zander, I wasn't convinced. I couldn't tell if it was her or the script. I had the feeling that I was supposed to be intimidated by the character rather than being generally freaked out.
ORIGIN OF EVIL focused more on its story and characters rather than the traditional jump scares. While I appreciate the effort, I found the plot to be formulaic. It's not necessarily bad, but I felt like I've seen the execution done before. It has more tension than jump scares, but I felt it was rather weak. Some of it worked, but I never felt any suspense. As for the jump scares, there are few. I could see all of them coming from miles away. I'm thankful that they weren't overused, though.
The cinematography and score worked exceptionally well. Both added a lot of substance to its tension, but they weren't enough to cover up its formulaic plot. One thing that I noticed was that film felt like it was made in the 1960s. It's not because of its setting, but rather how it was filmed. I would often see burning film reels throughout the film. I had a huge smile on my face when I saw them. It's not so often that we get to see movies made with film.
One of the biggest issues I had with the film was its ending. The whole purpose of it was to set itself up for a sequel. I wish that wasn't the case. Sadly, it's becoming the norm in film.
OUIJA: ORIGIN OF EVIL isn't necessarily bad, but rather formulaic. I would consider giving this a watch on Netflix rather than paying $10 to see it in a theater.
