Removing any level of expectation from a film can work in the audience’s favor. Awaiting an oil change and needing time to fill, seeing this film wasn’t going to hurt anything for me. Whether you’ve seen the first film of the Ouija series or not, it doesn’t make a difference. I’ll say that this movie did remind me of my own Ouija experience with calling upon the dead some years ago.
When I was a teenager, my sister, her friend and I went into my mother’s walk-in closet and used a Ouija board. Nothing really happened, and just when I was ready to claim it was only us inside the room, we heard knocking on the wall. It could have been one of us joking, but it was enough to where I could never go in there again. Then the occasional scraping noises against the closet wall started. We have cats so I just hoped it was one of them inside that same closet. Needless to say, I have always avoided that area ever since.
Recalling that memory would catch my attention to see this film and I was delightfully surprised how Ouija: Origin of Evil turned out.
*Spoilers*
Apparently, using Ouija boards can be a terrible idea. Ha! Is this movie made by someone with strong religious beliefs and they are trying to scare youth away from occultist things? Is it genuinely a bad idea to tempt fate and see if you can communicate with ghosts? After seeing the movie, I’d certainly would refuse to try a Ouija board again, and I would have trouble sleeping for nights.
The setting and cinematography became a solid foundation for the movie. The style of film was a nod to a dated theater projection style with cigarette burn scene changes and a classic grain to help match the time frame the movie is placed in. Contrarily, up to date effects were used but in a fashion that doesn’t take away from the realism of the story. Up until the very end, I thought it was a realistic portrayal of what could actually happen. The idea to set any movie in the 70’s and 80’s era gives off a vintage feel to the story line structure and more genuity to the terror. No cell phones, the muted brown clothes… it was a different time to where people from that era could even have been in less control or understanding of a supernatural situation than we would today.
Ouija, The Origins of Evil had insidious vibes going for it, which is a personal favorite horror movie of mine. Lulu Wilson’s character starts experimenting with her mother’s Ouija board and spirits do not hesitate to latch onto her.
Well, a demon pretty much fists a girl in the mouth…so that was weird. Haha. I felt like screaming at the screen “See? You fucked with the board… this is why we can’t have nice things!”. They didn’t show the monster too much, and they brought in a priest. Ugh, I am a sucker when they make it religious. I don’t know why, I am not a religious person even though I had a Catholic upbringing. Movies like The Exorcist, and The Exorcism of Emily Rose still frighten me to my core and this film doesn’t hesitate to take advantage of similar controversial themes.
The movie felt like a mash up of several of my favorite films, but wasn’t predictable and at times I was genuinely scared. I would recommend this movie to anyone! This would also be a good movie to rent from RedBox and just drink and add your two cents towards it. So it could go either way. The key to enjoying any movie is not to really watch the preview or pay attention to the hype, and to have no expectations of what it is going to be. I think that’s the optimal way to approach this film and maybe bring about memories of when you might have came across a Ouija board! Go get your buns some popcorn and see this movie!
Custodi Exitus 