Ouija Origin of Evil | Film review - Slow-build suspense and jump scares

When you talk to the other side, you never know who will be listening.

In 1967 Los Angeles, a well-meaning widowed mother (Twilight’s Elizabeth Reaser) buys a Ouija board as a prop for the fake séances she holds in her home with help from her daughters, teenager Lina (Annalise Basso) and nine-year-old Doris (Lulu Wilson). Unfortunately, in Ouija Origin of Evil Doris uses the board to contact a real, very evil spirit…

This prequel to 2014’s supernatural chiller Ouija is considerably better than its predecessor. Director Mike Flanagan (reuniting with Oculus co-star Basso) combines slow-build suspense with some jolting jump scares, while Wilson’s innocent Doris becomes increasingly creepy as the action wears on. There’s also a nice self-aware touch when things get particularly tense and one character says, ‘Splitting up seems like the stupidest thing in the world.’

Certificate 15. Runtime 99 mins. Director Mike Flanagan

Ouija Origin of Evil debuts on Sky Cinema Premiere on Sunday 27 August. Available on Blu-ray, DVD & Download from Universal Pictures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJIcZGEjjwo

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.