Hi everyone, Bryan here….

It’s Halloween season and the big horror movie studio Blumhouse has released another film in their canon franchise with their famous business plan. That movie is ‘Ouija: Origin of Evil‘, which is a prequel to ‘Ouija‘ from 2014. I know. I get suspicious too when a studio wants to start telling prequel stories to the masses. Most of the time, they don’t work, but Blumhouse and filmmaker Mike Flanagan (Oculus) really raised the bar with this prequel that is terrifying, fun, and connects the original film nicely, despite some silly problems here and there.

Overall, the film works, has some great scares, some funny moments, and even has the characters doing and saying some smart things, which is usually not the case in these horror films. Needless to say, I kept the lights on at night after watching this prequel. Set almost fifty years prior to the events of ‘Ouija‘, meaning this movie takes place in the heart of the 1960s with all of the excellent furniture, clothing, and hairdos – not to mention the great music. The Zander family is the main focus here with a young Doris Zander (Lulu Wilson) and teenage Paulina Zander (Annalise Basso) with their widowed mother Alice (Elizabeth Reaser), living in that beautiful home, reading people’s palms and fortune telling. The family dynamic seems good and loving, despite the loss of their husband/father.

A ouija board is purchased to help with the fortune telling business when all hell breaks loose. If you’ve seen the first film, you will know what is going to happen here, which the script and filmmaking perfectly captures all the horror you heard about in the first movie. If you haven’t seen the original movie, then you’re in for a thrill ride that will make the hairs stand on end throughout the film with all of its creepiness.

Either way, I believe this horror film will do its job in scaring you, at least for a little while. There are some odds and ends that don’t make sense here, and it seems like filmmaker Mike Flanagan wanted to incorporate ‘The Exorcist‘ somehow in this film, because there are some shots and moments that were completely taken from ‘The Exorcist‘, including the famous shot of the preacher (Henry Thomas, my man) walking up to the house and looking up upon it.

The performances are decent and the scares are genuine. The time period really adds to the feel of the movie in a good way, in that it feels more organic, and there weren’t any issues with social media or mobile phones. Even though there were some usual genre tropes used here, it all felt fresh for the most part and was quite enjoyable to watch. Doug Jones is billed in the film, and I’m sure you’re able to pick out which character he plays, which as usual is excellent and scary-as-hell. For the Halloween season, this is the film to see.

Recommended!

-Bryan Kluger