Ouija: Origin of Evil

Ouija: Origin of Evil
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Mike Flanagan
Produced by
Written by
  • Mike Flanagan
  • Jeff Howard
Based on
Starring
Music by The Newton Brothers
Cinematography Michael Fimognari
Edited by Mike Flanagan
Production
companies
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date
  • October 21, 2016 (2016-10-21) (United States)
Running time
 99 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget
Box office $81.7 million[3]

Ouija: Origin of Evil is a 2016 American supernatural horror film directed and edited by Mike Flanagan and written by Flanagan and Jeff Howard. The film is a prequel to the 2014 film Ouija and stars Elizabeth Reaser, Annalise Basso, Lulu Wilson, Parker Mack, and Henry Thomas. The film's plot focuses on a widow and her family adding a Ouija board to their phony seance business where, unbeknownst to them, they invite a spirit that possesses the youngest daughter.

The film was released on October 21, 2016, by Universal Pictures, grossing over $81 million. It received positive reviews, with many praising it as a significant improvement over its predecessor.

Plot

In 1967 Los Angeles, a widow named Alice Zander works out of her suburban home as a spiritual medium, accompanied by her daughters, 15-year-old Paulina "Lina" and 9-year old Doris. The family is still reeling over the recent death of Roger, Alice's husband and the kids' father. At Lina's suggestion, Alice incorporates a Ouija board into her readings. While trying out the board, she unknowingly contacts a spirit named Marcus that begins to possess Doris.

Alice receives a notice that the bank intends to foreclose on their home. Doris contacts the board for help, believing she is communicating with her dead father. The spirit leads her to a secret compartment behind the basement wall containing a pouch of cash. When she gives the money to her mother, the family has an Ouija session, believing they can contact Roger. When the board answers a question only Roger would know the answer to, a thrilled Alice begins believing that they are in contact with her dead husband.

Soon, Doris becomes possessed by a shadowy spirit. Lina, who is becoming disturbed by the changes in her sister, finds papers written by Doris in fluent Polish, a language she does not know, and brings them to Father Tom to translate. Troubled, Father Tom visits them for a Ouija session under the pretense of contacting his dead wife Gloria. Although the session appears to be successful, Father Tom later explains to Alice and Lina that Doris did not contact Gloria. Instead, for every question he asked, she read his thoughts and repeated the answers he was thinking in his mind. He reveals that the pages are entries written by a Polish immigrant named Marcus, who was taken captive during World War II by a sadistic doctor who conducted experiments on him and other captives inside the house's basement. These spirits knew answers that only Roger would know because they have been watching the family since the day they moved in.

Meanwhile, Doris kills Lina's boyfriend Mikey. When they find the body, Father Tom, Alice, and Lina burn the Ouija board in the furnace. Father Tom finds the secret room where the experiments were conducted, and is possessed by the spirits. He attacks Alice and Lina, but momentarily seizes clarity, only to be killed by Doris. Alice is captured, while Roger's spirit carries an unconscious Lina to her bed. Recalling an earlier moment when her doll's mouth was stitched by her father's spirit "to shut out the voices", she realizes she must sew Doris' mouth shut to quiet the spirits' voices and stop the evil. She fights off the embodied evil spirits and sews her mouth shut but kills Doris in the process. The ghost Doris wakes up and Roger appears and Doris is happily reunited with her father. Lina explains to Alice that she had to sew her mouth in order to stop the voices. The spirits then possesses Lina and stabs Alice with a knife. The spirit unpossesses Lina. Lina is shocked to see what she did. Alice tells Lina that it wasn’t her fault but hers for getting the board and also tells Lina that she loves her. Alice then sees Roger and Doris happily together watching them and then dies, leaving Lina in an emotional breakdown.

Lina is later on committed in a mental hospital for the suspected murder of her mother and sister. She tells her doctor that she knows she will never be alone again. As Lina is left in a mental hospital room for her, she tears up half of the carpet, showing a floor and makes her own Ouija board, using her blood for the letters, and a piece of lens from a pair of circular glasses to make the Ouija Oracle symbol. Lina uses the make-shift Ouija to summon Doris's evil spirit which succeeds.

In a post-credits scene, 47 years later, a now elderly and still institutionalized Lina receives a visit from someone claiming to be her niece.

Cast

Production

Production in Los Angeles commenced in September 2015 and wrapped in October 2015.[2] Although the first film in the Ouija series was a success commercially the critical reception was less than stellar. As a result, Jason Blum wanted to make a film that was significantly different than the original.[4] This appealed to director Mike Flanagan who stated in an interview that he has "allergy to sequels" Blum let Flanagan work on the type of horror film he wanted which was a period piece that dealt with a family dynamic.[4] There was some talk from the beginning about whether or not the film should have any connections at all to the original, but Flanagan himself was opposed to this, and instead opted to make references to the original subtle to welcome new viewers while also entertaining fans of the original.[5]

The 1980 movie The Changeling was a major influence on the film, with Flanagan screening the film with his director of photography "like ten times" while also watching other classics such as The Exorcist and The Watcher in the Woods. It was then that the pair hit off the idea to film the movie as if it were the 1970s, using only technology that would only have been available in that era.[4]

The main cast was announced in September 2015[6][7][8] with principal photography beginning that same month, which ran to October 21, 2015.[9][10] Post-production on the film began on October 31, 2015.

Universal Pictures used its 1963–90 title, designed by Universal Title and Optical for MCA Inc., to open and promote the film.

Soundtrack

The Newton Brothers composed the movie, replacing Anton Sanko, who composed the first film. The soundtrack was released by Back Lot Music on October 21, 2016.

Release

In April 2015, it was announced that the film would be released on October 21, 2016.[11]

Box office

Ouija: Origin of Evil grossed $35.1 million in North America and $46.6 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $81.7 million, against a budget of $12 million.[3]

The film opened alongside Boo! A Madea Halloween, Keeping Up with the Joneses and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, and was expected to gross around $15 million from about 3,168 theaters in its opening weekend.[12][13] It ended up grossing $14.1 million (compared to its predecessor's $19.9 debut), finishing third at the box office.[14]

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 83% based on 109 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10, making it one of the highest-rated films to date produced by either Hasbro Studios or Platinum Dunes. The website's critical consensus reads, "Ouija: Origin of Evil swerves its franchise's planchette unexpectedly to YES with a surprisingly scary and dramatically satisfying follow-up to its lackluster predecessor."[15] On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 65 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[16] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale, the same as its predecessor.[17]

Katie Rife for The A.V. Club gave the film a B and wrote that compared to its predecessor "It is better, though, in every conceivable way, from casting to story to atmosphere."[18] Odie Henderson for RogerEbert.com gave the film three stars and called it "one overstuffed horror movie recipe, with a dash of The Exorcist and a spritz of Ghost among its tasty ingredients."[19] Adam Dileo of IGN said "Ouija: Origin of Evil may just be the latest entrant into that small category of sequels and prequels that manage to improve upon their predecessors in every way."[20] Kate Erbland of IndieWire called the film "genuinely frightening and smart, the rare horror prequel able to stand on its own merits and deliver a full-bodied story that succeeds without any previous knowledge or trappings."[21] Jimmy Champagne of Bloody Disgusting called it "easily Flanagan’s best film yet" and said "Ouija: Origin of Evil is a heartfelt and genuinely frightening experience."[22]

Unofficial sequels

Film media distributor Cinedigm has released two unofficial sequels. The film Charlie, Charlie was released in 2017 on DVD with the title Ouija 3: The Charlie Charlie Challenge and the 2015 Hong Kong horror film Are You Here was released in 2018 on DVD with the title Ouija 4. This deceptive marketing was made to fool the public into believing these were sequels to two official Blumhouse Productions films.

References

  1. ↑ "Ouija: Origin of Evil (15)". British Board of Film Classification. October 6, 2016. Retrieved October 6, 2016.
  2. 1 2 McDonald, Adrian (May 2017). "2016 Feature Film Study" (PDF). Film L.A. Feature Film Study. Film L.A. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 "Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 Schager, Nick (October 19, 2016). "How This Horror Director Is Reinvigorating the Genre By Returning It to Its Roots". Esquire. Hearst Communications. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  5. ↑ Connelly, Brendon (October 21, 2016). "Mike Flanagan interview: Ouija: Origin Of Evil, Halloween". Den of Geek. Dennis Publishing. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  6. ↑ Busch, Anita (September 17, 2015). "'Ouija 2' Underway With Elizabeth Reaser Joining Horror Film". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved September 18, 2015.
  7. ↑ Ford, Rebecca (September 18, 2015). "'Ouija 2' Rounds Out Cast With Henry Thomas, Lulu Wilson (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
  8. ↑ Evans, Greg (September 21, 2015). "Consult The Board: 'Ouija 2' Rounds Out Cast". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
  9. ↑ SSN Insider Staff (September 11, 2015). "On the Set for 9/11/15: Matt Damon Starts on Jason Bourne Sequel, Shailene Woodley Wraps Divergent Series: Allegiant". SSN Insider. Archived from the original on September 15, 2015. Retrieved September 12, 2015.
  10. ↑ Heuermann, Sierra (October 23, 2015). "With the amazing director Mike Flanagan! That's a picture wrap on Ouija 2! 💀🎬📽". Instagram. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  11. ↑ Petski, Denise (April 30, 2015). "Newly Retitled 'Ouija' Sequel A Go For October 2016 – Update". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Can Ben Affleck's 'The Accountant' Be An Asset For Weak Fall Box Office? – Preview". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. October 12, 2016. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  13. ↑ "'Jack Reacher: Never Go Back' to battle 'Ouija' sequel and 'Boo! A Madea Halloween' at box office". Los Angeles Times. October 18, 2016. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  14. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (October 23, 2016). "'Madea' To Push Well Past $27M As 'Jack Reacher' Takes $22M to $23M; 'Joneses' Can't Keep Up – Sun. AM Update". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
  15. ↑ "Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  16. ↑ "Ouija: Origin of Evil Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Ouija: Origin of Evil". CinemaScore. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  18. ↑ Rife, Katie (October 20, 2016). "Ouija: Origin Of Evil is much better than it needs to be". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
  19. ↑ Henderson, Odie (October 21, 2016). "Ouija: Origin of Evil". RogerEbert.com. Ebert Digital LLC. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
  20. ↑ Dileo, Adam (October 18, 2016). "Ouija: Origin of Evil Review". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
  21. ↑ Erbland, Kate (October 18, 2016). "'Ouija: Origin of Evil' Review: A Horror Prequel That's Way Scarier Than It Looks". IndieWire. Penske Business Media. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
  22. ↑ Champagne, Jimmy (October 18, 2016). "[Review] 'Ouija: Origin of Evil' is a Heartfelt Prequel that Expertly Outdoes its Predecessor". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
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