31 Days of Horror Redux: Ouija and Ouija: Origin of Evil

Welcome to the 31 Days of Horror Redux, a month-long celebration of genre filmmaking. Last time around, I made the recommendations. This time, I will be watching 31 days of films that are completely new to me. I hope you will join me on this journey of discovery.

Day 1: Ouija, directed by Stiles White, and Ouija: Origin of Evil, directed by Mike Flanagan

Primarily, I was interested in watching the Flanagan film, but it felt wrong to start with the prequel, so I did a little double feature of the Ouija franchise. I’m glad I did. It’s a fascinating study in the ways the director can shape material to fit his personal vision and aesthetic – or the way in which he doesn’t.

Ouija is generally considered a failure, and while I might not be so harsh in my assessment, I also would not go so far as to call it a successful movie. It has elements that could work – such as a game cast, including star Olivia Cooke, and a sufficiently spooky premise – but it fails to deploy them with any style or consideration for the mood of the piece. 

This is a film that begins with a supposed suicide (actually, it was ghosts) then tries in the most perfunctory way to make grief an integral part of its story and themes. But, White, who co-wrote the movie with Juliet Snowden, puts in none of the necessary legwork to build upon the themes he so clearly wishes to explore. It’s like he set up the first and last domino and somehow still expected them to fall into place with nothing in the middle to make it happen.

A movie about communing with the dead after your best friend has just died should be filled with dread. We should be constantly concerned with what the spirit world has in store for Cooke and her friends. The movie has a bunch of scenes that could have space for that kind of creeping dread, but it never spends long enough in those spaces to embrace the terror. Instead, it flits around from moment to moment with little rhyme or reason, racing to an ending that’s mostly unsatisfying.

There are some scares in the movie, and Cooke is solid in the lead role, but it never rises above the level of a late ‘90s, early ‘00s teen slasher also-ran. Those movies, like this one, can be entertaining, but they don’t stick with you.

Now, compare that with its followup prequel (a contradiction in terms, I know), co-written and directed by Flanagan, who also helped punch up the script on the first film. From minute one, Flanagan establishes a style and mood, then builds his film around those ideas, immersing the audience in a world that feels cohesive and lived in.

Flanagan is well liked in the horror community after hitting it big with a set of popular Netflix shows, including The Haunting of Hill House, The Fall of the House of Usher, and Midnight Mass. I have never seen any of them, but by all accounts, they are spooky, atmospheric affairs that reward the viewer’s attention and consideration. In less than 100 minutes, Flanagan accomplishes all of that in Ouija: Origin of Evil.

Where the original is flat and generic, the prequel is dynamic and specific. I don’t love all the choices – specifically, there are some revelations about the ghosts at the end that feel out of place and unnecessary – but Flanagan, at least, is making choices. You can feel an authorial presence, shaping the movie moment to carefully placed moment. In other words, Flanagan sets up all his dominos.

Another fascinating aspect of this double feature is that the movies are in completely different subgenres of horror, despite beginning from essentially the same place, i.e., what if messing around with a Ouija board went terribly wrong? As mentioned, White’s film has the feel of a slasher flick, giving you a group of teens with cookie-cutter personalities (jock, moody guy, final girl, etc.) who will become cannon fodder for the evil presence in their lives. Origin of Evil, on the other hand, is a possession movie and a darn good one, at that.

All in all, this was a fun way to kick off a month of horror, and it may not be the last Flanagan film I watch throughout this process (for instance, I might need to make an appointment with a certain Doctor Sleep). Check back tomorrow for the next entry in our diary of terror.