One of the most recognized horror elements is that of the Ouija board game. They have been used in numerous film in various ways, but in 2014 they slapped in front and center for the film aptly titled Ouija. While that film failed to fully impress that didn’t stop them from revisiting it with the prequel type film Ouija: Origin of Evil, but does it offer up something different that the first one was missing or will it all be a scam?

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Ouija: Origin of Evil follows a widowed mother and her 2 daughters add a new stunt to bolster their seance scam business, inviting an evil presence into their home in Los Angeles in 1967. Oculus director Mike Flanagan does a pretty good job here bringing that something new to the table and allowing it to slow burn into something worth seeing. I was surprised with this film as I expected nothing more than a rehashing of the first film, but this time around it worked for me. With the period nature to it and then twist on scamming people it gave the story something new to play with and for a direction for the characters to actual play off of when things start going wrong. They never forced the scares down your throat, but instead went for the classic jump scares that didn’t do much for me, but if you like those or are actually someone who jumps in these films then you will likely enjoy it.

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I loved that they used the young girl for some of the creepy dialogue and a cool mouth gag that is pretty cool to watch. The ending to the film works and I was happy to see it didn’t fully go Hollywood with it although it is still predictable overall. That being said this is far from a perfect flick or bringing all that new to the horror genre, but manages to entertain and worth checking out. It won’t work for everyone, but give it a shot and decide for yourself.