Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)

Ouija: Origin of Evil is a 2016 American supernatural horror film directed 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, Henry Thomas,Parker Mack, and Doug Jones.

It was released on October 21, 2016 by Universal Studios. It received generally positive reviews from critics while many praised the film as an improvement over its predecessor, marking the first Hasbro film to be well received by critics.

Ratings 

IMDb- 7/10

Rotten tomatoes- 81%

Mr. Man- 4/5

Plot

Working out of her suburban home as a fortune teller, Alice Zander hosts séances that, unbeknownst to her customers, are staged by Alice with the help of her teenage daughter Paulina and eight-year-old daughter Doris. Alice explains to her girls that although their psychic readings are not real, her intent is to help people. Lina suggests that Alice consider incorporating a Ouija board in her readings, which Alice does, rigging it with magnets. While testing her board manipulation technique, Alice unknowingly contacts a spirit named Marcus, which causes Doris to become momentarily possessed as Marcus speaks through her. That night, Doris uses the board alone and contacts a spirit. The next day, Father Tom calls Alice to school when Doris turns in homework written in cursive, despite having not been taught the handwriting style.

Believing she is communicating with her deceased father Roger, Doris again uses the Ouija board alone. The spirit leads her to a secret compartment hidden behind a basement wall where she finds a pouch full of cash. After presenting the money to her mother, Doris explains that she can contact Roger with the Ouija board. Alice, Doris, and Lina have a Ouija session during which the planchette moves on its own. When the board answers a question only Roger would seemingly know the answer to, Alice begins believing that they are in contact with her dead husband. Lina remains unconvinced. Alice begins keeping Doris at home to channel spirits through the board for legitimate psychic readings. During one session, Doris briefly speaks in another person’s voice. Afterward, Doris begins feeling a sharp pain in her neck. That night, Doris sees a shadowy figure when looking through the planchette and is led to a mirror where it again appears and possesses her.

Lina finds papers written in Polish by Doris and brings them to Father Tom for Sister Hannah to translate. Father Tom later comes to the house for a Ouija session with Doris and Alice under the pretense of contacting his dead wife Gloria. After the session, Father Tom pulls Alice and Lina aside to explain that Doris did not contact Gloria, but was somehow able to read his thoughts by repeating the answers he was thinking in his mind while questioning the supposed spirit. Meanwhile, Doris kills Lina's boyfriend, Mikey, in the basement by putting a noose around his neck and hanging him.

Father Tom suggests an exorcism for Doris. When he, Alice, and Lina return downstairs, Mikey’s body drops suddenly from a noose. The three enter the cellar to look for Doris and to burn the Ouija board. In the hidden space behind the wall, Tom discovers a stack of skeletons left behind from an evil doctor’s experiments. Everyone realizes that they have effectively been using the Ouija board in a graveyard all this time, which is against one of the game’s three core rules. They throw the board into the furnace. Following the sounds of an old phonograph and Doris’ cries, Tom crawls through a duct to find a secret room. Tom confronts Doris. Possessed, Doris floats quickly toward Tom. Tom returns to Alice and Lina possessed. After chasing the two women with a blade, Tom momentarily regains clarity and becomes normal again, and shuts himself in the basement. From upside down on the ceiling, Doris screams in Tom’s direction, causing him to fly backward and break his neck on the staircase.

Alice and Lina return to the main room and find the Ouija board mysteriously intact on the table. Both women are supernaturally attacked. Doris whispers into her unconscious sister’s ear following an attack from Mikey’s corpse. Alice pleads with the spirit to release her daughters and take her instead. Alice is attacked and pulled away. A vision of her father moves Lina to her bed. Lina relives an earlier moment when she discovered her defaced doll and realizes that she needs to sew Doris’ mouth shut to quiet the voices and stop the evil. Doris chains up Alice in the secret room. Lina confronts her possessed sister. While sewing Doris mouth closed, dark demons claw at Lina. However, Lina succeeds and the demons vanish. Alice breaks her hand to escape her restraints. While she grieves over Doris’ death, Lina explains through tears that it was the only way to stop the voices. Lina becomes momentarily possessed and stabs her mother. Lina is horrified by her action when she regains clarity. While dying, Alice sees a vision of Roger and Doris together. Lina cries.

Two months later, Lina, now committed to a mental hospital, is interviewed by a doctor trying to determine what happened to Doris’ body. While alone in her room, Lina constructs Ouija board on the floor by writing letters in blood and using an eyeglass lens as a planchette. Lina tries summoning her sister. The doctor walks by in the hallway and briefly sees Lina sitting on her bed with Doris. When he returns for a closer look, Lina is alone. Doris appears on the hallway ceiling behind the doctor, running quickly toward him.