The first Ouija movie had a lot of problems, to put it mildly, but 2016 sequel Ouija: Origin of Evil managed to improve on it in every respect. The Ouija board has been a prominent aspect of occult lore for a very long time, and whether or not one believes it can be used to talk to spirits or not, it's not too surprising it might eventually get a horror movie centered on it. The Ouija board has certainly played a supporting part in cinematic horror before, such as in The Exorcist or Paranormal Activity.
There had even been whole horror movies about spirit boards before, but Ouija was the first to be officially based on the namesake "game" by Hasbro, who actually serves as a producer on the film. Maybe the fact that a board game company helped produce the film should've been the first red flag against its creation, and a preview of Ouija being nothing more than a soulless cash grab.
2014's Ouija was, in a phrase, not good. Naturally, this led to much skepticism when a prequel was put into gear a couple years later, but thankfully, the creative team from the first movie was now gone, and steering the ship this time was rapidly rising director Mike Flanagan.
Why Ouija: Origin of Evil Is Better Than The Original
The first Ouija film, directed by Stiles White, earned a 6 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and deserved every bit of that total. Yet, as is sometimes the case, Ouija raked in the bucks from casual moviegoers, earning over $100 million worldwide on a $5 million budget. That's despite horror genre diehards widely considering the film to be a mess. Hopes weren't high for Ouija: Origin of Evil, at least not until Mike Flanagan came aboard, who had already started to make a name for himself with Oculus and Absentia. Flanagan took what had been a cynical, lowest common denominator cash-in movie full of bad acting, lazy writing, and cheap jumps, and transformed it into a genuinely creepy tale of demonic possession.
Ouija: Origin of Evil earned a commendable 82 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and ready endorsements from the horror community, urging those unsure to give the prequel a chance. The ways in which Origin of Evil bests Ouija are countless, with better acting - especially from standout young star Lulu Wilson - better special effects, better scare scenes, lots of legitimately creepy sequences, and doing all that while retaining the original's dreaded PG-13 rating. Best of all, it's not necessary to have seen the first Ouija, as Origin of Evil's only real direct tie back to it comes in a post-credits scene. In fact, it's better not to have seen Ouija, as doing so will ensure one knows how things end for the Zander family in advance. It's not often a horror follow-up bests the original, but Ouija: Origin of Evil is the exception to the rule.