After the first “Ouija” movie, I didn’t really expect for there to be a second film. That trope-fest received abysmal reviews, but it must have done well at the box office, because we now have “Ouija: Origin of Evil.” I will say that the sequel surpassed the first in quality, but it still feels wholly unnecessary. Remember when Rihanna was in “Battleship” and everyone was like, “why did they make a movie about a board game?” This is like that, except the sequel.

“Origin of Evil” follows a mother, Alice, and her two daughters, Doris and Lina, who operate a fake séance business out of their home. To bolster business, Alice buys a Ouija board and soon discovers that the board can be used to summon real spirits. Alice gets a little too excited about business, and when Doris uses the board alone one day, hijinks ensue. And by hijinks I mean the evil ghost of a holocaust survivor.

Then things get a little complicated. Horror cliches accumulate and puddle. It felt like an entire season of American Horror Story stuffed into 90 minutes: we’ve got your mental hospital, your creepy kids laughing, your priest promising an exorcism, your secret dungeon, your haunted house.

The movie provides a lot of exposition, yet never really explains the evil spirits or the possession in a way that is satisfactory. It kind of seems like the writers knew there was a plot hole, and said “let’s just stick some Nazis in there.”

The writers did make an attempt to build an emotional connection with the audience. However, this connection consisted of nothing except mentioning “my husband’s tragic death” or the fact that “Doris has trouble making friends” every few minutes. I was getting pretty bored during the first half of the movie, and was focusing more on the 60’s style wardrobes and the too-earnest acting than the plot. The movie could have been about 30 minutes shorter and packed the same punch, both emotionally and in terms of scares.

All of this being said, “Ouija” really isn’t that bad for a franchise based on a premise that is essentially nothing. I was surprised by how much I liked it. Over-the-top? Yes. Derivative? Absolutely. But bad? I don’t think so. But still, maybe it’s good to enter with low expectations. Some horror movies stick with me; I think about them for weeks afterward and am afraid to leave my bed at night. “Ouija” is not one of those movies. It’s more of a passing scare. There are some great jump scares, spooky music and creepy effects, but no lasting psychological terror, no nightmares to report. 2 out of 5 stars.

Photo courtesy of Screen Rant.

Although the flick was likely designed to be consumed by members of Generation Z dropped off at the theater by their moms, it is also likely that it was penned by those same 15 year olds. The plot was undoubtedly the film’s biggest downfall, as it was ridden with a “classic” horror movie plotline so tired you would think it had a 7:45 morning class.

The movie opens with a childhood flashback of doe-eyed BFFs playing with an Ouija board and planchette, tools used to supposedly contact the dead. Flash forward ten years, and the two girls are now doe-eyed teenagers meddling in the spirit world yet again. In the trailer, Laine, played by Olivia Cooke—otherwise known as the girl with the oxygen tank in Bates Motel—unexpectedly says goodbye to her best friend, Debbie (Shelley Hennig) when she is found dead in her home. Spoiler alert: a crazy spirit summoned by the board is responsible.

The memorial service for Debbie brings all of the players of the scary movie formula center-stage: Generic Jock Boyfriend (Daren Kagasoff), Brooding Leather Jacket Wearer (Douglas Smith) Overworked Waitress at the Local Diner Just Ready to Escape This Small Town Life (Bianca A. Santos) and Alternative Teenage Rebel Little Sister Who Has Headphones on for, Like the Whole Movie (Ana Coto). This group of friends is set on getting to the bottom of their friend’s suicide, and they will traverse the trope-o-verse to do it. As you waste away in your theater seat, the walking, talking angst masquerading as a group of actors onscreen will: nonsensically turn off all the lights when they are home alone, blame suspiciously-open doors on the wind, attempt to make flossing scary, buy into stereotypes about persons with mental illnesses, rely on a minority grandmother figure to fill major plot holes by offering timely “spiritual guidance” and offer to house sit in the place their friend died two days prior. The most entertaining part of my Ouija experience was the jeering-at-the-screen of my fellow movie-goers for the most annoying characters to “just die already”. In defense of the young cast, they tried their darndest. After all, you can only do so much when a director hands you a script that features lines like, “Nah, I’m going to stay in tonight. I’ve got some leftovers; I’m gonna rock it.”

Photo courtesy of latimes.com