It's good to be wrong sometimes and this is one of those times, as I was totally expecting this movie to suck just as bad as the first. That's actually far from the truth thanks to the talented Mike Flanagan (Oculus, Hush) taking the helm this time 'round. While the first pic was a clichéd and predictable mess that simply existed to bring in money from the younger demographic, this movie actually had some thought and effort behind it and delivered a solid story with some cool and creepy scenes.

A prequel, the story takes place several decades before the events of the first and we follow the family that lived in the same haunted house that tormented the young leads in the 2014 movie. Trying to make ends meet with their scam séance business, the Mother (Elizabeth Reaser) purchases a Ouija board in hopes of sprucing up the séances for her customers. Meanwhile, the youngest daughter starts using the Ouija board alone and more often to communicate with whom she believes is her deceased Father.

Over time it's revealed that she's been talking to something far sinister and it eventually possesses her, causing a rift in the family. Not realizing her daughter's possessed, the mother begins using her now spiritually tuned daughter to help with the business, while the older sister isn't buying into it and sensing something evil afoot, seeks the council of her local priest, but it may already be too late...



You don't necessarily need to view the previous installment to understand this, though being a prequel it does tie into the first. It proves to be an interesting watch as we witness events unfold that were merely discussed in its predecessor. Also, instead of following other standard possession films, the girl here acts more as a vessel for the spirits than anything, and because she's not possessed in the traditional sense it offers a slightly different dynamic than what we normally see. It was especially fascinating to see the Mother (being brought up in a family of fortunate tellers/mediums) easily buy into the fact that her daughter is simply gifted when she exhibits some otherworldly abilities (until she starts killing people, of course).

Sadly the scares--while somewhat effective--were mostly spoiled in the many trailers and clips that were released for the movie, so unfortunately I saw a lot of them coming. Luckily, a few still managed to be creepy enough given the context of the scene and there were some new ones that worked fairly well. Though, I never once felt an overwhelming sense of dread or unease at any time since the build up to a scare was quite minimal and the scares themselves would occassionally seem random.



Also, where most flicks would have the ghost or demon the most frightening thing in a movie, it's the little girl here that proved most terrifying, especially when she powered up her demonic form, resulting in white eyes and an exceptionally wide mouth. Her look reminded me a lot of the spirit in the Lights Out short more than anything, which I always thought was incredibly creepy, so it worked in the movie's favor.

However, we do get a couple glimpses of another demonic being early on, but fortunately the focus is more on the little girl, because that thing looked pretty generic, though I dug its glowing yellow eyes. The climax also proved a nice treat, despite being obvious given that we already knew what happened to these people. Ultimately it might've been because I was expecting to hate this going in, but I had a lot of fun and it proved to be a huge improvement over the first in every aspect.

Regardless of the spoiled scares and the predictability, Ouija offered an interesting story, likable characters, and some minor differences than the typical possession tale. Added with the good pacing and a super creepy little girl and it was an all around solid genre effort that's light years ahead of its predecessor.