Two years ago the
ship that was Ouija sank.
The film turned enough of a profit to basically obligate the studio
to make another one, but I seriously doubt that anyone expected
anything of value to come out of this. So, I suppose we all assumed
that they would simply dive down to the wreckage, and loot what
treasure was left, or start fresh with a new story and christen a
totally different ship the Ouija.
Instead,
rising horror star Mike Flanagan apparently decided he was going to
dive down into the wreckage with a bucket, and bail water until the
ship was raised. To our
shock, he succeeded, and we now have a Ouija
movie that is in-continuity with the first, that is actually floating
above the water. We’re so impressed that Flanagan actually pulled
it off, that we don’t really care that it can’t do much except
float barely above the water-line of mediocrity, and the film now
sits with an RT rating of 80% to the original’s 7%.
I
know that seems like an insanely complicated metaphor, but I spent so
much time thinking it up that I had to use it. To get into the more
serious reviewing, this is a movie with a lot of baggage, from both
the original film, and Hasbro.
That said, Flanagan works with what he has.
I’m
also fairly certain there are some retcons here (although I have yet
to subject myself to a second viewing of the first film). While
this is the story of a medium’s daughter being possessed by an evil
spirit as established in the first film, the medium was now a fake
who finds herself beginning to believe. The context in which all of
this happens has been radically changed. I believe the intention is
to treat Lina, the older daughter of the medium who appeared as an
old lady in the original film, as an unreliable narrator, and this as
the “real” story. Although, honestly, it wouldn’t be hard to
pass this version off as another wild tale spun by Lina.
The
movie suffers mainly when it reminds us what it is. Some of the
special effects seem to look bad precisely because they’re aping
the awful effects of the first film. I strongly suspect that the man
who made Oculus could
have done better, if he didn’t have consistency to worry about. It
also bugs me to think that a fake medium, who’s entire profession
is based on showmanship, would buy an off-the-shelf Ouija
board, rather than making her own custom talking board, but at some
level this movie has to be a commercial.
On
the up side, the movie has some fairly interesting ideas. In
particular, it plays around what the idea of what possession really
means, and the line between a real medium and a fake. If that sounds
truly baffling, it’s because I honestly don’t want to spoil some
of the major twists of the film for my readers.
Is
this movie scary? It has it’s moments, but not as many of them as
a movie made entirely by Flanagan likely would have had. I feel like
he did everything he could with the material, but it’s still a
toy-commercial horror movie and prequel to one of the worst movies in
recent years. There’s only so much he could manage.
So,
check it out on DVD. It’ll wait.
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