OUIJA:
ORIGIN OF EVIL
While
I never saw the original “Ouija” film to draw my own conclusions,
the consensus was pretty clear that the film was a turgid mess. From
the trailers, I was able to determine that this looked like a
terrible cookie cutter Hollywood horror film, that appeared to lack
creativity and apparently scares. When the reviews started pouring
in, my assumptions appeared to be correct, as it was almost
universally hated, however, it still did well enough at the box
office to garner a sequel; a sequel no one was clamouring for.
This
was something I paid no attention to until it was announced that the
director of the sequel was to be Mike Flanagan. Flanagan is an up
and coming horror director that showed off his directorial muscles
with his low budget indie film “Absentia”. Making a lot out of
very little, it was clear that this guy had talent, which he then
backed up with his haunted mirror film “Oculus”. His next film
to be released was supposed to be “Before I Wake”, which again
from the trailer looked fantastic, however the bankruptcy of
Relativity (the studio who made the film) sadly left that film in
limbo. It was around this time that the news of Flanagan being
attached to the “Ouija” sequel hit, and if I'm honest, my heart
sank when I read it. I found it sad that a talent such as he, had
been sucked into such a lame property; a film no one wanted and
destined to be a failure. All this negativity disappeared as soon as
the first trailer was released. I was floored by it; not only did it
look great, creepy and very atmospheric, but it was suddenly a film I
needed to see. It also seemed to have no relation to the previous
film's story which I gathered could only be a positive.
As
soon as the film came out here in Australia, I went to see it (sadly
though, I was the only person in the screening) and I ended up coming
out of the film very impressed by it. I must say that I have a big
issue with Ouija boards in the first place, as I find that they
always come across looking very silly and never scary, instead the
whole thing feels just ridiculous. Flanagan did an amazing job of
using the Ouija board to create a chilling atmosphere as he tells his
story of possession. My favourite aspect of the film was the look of
it. The fact that the film is set in the 60's just added a whole
different dimension to it all and I thought that the production
detail in both the sets and the costumes were exemplary. Something
that Flanagan is very good at, and continues to get better at with
every film he makes, is his camera movements and compositions, as
well as using different in camera techniques such as the split
diopter, to tell his stories with as much energy as possible. I also
loved the colour pallet used for the film with it bathed in soft
yellows and browns, almost like the film was a moving old sepia toned
photo. Also, although the film was shot digitally, the whole thing
has been disguised as if shot on film, complete with fake “cigarette
burns” at each “reel change”, which was another nice touch.
Something
that I have noticed with all of this films is that Flanagan allows
his stories to breathe. He takes his time introducing his
characters, letting us to get to know them, while adding horror
elements slowly until it all unravels towards the end and we are
sweating, short of breath because we care about these characters and
are terrified for them. This is exactly how he structures “Ouija:
Origin of Evil” and it pays off big time. It takes a long time
before the film's first legitimate scare, but by then we are so used
to and familiar with these characters that the moment actually means
something. From that moment on the suspense just continually builds
and I thought the whole thing worked beautifully.
It
is obvious that Mike Flanagan did not just treat this as a silly
throw away movie; he has treated it with respect and delivered in
every area to create a film that no one thought had any chance of
being good. It is superbly acted, beautifully paced and shot and
amazingly, was actually scary. No, it is not a perfect film, as not
all of the CGI is great and for a film about the spirit of dead
Nazi's, the Nazi angle was kind of wasted and underwritten. I have
also seen people complain that Flanagan is aping James Wan's style
from his “The Conjuring” films, but I do not believe this myself
and if that is the case, he is a smart man to be stealing/learning
from the current king of horror film making in the US. One final
note, that may be a spoiler, is that the film turns out to actually
be a prequel to the first “Ouija” film.
Anyway,
“Ouija: Origin of Evil” turned out to be a wonderful surprise,
but it turns out that it wasn't the best film Mike Flanagan made in
2016.
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