Film of the Week: Ouija: Origin of Evil

The first film in the series, explores a group of teenagers hoping to use the Ouija Board to contact their friend, but end up contacting something much more sinister, a girl who appears to have her mouth sewn shut, who is apparently warning them of their mother, who does attack them. We later discover that the mother was actually protecting the teenagers from the girl who had been possessed by an evil spirit many years prior to this film’s story. That story is what we see unfold during the first film. An ordinary family who is attempting to make a small amount of money on the side by scamming people by pretending to contact their family and friends on the other side. Alice Zander, a widowed mother (played by Elizabeth Reaser) and her two daughters, Lina and Doris (played by Annalise Basso and Lulu Wilson) decided to keep this fresh by adding something new, the Ouija Board. From that moment on, the horror elements kicks in properly and an evil spirit infects the youngest child, Doris.

Unfortunately, both films fell a bit flat when it came to the horror. Both being a PG-13, there’s only so much that can be added to the film before it pushes the rating to an R, which is an equivalent to Britain’s 15 rating. I saw the potential the story had rather than enjoyed it for what it was, allowing me to come to a quick conclusion that the two films should have pushed for a higher rating. Whilst staying comfortably within the realms of PG-13, all we’re left with is clichéd jump scares that you can see coming, subsequently reducing the impact the jump scares deserve. The one true jump scare that I experienced whilst watching the prequel story, didn’t come from a ghost or evil entity, but from a human, when the mother of one of Lina’s friends persuades the group to play the Ouija Board. I can understand the jump scare if the filmmakers’ intentions were to tell the audience that an Ouija Board is nothing to be scared of except from yourself, but then it quickly shifts the atmosphere and all the paranormal activities begin, completely eradicating any intention in that one true jump scare if there were any at all.

When we sit down to watch a horror film, we expect to be scared. Our enjoyment comes from making us feel scared, possibly a little bit vulnerable for the hour and a half to two hours or more, and so it’s understandable if people feel disappointed if the films don’t deliver on the scare factor a horror is meant to have. A PG-13 film is on the edge of the family-friendly category, and so many films nowadays are suffering because they aren’t pushing the boat out. If a film earns an R rating, it may not have the same sized audience as a family-friendly film has, and that will damage the profits considerably, but I do believe that if the two Ouija films decided to go that extra mile and get that R rating, it will have more of an audience than it already has, because people – me included – are saying that it hasn’t quenched our appetite for horror.

I personally enjoy watching horrors that have the R certificate attached. Two films that I highly recommend are It Follows, and the Conjuring. The latter earning its R not because it has gore, violence, and swearing, but because it is incredibly scary, and therefore entertaining because it delivers what I expected. It follows has a bit of gore, a bit of swearing, and a bit of nudity, but its horror comes purely from the tension within the background which creates a unique experience all together. If done well, pushing for a higher rating will attract more customers than a lower one, because there’s a lot more creative freedom, allowing the filmmakers to step it up a notch and do the best they possibly can.

Credit where credit’s due, the prequel story was much better than the first film, and the story was much more engaging than the last, but again I saw so much potential instead of fully enjoyed it for what it was.

When making an R rated horror film, you don’t need the gore, the violence, the nudity, you only need to scare the living daylights out of us, and make us feel as if we’re not the only one in the dark room in the middle of the night. Only include the other elements if and when necessary to add that little bit extra to the story.

The Insidious trilogy is the odd one out within the PG-13 horrors, because they pushed the limits of what can actually be included within that rating. There are some creative jump scares, and the stories across all three films are engaging, but I enjoy the continuity over all three films more. The second flip the first one on its head, and the third is a prequel to the first – that’s another article for another time. In fact, the continuity engulfs the horror. If they had actually pushed the boundaries slightly, both elements would have been on the same level as each other, but upon watching all three films a second time to catch everything, the horror factor was left behind with the continuity way out in front.

We need to see more R rated horror films in the future, otherwise the filmmakers are at risk of losing the audience they need for when they do make the films we want.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)