In 2014 Jason Blum announced the beginning of a new franchise for Blum House and without even releasing the first film in the series, the franchise was born. That movie was OUIJA and the film that was going to set the horror community on fire soon fizzled out amidst its teen market and mild scares. Two years later and Blum House have stuck to their word and despite the generally negative reviews, are steaming full steam ahead with the franchise with a prequel.

 

Occupying the same house as the events that unravelled in the 2014 film, ORIGIN OF EVIL follows a widowed mother and her two children into a world of the occult. Alice (Elizabeth Reaser) struggles to balance her job as a spiritual advisor albeit a non-believer and the growing children around her, it’s not until the release of an ominous board game that her disbelief in the supernatural gets overturned.

 

ORIGIN OF EVIL is as close to perfect as any horror film can be. Mike Flanagan (OCULUS, HUSH, ABSENTIA) has excelled on his previous works deliver a film that not only 180's the franchise but one that proves that a sequel (or prequel in this case) can beat the fortunes of its predecessor. The 60s setting and loose connections to the first film are to the fortune of this film and make the first film look like the not so great follow up but credit where credit is due, the OUIJA series looks set to stay with us for some time.

 

Delivering effective scares with a connected family, the unravelling madness that envelopes the Zander family is terrifying. Interestingly there is room for a further trip down the rabbit hole as the film is in fact NOT the Origin it sets itself to be and in fact is more of a middle ground to the real origin and that of the “sequel” of 2014’s entry. The introduction of the Ouija board is only the introduction of the conduit and not the evil that is housed in the family home. Expect ghosts, scares, emotional drama and torture, all smothered in a tight script and great chemistry between the family unit (Elizabeth Reaser, Annalise Basso, Lulu Wilson), the young lover played by Parker Mack and quirky priest in Henry Thomas.

 

As a prequel, ORIGIN OF EVIL shows the flaws from the original film but as a standalone film, ORIGIN OF EVIL is a horror masterpiece and one that deserves to be seen for any fan of the genre and work of Mike Flanagan.