A recently released, supernatural thriller prequel to the 2014 film, “Ouija: Origin of Evil” took place in a 1960s Los Angeles suburb and surrounds the Zander family. The mother, Alice Zander, hosts fake séances to make extra cash and enlists her daughters to help her. It is obvious business is going stale and as they’re about to be evicted from their home, they turn to a new act- a Ouija board. Soon they find though it is more than an act and they are not the ones controlling the game, and something is definitely wrong with Doris.

The movie stars Elizabeth Reaser, Annalise Basso, Lulu Wilson, Henry Thomas, Parker Mack and Doug Jones. It’s rated PG-13 for disturbing images, terror and thematic elements. Granted an 80 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it sailed above expectations based off of the previous film in the franchise.

First off, I’m a huge scary movie fan and anything will scare me no matter how bad so I walked in ready to be sobbing in my seat. Only, the movie didn’t really frighten me. There wasn’t the usual, overused jump scare tactic present that a vast majority of horror flicks rely on these days. I praise “Ouija: Origin of Evil” for actually having a consistent, thrilling plot line that was both easy to follow and enticing. Plot twists abound, the real show-stealing points were Lina’s sweet, cringe-worthy and brimming-with-awkward relationship with Mikey and the pain and denial Alice emotes as she fights whether it is her husband coming through from the other side or something more sinister.

Though the low fright factor may not be what certain watchers want, I’d still highly suggest checking out the movie for the sake of it being interesting. It was a $4.01 well spent.

I’d give this movie an 8/10 if not for anything else than Lina being the coolest character and big sister, and Mikey being vintage-handsome.

17mcrees@usd489.com