monition : This post contains spoiler for the movieOuija : Origin of Evil , and the conclusion of the picture is discourse in detail .
For a movie based on a board game , Ouija : Origin of Evilis not play around . While the retro horror prequel use Hasbro’ssleepover stapleas the jumping - off power point for a scary history , in the same way 2014 ’s sleeper hitOuijadid , film director Mike Flanagan ( the guy behindOculusand Netflix ’s excellent home - invasion thrillerHush ) transports the serial to the not - so - swing suburb of Los Angeles in 1967 . Along with cigarette burns when the reels convert , throwback title cards , and other be intimate plastic film - buff mite , Flanagan also recreates another staple of definitive horror movies : the desolate - as - hell ending that guts you right before the credit rating flap .
Though James Wan’sThe Conjuringseries has prove there ’s an audience for full stop revulsion , Flanagan ’s nostalgic ploy is a risky one . As box seat - office analyst have head out , the film slightlyunderperformedover the weekend – grossing only $ 14 million compared to the original film ’s $ 19 million opening – but what ’s more confusing is that despiteexcellent reviewsfor a genre flick , Ouija : Origin of Evilstill received a " C " from audience - polling companyCinemaScore , the same rating as the critically rail 2014 pilot . It ’s possible that the ending , which could be alien to advanced audiences , might have something to do with that . This flick will bum you out .
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But , just because an closing is downbeat does n’t mean it ’s bad : The ending toOuija : Origin of Evilis bleak but also cagy , shivery , and genuinely unsettling .
So, what happens?
Ouija board : Origin of Evilopens by introduce us to Alice Zander ( The Good Wife ' ’s Elizabeth Reaser ) , a female parent who uses her two daughters Lina ( Annalise Basso ) and Doris ( Lulu Wilson ) as part of her domicile psychical occupation , which provides comfort to grieving parents , widows , and other lonely people look for a connection to the afterlife . But when Lina suggests her mother use a Ouija display board in her routine , they rapidly learn that the youthful sib Doris possesses genuine psychic abilities . Unlike her charlatan mother , she ’s got the natural endowment .
As you could pretend , thing spin out of mastery . But even as the tension gets carefully increased , Flanagan keep a stiff hired man as he playfully riffle on diabolic possession , haunt sign of the zodiac , and touch report classics likeThe Exorcist , The Omen , Poltergeist , andThe Changeling . Like any strong cover band , Ouija : Origin of Evilknows how to line from a mountain range of influence that attract to casual horror junkies and dice - hards likewise – right down to the nail - biting stopping point .
What makes the ending so barren ? Well , after a serial publication of dramatic confrontations ( and , yes , very tawdry jump - scares ) with a local non-Christian priest , following Doris ' full conversion intoDamien - esque demon child , Lina at last defeats her possessed young sis . How does she do it , exactly ? By stitch her mouth closed – a recall to the first film – and broadcast those galling demons back to hell . In an ingenious selection that probably save his PG-13 rating , Flanagan restrain his photographic camera focalise on Lina ’s tormented boldness as she threads the needle . The threat of stitching is real .
But that’s not all…
The battue does n’t check there : After killing her sister , Lina becomes possessed by the demon herself , stabbing her female parent while under the influence . As Alice dies , she whispers to Lina , " Everyone ’s waiting . " It ’s a chilling second : Lina , only a teenager , has effectively killed her sis and her mother in a matter of minutes . She ’s now all alone in the world . The knowledge of an afterlife is her only comfort .
From there , we flash - forward to Lina ’s new life in a genial mental hospital , where she seems to have obstruct out most of her memories of what go on in the basement on that dreaded Clarence Shepard Day Jr. . After being pack back to her room , Lina removes a patch of the drywall , pricks her digit , and creates her own Ouija board on the wall from her blood . It ’s a haunting last image , both bathetic and devastating . We watch as she moves a piece of ice with her hand , desperately trying to communicate with her babe in the afterlife where all her house members wait .
Though the movie ends with Doris look on the ceiling of a hall from one last leap scare ( and apost - credits scenethat ties the story to the 2014 original ) , the bloody DIY Ouija board is the icon that hang around . That ’s the real finish to the picture show . It ’s an apt metaphor for what Flanagan did with this film : He cheer the past through his own sweat and ancestry . It ’s not uplifting , but it ’s damn effective .
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