Destined to freak out slumber-party attendees for years, "Ouija: Origin of Evil" is an effectively creepy thriller that builds on and surpasses its shoddy 2014 predecessor.
Set in Los Angeles in 1967, this prequel centers on the Zander family, where teenager Lina (Annalise Basso) and her 9-year-old sister, Doris (Lulu Wilson), help their mom, Alice (Elizabeth Reaser), run a small-time fortunetelling scam. When Alice decides to put a Ouija board into the act, it unleashes something sinister in their house that starts using little Doris as a conduit for its evil. Alice and Lina enlist Father Tom (Henry Thomas), the principal of the girls' Catholic school, to rescue Doris and discover the house's unearthly secret.
Director/editor Mike Flanagan ("Oculus") and writing partner Jeff Howard devise a solid horror thriller that mostly avoids fancy computer-animated effects and lets old-school practical effects provide the scares.
Flanagan pays such close attention to period detail, including late-'60s style title cards and now-obsolete "cigarette burn" reel-change indicators, that it feels like a movie made in 1967, which makes the shocks all the more nerve-rattling.
movies@sltrib.com; www.sltrib.com/entertainment
HHH
'Ouija: Origin of Evil'
Opens Friday, Oct. 21, at theaters everywhere; rated PG-13 for disturbing images, terror and thematic elements; 99 minutes.