Ouija: Origin of Evil

The Hasbro parlour game franchise takes a step up the scare ladder in this prequel from Oculus/Before I Wake director Mike Flanagan, notable for its genre smartness and nostalgically clever use of its 1960s setting. Elizabeth Reaser is the fortune-teller fraud who invests in a Ouija board to reinvigorate her seance scams. It's not long before her youngest daughter is possessed by a Nazi Holocaust demon and the inevitable battle for her screaming soul begins when Henry (ET the Extra-Terrestrial) Thomas's priest sees through its cherubic disguise. Fine performances across the board keep engagement and tension at a premium until it invariably tumbles into standard Poltergeist territory in an effort to tie up loose ends and connect it back to the original. The vintage feel, complete with old-fashioned titles, period visual style and even fake reel-change marks, makes for a satisfying if bloodless shocker, a vast improvement on the first film.