Ouija: Origins of Evil Review

April 8, 2026·1 hr 10 min·5 clips

Max and Bryce review Ouija: Origins of Evil, a movie chosen by patrons who pick the dumbest films.

1. Horror Movie Talk reviews Ouija: Origins of Evil (2016), a prequel to the original Ouija, directed by Mike Flanagan. 2. Hosts Bryce Hansen and Max Allen conduct the review without a guest; the film was selected by Patreon voters. 3. The episode's core question is whether Mike Flanagan's early-career Ouija prequel is worth watching given his later acclaimed work on Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass. 4. Bryce awards the film a 4/10, calling it 'extremely cookie cutter' and comparing it unfavorably to the Conjuring and Insidious franchises. 5. Max gives it a 5/10, noting it is better than he remembered and crediting Flanagan for attempting to emulate the visual style of 1960s filmmaking. 6. Both hosts agree the film's dark ending was not earned by the relatively generic first two acts. 7. Flanagan is credited with directing the film alongside a co-writer credit, but Bryce notes his version was reportedly 40 minutes longer, suggesting the script was constrained. 8. Elizabeth Reaser as the mother and Henry Thomas as the priest are praised; the child actors are described by Bryce as 'awful actors' with full conviction. 9. The central possession sequence shows a demon entering nine-year-old Doris through her mouth hands-first, which the hosts describe as 'oddly' executed. 10. The hosts debate whether a loving, stable middle-class family could realistically sustain a fraud operation against grieving people, with Bryce arguing the characters needed to be written as more scummy to be believable. 11. Max points out that Kate Siegel — Mike Flanagan's wife and a regular in his productions — appears in a minor role as a customer early in the film, which neither host noticed during their first watches. 12. The film's backstory reveals the house was used by a Nazi doctor to conduct experiments on Polish prisoners whose souls became trapped inside. 13. Three Ouija board rules are established in the film — never do it alone, never do it in a graveyard, always say goodbye — which the hosts note exist primarily to be immediately broken. 14. Despite making less money at the box office than the original Ouija, Origins of Evil became the first Hasbro-branded film to earn a fresh Rotten Tomatoes score, ahead of Battleship and G.I. Joe. 15. A subplot involving Lena's boyfriend being tricked by the possessed Doris into climbing into a hidden room full of bones draws skepticism from both hosts about its plausibility. 16. The episode includes a running YouTube prank where Ouija board search auto-complete questions interrupt the recording. 17. Both hosts note they rewatched the film specifically for the episode and found it slightly better than their initial memories suggested. 18. The tone is relaxed and comedic, with extended tangents on spiritual medium ethics, Fandango's rebrand from Voodoo, and genetic testing revealing family secrets. 19. Fans of Mike Flanagan's broader filmography or supernatural horror completists will find the production history discussion most valuable. 20. Listeners looking for a strong recommendation or a movie above average quality will likely be disappointed by both the film and the review's verdict.

As heard by us

A blunt, funny horror review that turns psychic fraud and family mess into the main draw.

Horror Movie Talk's patron-picked take on Ouija: Origins of Evil stays true to the show's blunt, silly, opinionated style. The hosts spend as much time sparring over mediums, family secrets, and the easy comfort of a scam as they do on the movie itself, and that detour-heavy…

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