CEBU, Philippines - Inviting audiences again into the lore of the spirit board, this Halloween, “Ouija: Origin of Evil” tells a terrifying new tale as the follow-up to 2014’s sleeper hit.
In 1967 Los Angeles, widowed mother Alice Zander (Elizabeth Reaser of the “Twilight” franchise) adds a new stunt to bolster her séance scam business and unwittingly invites authentic evil into her home. When the merciless spirit overtakes youngest daughter Doris (Lulu Wilson of “Deliver Us from Evil”), this small family confronts unthinkable fears to save her and send her possessor back to the other side.
A year and a half after her husband was killed, financially strapped Alice finds herself raising 15-year-old Paulina and nine-year-old Doris alone. Fortunately for her struggling business, the occult runs in Alice’s blood. Her mother was a fortuneteller and passed down the tricks of the trade, allowing Alice to put on an extravagant sideshow for clients who wish to speak with lost loved ones. The aspiring clairvoyant doesn’t feel she’s a fraud. Instead, she believes she’s peddling closure—the elusive kind she prays to find for herself.
With mounting unpaid bills, Alice purchases a Ouija board to spice up her charade and rivet her customers. But once the game is brought into her home, strange things begin to happen: inexplicable noises, daily nightmares and, most disturbing of all, Doris actually starts communicating with the dead, including her father.
Initially, the revelations seems like a gift. Alice’s business booms and clients find comfort connecting to those who have passed on, until the true history of the house is unearthed. Decades prior, a deranged surgeon performed grotesque experiments on mental patients under the same roof. Now, to make their screams of anguish heard, one of the tortured has taken possession of Doris.
The girls’ school principal, Father Tom (Henry Thomas), shows deep concern for Alice’s family and this leads him to investigate the case. But when the four of them must face a supernatural power (Doug Jones) for which even the priesthood could not prepare Tom, they will see that the spirits who’ve opened the portal have no intention of closing it without a deadly fight.
When developing “Ouija: Origin of Evil,” Blumhouse Productions’ Jason Blum and Platinum Dunes’ Michael Bay, producers Brad Form and Andrew Fuller were excited to work with Hasbro Studios on the opportunity to expand dramatically the cryptic world of the mystical board.
The production team approached visionary filmmaker Mike Flanagan, who created Blumhouse’s 2014’s hit “Oculus” and this year’s hold-your-breath thriller “Hush.” Flanagan felt it would be fascinating to explore the superstitious culture of the late 1960s’ Ouija for this chapter, as well as what secrets laid buried beneath one family’s home – only to be unlocked through the board. The horror maestro and his equally talented writing partner, Jeff Howard, imagined the tale of sisters Doris and Lina Zander, who grow terrified the more they learn about the family home they share with their mother, Alice.
Blum explains that when Alice begins using the Ouija board in her séances, she thinks it’s great for business. “In the beginning, Alice is not discovering anything evil, and it actually seems like it’s a great thing. She thinks that she’s performing this amazing service where—if you have someone in your life who’s gone—you can come use the Ouija board and connect with them. Through Doris you can talk to people who are no longer with us in this world. Initially it seems like it’s not only good for business, but good for people too,” he says.
Fuller shares how the film’s dramatic themes appeal to a broad base of moviegoers, and that it was of utmost importance to all involved to make this a story about a broken family and not just a ghost story. “If you strip away the supernatural elements, you’ll find a family going through something extremely tragic and then extremely frightening,” he says.
So notes Form, a thriller centered on a Ouija board made the perfect vehicle for relatable horror. “The idea that we could wrap a film around this intense desire to contact those on the other side was irresistible, and Ouija boards are so specific to that,” he concludes.
He is best remembered for playing the role of Elliott, the young boy opposite the famous space alien in Steven Spielberg’s beloved blockbuster, “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.” As an adult, two-time Golden Globe-nominee Henry Thomas has developed an extensive list of film and TV credits.
Now, Thomas stars as Father Tom in “Ouija: Origin of Evil.” Father Tom is some sort of a love interest for the character of Alice. “I wanted the trope of a Catholic priest, but I wanted to put an unfamiliar spin on it,” says Flanagan. “Alice and Father Tom have a forbidden attraction that can never be realized because their lives have already taken them on such divergent paths.”
Known worldwide for her work in the “Twilight” series, Reaser plays smart and resourceful single mother Alice Zander. “What really spoke to me about this movie is how it explores grief and that strong desire to see or talk to someone we’ve lost, even just once more,” says Reaser.
Reaser was excited to explore how a once-traditional wife and mother becomes a medium pretending to contact the dead. “When you go to a Catholic school and your mom puts a sign out front of your house that says, ‘Psychic, come on in,’ it’s as embarrassing as it is strange, especially in a conservative community in the 1960s,” says Reaser.
While Alice actively tricks people to make a living, she believes she’s legitimately giving them a sense of comfort she’s lacking. “She’s so blinded by grief that I think this is the only time she’s vulnerable enough to be tricked by these spirits,” says Reaser. “Grief, loss, love, family—anything that’s truly a matter of the heart can eclipse our better judgment, and I for one can relate to that.”