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Well-timed jolts keep 'Ouija' from being just a bored game

Outside of "Tyler Perry's Boo!," we don't have many Halloween movies on the docket this month, and that puts a premium on the jumps, jolts and shocks effectively finessed in Mike Flanagan's "Ouija: Origin of Evil," based on the Hasbro board game.

It's a superbly photographed sequel that vastly improves upon Stiles White's stilted 2014 teen terror tale "Ouija," yet falls short of the imagination and disorienting horror loaded into Flanagan's 2013 haunted-mirror opus "Oculus" (impressively expanded from Flanagan's film short, which premiered locally at Palatine's Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival).

Flanagan enjoys a bigger budget for "Origin of Evil," and it shows in the authentically detailed re-creation of 1967 California with period artifacts, fashion and cars. (Apparently, the budget didn't cover licensing standard period pop songs, mercifully missing from the soundtrack.)

Self-styled medium and recent widow Alice Zander (Elizabeth Reaser) conducts seances to bring comfort to clients seeking communication or closure with deceased loved ones, and to earn much-needed money after her husband's auto accident death.

She's a scam artist with a heart of gold, assisted by her daughters Lina (Annalise Basso), a rebellious teen with fiery red hair, and Doris (Lulu Wilson), a cute moppet with eyes so luminous, she could be a future Maybelline model.

Things go awry when Mom adds a Ouija board to the act, partly for business, partly because she sincerely hopes she can contact her husband for words of reassurance.

Instead, an oily black demon (Doug Jones) pretends to be Dad and locks on to Doris, possessing her and removing her pupils so that she resembles Little Orphan Annie.

Vulnerable Mom remains oblivious to the danger, forcing Lina to seek help from their local priest, Father Thomas ("E.T." star Henry Thomas), given to uttering crusty chestnuts such as "The spirit world is dangerous!"

Father Tom used to be married before taking his vows, and he clearly has a thing for the widowed Alice, as evidenced during their dinner where she wears a dress that screams "date night!"

Presumably, this relationship could be used against the couple by diabolical forces later, but the suggestive subplot simply disappears.

Meanwhile, "Origin of Evil" jumps from "Ouija" to "The Omen" before sliding full-tilt into "The Exorcist" with Doris channeling the demon (in Brian DePalma-esque deep-focus shots), scampering up walls and walking on ceilings, whispering incantations into Lina's ears and stealing her pupils.

When Doris asks Lina's new boyfriend Mikey (Parker Mack) "Wanna see something neat?," her question mimics Dan Aykroyd's ominous "Do you want to see something scary?" from "Twilight Zone - The Movie." We know whatever it is can't be good.

"Origin of Evil," written by Flanagan and Jeff Howard, contains a wild, increasingly silly explanation for why evil spirits have been observing the Zander family (and why the movie had to be set around 1967).

Yet, the movie never envelops us or the characters in palpable paranoia or edge-of-your-seat suspense. A series of well-timed, PG-13-rated shocks compensates.

Like David Lynch's "Blue Velvet," Flanagan's tale asserts that pure evil exists right under our feet.

And we never know when it will leap out of the darkness and scare us bejeeberless.

Note: The closing credits highlight certain letters in circles, and I thought Flanagan might be spelling out a secret message. I could not make sense of them. If you watch "Origin of Evil," see if you can.

Mom (Elizabeth Reasor) doesn't realize that daughter Doris (Lulu Wilson) is acting strange after being possessed by an evil demon in Mike Flanagan's horror sequel “Ouija: Origin of Evil.”

“Ouija: Origin of Evil”

★ ★ ½

Starring: Elizabeth Reasor, Annalise Basso, Lulu Wilson, Henry Thomas, Parker Mack

Directed by: Mike Flanagan

Other: A Universal Pictures release. Rated PG-13 for violence. 99 minutes

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