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Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)
Partly scary and unnerving but in the end lacks of depth
Surprisingly this sequel is actually better then the first Ouija, and I was excited about Mike Flanagan directing it too after making excellent horror movies like Oculus and Hush.
The movie has a nice beginning, with a story and characters that feels pretty well, together with a good pace. It doesn't feel too slow or too rushed. Flanagan has some interesting and original takes on how to scare and thrill his audience, but I can't help but to feel like the background story and depth of the movie fell flat in the end.
Unlike Oculus, where the background story and nature of the horror elements felt very throughout and tied together, the plot and reason behind Ouija 2 instead felt like an random excuse just so they could make a creepy movie about an Ouija Board. In 5 minutes you get a very compressed story about a evil Nazi doctor who experimented on humans during WW2, and that he continued his horrific and occult torture after fleeing to the US, in the very house they (the main characters) live in. The spirits of the tortured and murdered people then haunts the house and eventually takes their chance to possess the little sister, but the motive is unclear. It's also not obvious if the possession is done by the evil doctor or by the spirits, since you get no information of what happens to him. In some cases it's more interesting not knowing the motive behind the ghost or demon, or that it doesn't have any reason but to torture and hurt humans (like in Oculus). But this movie really needed a story with depth and complexity.
In addition, the scares didn't really do it for me. I do realise that it's highly individual what is considered scary, but things like creepy kids and dragged out mouths have been done a bit too many times. The movie had scenes that did surprise and make me a bit unnerved, I will give it that.
Before I Wake (2016)
More like a dark fantasy movie for young teens with a few elements of horror
This movie didn't really do it for me, at least in terms of horror. It had great potential and some creepy elements, but all in all I found it to be a bit too rushed, linear and the expected plot twist not intriguing enough to save the story.The characters never really developed, and in the end I didn't really care for any of them. The body of the movie was the idea of "dreams that inflict on reality", which is a pretty cool thought in itself, but there are already other movies (Nightmare on Elm street, Insidious for example) that had a far better and scarier interpretation on that idea. I felt like the concept art had a childish style, and a lot of the horror elements in the movie became not as frightening because of that. I do realise that the childish style probably is intentional, but if you want to see a true horror movie with good dramaturgy and manuscript, I wouldn't recommend this one.