You may have heard that the prequel nobody asked for, Ouija: Origin of Evil, was released nationwide last weekend. You may have also heard that it’s pretty damn good. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering it was co-written and directed by Mike Flanagan, the mastermind behind such wonderful horror films like Oculus, Absentia and Hush. The man simply gets the horror genre and knows how to set up a good scare (this is one of the reasons I’m particularly excited to see his script of I Know What You Did Last Summer enter production).

Ouija: Origin of Evil opened with $14 million its opening weekend, which is almost $6 million less than what Ouija opened with two years ago. That film went on to gross $50.8 million domestically, and while Origin of Evil will probably end its run with about $36 million, it’s still a decent gross considering its $9 million production budget. Ouija: Origin of Evil isn’t a perfect film, but it is a significant improvement over the original and a step in the right direction for the franchise. What did Flanagan and co-writer Jeff Howard do to make the film work as well as it does? There are many things, but five of them stick out the most.

1. It Has Characters You Actually Care About

Flanagan and Howard’s screenplay wisely opts to focus on the family rather than the scares. Not that there aren’t any scares in the film (more on that in a bit), but Origin of Evil puts the spotlight on its trio of leading ladies. It rarely sacrifices a moment in favor of a cheap jump scare. The characterization of those characters is enhanced by the nuanced (and outstanding) performances given by Elizabeth Reaser, Annalise Basso (Oculus) and Lulu Wilson, but Flanagan and Howard’s screenplay give them great material to play off of. Can you say that about any of the characters in Ouija?

2. It’s Scary

Okay, Ouija: Origin of Evil may not be the scariest movie ever made and the villain’s appearance may be a bit of a knock-off of the lipstick-faced demon in Insidious, but the film still has plenty of delightfully creepy moments. Wilson earns all the credit for the film’s scares though. When her face isn’t being digitally altered to look  like the monster from the short film Lights Out, she does everything she can to instill a sense of mounting dread. Much of this is through Flanagan and Howard’s dialogue. For example, in once scene Wilson’s character Doris describes what it feels like to be strangled in vivid detail. It takes up less than a minute, but it’s truly disturbing. Origin of Evil employs a few jump scares, but they are few and far between more subtle moments layered with a dread-inducing atmosphere.

3. It’s Self-Aware

We all know the phrase “Let’s split up, gang!” Made famous by Scooby-Doo, Where Are You, the phrase has become the name of one of the biggest horror movie tropes to ever exist (the franchise started parodying the trope in the 1980s cartoon A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, but I digress). All too often we see a group of characters decide to split up when staying together would clearly be the safest thing to do. Origin of Evil avoids this trope by having Paulina tell her mother that her decision to split up is an incredibly stupid idea. It’s not like Origin of Evil is the first movie to ever do this (Scream, The Cabin in the Woods and many others have called out the trope), but it’s just one example of how the film is self-aware without bashing you over the head with it. The film is filled with meta moments and homages to other horror films (like the below shot from The Exorcist) that lets you know it’s not trying to rip off other films, but rather show them respect. Origin of Evil is still able to establish its own identity even with all of the homages. 2014’s Ouija merely embraced all of the tropes, making for a wholly generic film.

4. Mike Flanagan*

Much of the praise for Origin of Evil’s quality is being heaped on Mike Flanagan, and for good reason. He could have had the same reaction everyone did when the prequel was announced. But rather begrudgingly take the job and phone it in, he wrote a carefully thought-out script with Jeff Howard and directed the hell out of it. He is a crafty director that has managed to take mediocre material and give it a fresh coat of paint. He is a better director than the film probably warranted, but I sure am glad he took the gig. Whether you like his films or not, you can’t deny that the man clearly has a passion for the films he directs, and that passion is evident in Ouija: Origin of Evil.

*I have been accused in the comments of stroking Flanagan’s ego in my posts. What can I say? I like the guy’s work and he has yet to make a horror film that I don’t like. Sue me.

5. It’s Visually Gorgeous

Origin of Evil is a period film. Set in 1967, the film almost feels like it was made in that time period. Flanagan even used the old Universal logo to open the film and included cue marks to make the digitally-shot film feel like it was shot in 35mm. It’s subtle touches like that that make you appreciate the film even more. Patricio M. Farrel’s vintage sets are simply stunning, as is Michael Fimognari’s cinematography. He captures the look of the late 60s with (as our own Jimmy Champagne noted in his review) a meticulous eye, giving Origin of Evil a timeless feel. The fun doesn’t stop when the movie is over either. The closing credits scroll as if being viewed through the glass circle on the Ouija board’s planchette. A lot of care went into the look of the film and it shows.

Ouija: Origin of Evil is nothing you haven’t seen before. In fact, if there is one complaint to be had about the film it’s that the whole thing is a little too familiar (the fact that it comes to us after Insidious and The Conjuring does it no favors). That being said, it is still much better than it has any right to be, and represents a step in the right direction for the franchise.* If the name Ouija turned you off of the film, I implore you to give it a shot before it leaves theaters. You won’t regret it!