10 Horror Movies With Terrible Concepts But AMAZING Execution
9. Ouija: Origin of Evil
You know who asked for a prequel to 2014's widely loathed horror flick Ouija? Nobody, because why the hell would they? But Ouija: Origin of Evil had one major ace up its sleeve - hiring the great Mike Flanagan (Doctor Sleep, The Haunting of Hill House) to co-write and direct.
Flanagan is one of the most skilled horror filmmakers working today, and while Origin of Evil is far from his finest work, it does nevertheless demonstrate his enormous versatility, to take a dud of a concept and hammer it into a surprisingly involving genre offering.
Flanagan quite smartly creates enough distance from the 2014 film that this basically feels like a prequel in name only. Couple that with his typically finessed work behind the camera, keen focus on character development over cheap jump scares, and the superb performances he gets out of Elizabeth Reaser and Lulu Wilson, and there's a strong argument to be made that this is the most-improved horror follow-up of all time.