20 TERRIBLE Horror Movies That Were Huge Hits

Horror movies based on specific, easily understood concepts tend to be catnip for audiences, but even so, a film based on Hasbro's Ouija board game seemed like a bit of a stretch.

Indeed, Ouija was utterly savaged by critics and general moviegoers alike for its soul-sappingly bland, generic treatment of the familiar "cursed object" horror movie, unaided by forgettable characters, predictable scares, and a sterile PG-13 content rating.

Above all else, what a criminal waste of the great Olivia Cooke it was.

Even so, Ouija nabbed $103.6 million globally on a tiny budget of $8 million, and even opened ahead of a little-known action film called John Wick.

This surely speaks to the broad, international brand recognition of the Ouija board itself, which is probably more ubiquitous in pop culture than most actual horror franchises.

Somewhat ironically, though the Mike Flanagan-directed prequel Ouija: Origin of Evil was vastly superior in every way, it wasn't nearly as commercially successful, barely cracking $80 million on a $12 million budget.