Blumhouse horror movies have been dominating the horror movie genre since the 2010s, thanks to the rise of the many different horror movie franchises that are under their banner. The Ouija movies are simply some of the movies that belong to Blumhouse, as plenty of people were impressed by the quality of horror that these films have. But how many Ouija movies are there, and what is the correct order of watching them?
There are only two Ouija movies. The first one is Ouija, which was released in 2014. The second one is Ouija: Origin of Evil, which was released in 2016. Chronologically, Ouija: Origin of Evil takes place before Ouija because this movie is the prequel that explains the origins of the spirit in the first Ouija.
While the Ouija movies aren’t necessarily the best when it comes to overall quality, they still are great for some good scares. This is why, if you are interested in spending an evening of horror with a few friends or family or even on your lonesome, it could be a good idea to binge through these movies. As such, we’re here to explain the chronological order of the Ouija movies.
How Many Ouija Movies Are There?
The 2010 era was dominated by Blumhouse horror movies, especially after the success that the company had with the $15000-budget Paranormal Activity movie that garnered hundreds of millions at the box office. As such, more and more Blumhouse movies made their way to the theaters. The Ouija movies were some of the films that made the company some money because of how popular they became. But how many Ouija movies are there?
There are only two Ouija movies, namely:
- Ouija (2014)
- Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)
Ouija Movies In Order
Now that you know that there are two Ouija movies, you might be interested in watching them, especially during a lazy night when you’re bored, and you want to give yourself a good scare. Of course, watching a good horror movie can also be a good idea if you want to spend a fun night with friends and family. As such, let’s look at how you should watch the Ouija movies in terms of their chronological order.
Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)
Ouija: Origin of Evil, although released two years after the first Ouija movie, is actually the first movie in terms of the chronological order of watching the Ouija films. The name suggests that it tells the story of the origins of the entire Ouija story, and that’s why you might want to watch this movie first if you want to follow the chronological order of the Ouija movies.
The success of the first Ouija movie, which was just worth around $5 – 8 million but was able to gross more than a hundred million, made Blumhouse decide to produce another Ouija movie that could possibly bring in just as much money as the first one. Origin of Evil was set to fix some of the things that were wrong with the first movie. That’s why Mike Flanagan was brought in as the director of this movie.
At this point, you are probably aware of who Mike Flanagan is because his horror shows on Netflix have become so successful. After he became prominent for his work with Ouija: Origin of Evil, he went on to work on the Haunting series, Midnight Mass, and Gerald’s Game. All of those projects became huge for Netflix. So, if you want to get a good idea of how high-quality Origin of Evil is, it might be a good idea for you to watch those shows.
That said, Flanagan brought his flair to Ouija: Origin of Evil as the first Ouija film was actually quite of a dud in terms of how it performed as far as the critics were concerned. The quality of the first film wasn’t all that good as it reflected its smaller budget. But Origin of Evil corrected the mistakes of the first film while offering high-quality scares that are sure to frighten anyone. And that allowed Ouija: Origin of Evil to become a lot better than the first movie, especially considering that Flanagan was given full creative freedom over it.
The story of Ouija: Origin of Evil focuses on the family that lived in the house that’s the center of the problem of the first Ouija film. This is where we look at the story of Alice Zander and her children, Lina and Doris. Alice is a fake psychic who basically scammed people with her fake readings but what she didn’t know was that Doris had real psychic abilities.
Things became complicated when Alice brought a Ouija board into their act as Doris used it and somehow released an evil spirit that had been living in their house. This led to the entire issue that Origin of Evil focused on the entire film, as the possessed Doris brought chaos and death wherever she went.
After realizing what had happened to her daughter, it was up to Alice to find a way to stop the demon that had possessed her. Lina, her other daughter, even resorted to extreme measures that ultimately led to the events of the first Ouija movie. Then again, it’s better if you watch the movie yourself because we don’t want to spoil the entire film.
Another thing that’s worth knowing is that you might end up getting disappointed by Ouija if you watch Ouija: Origin of Evil first. That’s because Origin of Evil is simply a lot better than the first movie in terms of its overall quality. Nevertheless, for the sake of chronologically following the flow of the story, you might want to watch Origin of Evil first.
Ouija (2014)
While it was released before Ouija: Origin of Evil and is actually the first Ouija film in the franchise, Ouija takes place long after Origin of Evil because it features a story that stems from the events of the second Ouija movie. In that regard, you should watch this movie after Origin of Evil if you care about the chronological events of the films.
For a very long time, the lore surrounding the Ouija board has been stuck in our culture as plenty of people try to contact the dead by using their own Ouija boards. As such, it was a surprise that it took a long time before someone thought of making a movie that’s based on the lore behind the Ouija board. This is why there was a lot of intrigue behind this movie, as people have long been curious about Ouija boards.
Basically, a Ouija board is something that people use to contact the dead. There are letters on the board as the people who are playing the game must have a finger on the conduit. From there, the conduit will spell out what the spirit is trying to say by moving to the letters on the board. This is exactly what happened in the Ouija movie.
In Ouija, Laine was affected by the death of Debbie, one of her closest friends. Debbie hung herself to death, but Laine was not convinced that she was someone who would actually kill herself. That is why she had to find answers by using the Ouija board that Debbie herself used before her untimely suicide. And she played the game with her group of friends.
The goal of Laine and her friends was to contact Debbie so that they could get some answers regarding the circumstances of her suicide. At first, they actually thought that they were communicating with Debbie because the Ouija board spelled out the words “Hi friend.” However, it soon became apparent that this wasn’t Debbie because the words kept following every member of the group wherever they went.
It became clearer that this spirit wasn’t Debbie when one of the members of the group of friends was killed in a manner that seemed to be bizarre. Her mouth was sewn shut while she was brushing her teeth. After that, she was seemingly possessed by the spirit as she banged her head on the bathtub until she died.
Due to the circumstances surrounding the death of their friend, Laine and her group tried to look for an answer regarding the spirit that had been following them around ever since they played the Ouija board game. Their discovery led them to Paulina, who is actually Lina in Ouija: Origin of Evil. And this is where things became interesting because it now connects the events of the two movies as it was revealed that the malevolent spirit following Laine and her friends around was the direct product of the events of Origin of Evil.
In that regard, Laine went on an investigation to try to get to the bottom of the events that were killing her friends one by one so that she could put a stop to it. And her discovery led her to the events that happened in the conclusion of Origin of Evil, which we won’t spoil because you need to watch it first.
As you can see, Origin of Evil is obviously the origin story that led to the events surrounding Ouija. That means that watching Origin of Evil before Ouija will ultimately allow you to understand the twists behind the first Ouija movie so that it will become less confusing.
However, the problem here is that the twists are there for a reason, and that is to give the movie its unpredictable elements. So, it becomes a problem for those who watched Origin of Evil first because they will no longer be surprised by the twists of Ouija. This is why Ouija was released before Origin of Evil.
Another problem is that Ouija is a bad film when compared to Origin of Evil. The quality of this film reflects its low budget, but the scares are good enough to keep you entertained. Still, watching Origin of Evil before Ouija will make you see how huge the gap is between the films in terms of their quality.
But if you are someone who really wants to follow the chronological order of the films, then you should simply watch Ouija after Origin of Evil so that you are already equipped with the knowledge of the backstory behind the Paulina/Lina and her family. Of course, just make sure that you temper your expectations when you watch Ouija after Ouija: Origin of Evil because the difference in quality is simply night and day.