This film is a step up from the original in nearly every way. Of course that is a pretty low bar, and it’s still not really breaking any new ground or doing anything exciting within the genre, but I found it to be a decent, somewhat effective horror movie. It has a 1970s aesthetic present both in the story and with some of the filmmaking choices, and I thought this made it at least a little bit more interesting than the original on a plot and visual level. Like many recent horror films, it does include quite a few jumpscares, but they don’t feel as gratuitous and lazy as they typically do in this sort of film. Likewise, I thought there were even a few moments where it genuinely did a solid job of building tension or showing a creepy visual in an effective way. It’s not terrifying, but it did its job better than I was expecting. What stands out most about this film to me is the story. It uses the setup to explore loss and grief in some ways that I wasn’t expecting. The basic concept of communicating with the dead opens the door to some compelling ideas, here it adds a whole layer of family drama at the core which was able to give it just a bit more substance than what you usually see in this sort of movie. It was held back from being truly compelling due to just how basic some of the characters and backstories are, but it still did deliver just enough heart to keep me somewhat invested. At the very least, this is a more engaging watch than most PG-13 horror films, and especially more than the first Ouija movie. I certainly wouldn’t call it great, but it does its job and provides a decent horror experience.