Director Kevin Tenney will probably be best remembered for a certain little splatter-and-sleaze fest known as Night of the Demons, (not to be mixed up with that lovable 'Bigfoot the rapist' flick, Night of the Demon), but thanks to the fine folks at Anchor Bay, we can enjoy his debut feature again, fully restored and remastered.
Ah yes, there is nothing like screwing around with a Ouija board to tick off some evil spirits. When you were a kid, everyone knew some guys brother's friend who had a piano drop on his head through the roof of his house and had his corpse molested by Satan after he played with a Ouija board. It was one of those things you just don't do! Have some respect for the dead! Witchboard follows the consequences of giving the unliving the greasy goose after a party being held by yuppyish feisty redhead Linda (Tawney Kitaen) results in her getting a tad too attached to that unholy piece of cardboard. One of her guests, Brandon, used it to communicate with the spirit of a little dead boy named David, but after accidentally leaving it behind, Linda starts using the board on her own, much to the disgust of her bullish boyfriend Jim. At first, the spirit seems friendly, it helps Linda find a lost ring. But when Jim's friend on the construction site dies suspiciously under some old collapsed scaffold, it isn't long before Brandon puts two and two together to come up with 666, and the evil spirit fights to take control of Linda in an attempt to be reborn and destroy her for good.
You can probably piece together what happens for the most part. Brandon hires a wonky psychic to exorcise the demon, but this only angers up the spirit who launches a full on assault on those trying to expose it. As Linda gets sicker and more unstable, it's up to Jim and Brandon to get to the bottom of who the ghost really is if they want to save Linda's life. Oh yeah, throw in some annoying detective who likes to speak in riddles for no good reason at all! In terms of a low budget film made in the mid 80's, this one still has a lot going for it. The filmmakers made a brave choice to go against the grain and to tone down on needless gore and to up tension and atmosphere. The film is a slow burner, taking it's time to develop the creepy stuff, and allow the story to play out naturally. Tenney gets quite creative in terms of how it is filmed, and actually manages to get some genuine scares and a sense of dread before the OTT ending kicks in. The acting is reasonable for the most part, with only the 'annoying as a pubic hair between the teeth' psychic Zarabeth really grating. It's funny how 80's horror males usually either look like ridiculous nerds or ridiculous homosexuals. Jim and Brandon fall into the latter category. These boys sure knew how to use hair dryers and tanning beds, and at one stage in the motel room, I though they were gonna straight up 69 each other. No joke.
Oh yeah, and the cop who pops up to investigate the deaths and speak in riddles has nothing to really do with the film at all. All he does is add more running time to an already lengthy film, it really could have done with losing 10-15 minutes. There were also one too many 'fake scare' moments, the graveyard scene had about three of them, and they were all with Jim putting his hand on Brandon's shoulder! They didn't even bother putting music or stings on them! Lazy.
Saying all that, Witchboard is still a lot of fun. Even the plodding bits manage to be interesting enough, and the camera work is of a high enough standard to keep your eyes open. With only one or two moments of brief gore, we do get a late-in-the-day shower scene from Tawney, so don't turn it off before that. I'm sure a lot of folks remember this one from it's VHS days and look back with fond memories. I just wish Anchor Bay had kept the original artwork in the UK, the cover we got was horrible.
Ah yes, there is nothing like screwing around with a Ouija board to tick off some evil spirits. When you were a kid, everyone knew some guys brother's friend who had a piano drop on his head through the roof of his house and had his corpse molested by Satan after he played with a Ouija board. It was one of those things you just don't do! Have some respect for the dead! Witchboard follows the consequences of giving the unliving the greasy goose after a party being held by yuppyish feisty redhead Linda (Tawney Kitaen) results in her getting a tad too attached to that unholy piece of cardboard. One of her guests, Brandon, used it to communicate with the spirit of a little dead boy named David, but after accidentally leaving it behind, Linda starts using the board on her own, much to the disgust of her bullish boyfriend Jim. At first, the spirit seems friendly, it helps Linda find a lost ring. But when Jim's friend on the construction site dies suspiciously under some old collapsed scaffold, it isn't long before Brandon puts two and two together to come up with 666, and the evil spirit fights to take control of Linda in an attempt to be reborn and destroy her for good.
You can probably piece together what happens for the most part. Brandon hires a wonky psychic to exorcise the demon, but this only angers up the spirit who launches a full on assault on those trying to expose it. As Linda gets sicker and more unstable, it's up to Jim and Brandon to get to the bottom of who the ghost really is if they want to save Linda's life. Oh yeah, throw in some annoying detective who likes to speak in riddles for no good reason at all! In terms of a low budget film made in the mid 80's, this one still has a lot going for it. The filmmakers made a brave choice to go against the grain and to tone down on needless gore and to up tension and atmosphere. The film is a slow burner, taking it's time to develop the creepy stuff, and allow the story to play out naturally. Tenney gets quite creative in terms of how it is filmed, and actually manages to get some genuine scares and a sense of dread before the OTT ending kicks in. The acting is reasonable for the most part, with only the 'annoying as a pubic hair between the teeth' psychic Zarabeth really grating. It's funny how 80's horror males usually either look like ridiculous nerds or ridiculous homosexuals. Jim and Brandon fall into the latter category. These boys sure knew how to use hair dryers and tanning beds, and at one stage in the motel room, I though they were gonna straight up 69 each other. No joke.
Oh yeah, and the cop who pops up to investigate the deaths and speak in riddles has nothing to really do with the film at all. All he does is add more running time to an already lengthy film, it really could have done with losing 10-15 minutes. There were also one too many 'fake scare' moments, the graveyard scene had about three of them, and they were all with Jim putting his hand on Brandon's shoulder! They didn't even bother putting music or stings on them! Lazy.
Saying all that, Witchboard is still a lot of fun. Even the plodding bits manage to be interesting enough, and the camera work is of a high enough standard to keep your eyes open. With only one or two moments of brief gore, we do get a late-in-the-day shower scene from Tawney, so don't turn it off before that. I'm sure a lot of folks remember this one from it's VHS days and look back with fond memories. I just wish Anchor Bay had kept the original artwork in the UK, the cover we got was horrible.