Movies

After her ex-lover shows off a ouija board at a party, Tawny Kitaen finds it at the apartment and tries it out herself. She thinks she is contacting the same shy spirit, but it soon becomes obvious to the audience that some other, malevolent spirit is speaking with her.I freely admit I am not fond of straight-up horror movies, with their jump-scares and characters who can't see the obvious dangers that beset them. This one, however, has a good story arc, decent actors (Kathleen Wilhoite as a funky spiritualist is very amusing, until she gets killed by the evil spirit). I suppose I could have done without the moving shots that show clearly there's a mild fish-eyed lens in operation, but it's a pretty good genre piece.

This isn't Shakespeare, but as far as Ouija board movies go, it was decent. You get some kills (not gory enough) some boobs, some 80's hair and fashion, and a whole lot of homoerotic tension between the two leads (unintentional). But it adds up to a quick moving, decent little cheesy horror movie. Not amazing, but not the worst thing you can see.

80s horror films are remembered fondly for being fun and over-the-top, but most were fairly unoriginal, gratuitous and campy. Witchboard is special because its not a sequel or a ripoff of anything, isn't made for horny teens or punk rock sadists and it has a genuine interest in the scary subject matter - the occult. Director/writer Kevin S. Tenney would explore demonic possession with more fun and splatter with "Night of the Demons" years later on a bigger budget, but Witchboard is a good preface as its more believable, emotional and mature. I wish it was more exciting at parts but this is an independent horror film with limited means. Anyway its a good contribution to the horror genre for its time and it holds up better than many others.