Witchboard (1986)

A woman (Kitaen) finds an interest in her friend Brandon's Ouija Board when he brings it by her party.

Director:

Kevin Tenney

Writer:

Kevin Tenney

Stars:

Todd Allen, Clare Bristol, Burke Byrnes

Cast

Credited cast:
Todd Allen	...	Jim Morar
Clare Bristol	...	Anchorwoman
Burke Byrnes	...	Lt. Dewhurst
Ryan Carroll	...	Roger
Gloria Hayes	...	Wanda
Tawny Kitaen	...	Linda Brewster
J.P. Luebsen	...	Malfeitor
Rose Marie	...	Mrs. Moses
Stephen Nichols	...	Brandon Sinclair
Susan Nickerson	...	Chris
James W. Quinn	...	Lloyd
Kenny Rhodes	...	Mike
Judy Tatum	...	Dr. Gelineau
Kathleen Wilhoite	...	Zarabeth

Storyline

At a party, a guest brings out a Ouija board, and they attempt to contact a spirit he knows. The spirit does appear, but it becomes apparent to the one who brought the Ouija board that this is an evil spirit that is impersonating his spirit, and despite warnings not to use the board alone, a woman uses it alone, and becomes harassed by the evil spirit, his goal to possess her so he can walk the earth again.

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Plot Keywords:

spirit | ouija | ouija board | evil spirit | construction | 

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Taglines:

This game could be fatal. Don't play it alone.

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 March 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Démoni játék

Filming Locations:

637 S Lucerne Blvd, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$7,369,373 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paragon Arts International

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The house in the film was also used in Waxwork and Willard. This Los Angeles home has since been "retired" as a filming location.

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Goofs

Throughout the movie, the child's spirit is said to be 10 years old. However, the birth/death dates later seen on his tombstone reveal him to have been born in October 1945 and died in August 1955 -- making him a few months shy of age 10.

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Quotes

Zarabeth: TTFN
Brandon Sinclair: What's "TTFN"?
Jim Morar: Ta Ta For Now.

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Connections

Followed by Witchboard III: The Possession (1995)

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Soundtracks

"Bump In The Night"
Performed by Steel Breeze

User Reviews

Not the best horror movie ever but it shouldn't have you feeling board.

Tawny Kitaen stars as Linda Brewster in this very 80s horror movie all about a bit of fun with a ouija board that ends up letting an evil spirit loose and begins a chain of strange deaths.

Written and directed by Kevin Tenney, this may not be up there with his best work (that would be Night Of The Demons, as far as I'm concerned) but it's an enjoyable enough horror film that tries to get a few frights and deaths on screen without piling things up to the point where it all gets far too ridiculous far too early in the proceedings.

Todd Allen plays Jim, Tawny Kitaen's beau and protector, while Stephen Nichols is Brandon Sinclair, a man who used to be Jim's best friend but now can't stop himself from acting like a complete ass when he watches the woman he had such strong feelings for settle for someone he sees as not worthy of her. This love triangle dynamic quickly becomes tiresome but, thankfully, the movie spaces out it's beats almost perfectly and it's not long until Brandon convinces Jim of the dangers of the ouija board and what it's doing to Linda. The two men then team up to try and solve their ghostly problem while Linda is drawn further and further under the spell of the board.

There's not a lot to be said about Witchboard, it's one of many 80s horror movies that had a trailer I remember being much more entertaining than the actual movie but that doesn't mean that the film itself is anything terrible. It tries to be a little bit different and then get some of the standard genre goods in there but it ends up failing a little bit in both respects. The premise is neither as original nor intelligent as Tenney would like it to be and the standard genre goods come up a bit short (though one scene involving someone being thrown onto a sundial remains quite impressive).

But it does have Tawny Kitaen in it. And Kathleen Wilhoite plays an annoyingly "amusing" medium in a role that's mercifully brief but astounding for every moment.

A bit of fun that will either have you searching for a ouija board or destroying any that you may own, Witchboard is very much a product of its time and holds up as something quite decent from a time when every other horror film seemed to be a generic slasher flick.