Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway (1993)

User Rating:

4.3/10   

Director:

Kevin Tenney

Writer:

Kevin Tenney (writer)

Release Date:

10 September 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery

Tagline:

This time you won't escape from the Devil's Eyes!

Plot:

A beautiful young woman starts receiving messages through a ouija board, claiming to be from the former occupant of her apartment...

Plot Keywords:

Apartment | Ouija | Ouija Board | Murder | Spirit

Cast

Ami Dolenz	...	Paige
Christopher Michael Moore	...	Jonas
Laraine Newman	...	Elaine
Timothy Gibbs	...	Mitch
John Gatins	...	Russel
Julie Michaels	...	Susan
Sarah Kaite Coughlan	...	Carla
Marvin Kaplan	...	Morris
Jeff Feringa	...	Nurse
Todd Allen	...	Garbageman
Kenny Rhodes	...	Mike

Also Known As:

Witchboard: The Return (UK)

MPAA:

Rated R for horror violence and language.

Runtime:

98 min | UK:94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Australia:M | Finland:K-16 (video premiere) | UK:15 | USA:R

Company:

Blue Rider Pictures

Movie Connections:

Followed by Witchboard III: The Possession (1995)

For a good time with the spirit world, call 1800 - Ouija board.

Paige Benedict is a wannabe artist who moves into a large apartment loft and discovers an Ouija board in the closet. After trying it out she starts receiving messages from the other-side by the previous tenant Susan Sidney. Who claims that she was murdered. Paige suddenly gets caught up into finding out what happened to Susan, but along the way people start dying off by strange occurrences.

Well I've never seen the original, but there's no relationship between the two films that makes you have to seen them in any particular order. I was expecting something quite secondary, but Kevin Tenney's 'Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway' was a mostly fun and harmless little piece, which was competently directed with some nice inventive flourishes. While, it's not hard to figure out what's eventually going to happen (though the final twist got me) and the pacing can lumber along with long talky spells, but there are definite features that make up for these aspects. Tenney makes the most out of his budget to cook up some strikingly atmospheric camera-work, tautly effective music score, credible special effects and a humdrum script filled with some biting humour. There are some well staged action scenes that have energy and the edgy deaths are mildly inspired. Although they are rather tame. False jump scares are evident, but never fall into the cheap variety. It tries to be creepy in its set-up, but I found it to be too silly to be so. Laughable in patches, but it never gets overly cheesy. Although there are some totally unlikely (if moronic) plot developments in the script that will raise eyebrows. One thing that got on my nerves was the constant use of sounding out every single letter and letting us know what it spells when Ouija board comes into play. Sure I can hack it every now and then, but all the time. No way! At least we had a blond hottie doing it for us. Tenney sure does tease the viewer with the gorgeously dainty Ami Dolenz. Her perky performance is surprisingly good. Those looking for a bit of flesh will be highly disappointed. Laraine Newman is amusing as the flip-out hippie landlady. The beautiful Julie Michaels was fine as Susan. Timothy Gibbs, John Gatins and Christopher Michael as bawdy landlord were okay.

It's a decent enough time-waster that has a certain quirkiness and stylish feel to it all.