quridley 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.

Condom-full-of-Hatred 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.

utahman1971 This movie is great I use the vote that is supposed to be used for correct rating towards movies. I bugs the heck out of me when I go through the reviews, people do not vote right and the movies don't get the credit for what it is, so there is a lower rating on the movie. Come on people that review and just put I give it ** 1/2 out of **** is not correct rating. That does nothing to the rating of the movie. Not using the vote feature of this site just leaves it where it is like you never been on this site at all. Well, back to the movie. I seen this so long ago, and when I was a lot younger. I enjoyed it and got freaked out when watching it. It is one of the best 80's horror flicks. It is a classic. I saw the second one too, but not the third.The second one I thought was just as scary as this one. I recommend if anyone that has not seen this to rent it or maybe it is on DVD now to rent it or buy it. Now, for a hint to IMDb. Please make that vote option a mandatory to vote for the movie, because good movies are getting low ratings because of lack of members not using the vote feature.

thesar-2 I Love the 80s! You gotta love productions like Witchboard, if you like the 1980s. It is the ultimate 80s horror flick: bad hair (including punk multi-colors and mullets), microfiche, bad dialogue, smoking in a hospital (?!?), waterbeds, cheap thrills and open-shirted male shirts with hair flowing from masculine chests to the screen. It's actually a guilty pleasure of mine and hard to downgrade since I grew up on it.My sister was the one that loved this movie when I was young and like a lot of late-1980s flicks (i.e. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master and Dirty Dancing) she got me hooked on this one. Now, watching it again, honestly the first time since the late 1980s, it's such an extreme flashback. I mean dialogue like "TTFN – ta ta for now" or "I got a bad feeling about this" should sum it up. Oh, and the foggy graveyard helps too.We have a bizarre love triangle between former best male friends and a female third who is soon-to-be engaged to one of the males at a party and an Ouija Board. They contact (for fun) a dead 10-year-old David…or did they bring about an evil spirit? Either way, ditzy red-headed Linda (Tawny Kitaen) continues to "play" with the board alone when she's not supposed to! Inadvertently, she concurs up this other "evil" spirit and people start dying left/right. Will the two males fighting for her attention solve the problem before she's fully possessed? It's hilarious. Really. If you watched this for the first time, outside of the 1980s, you might laugh your ass off. But, I'm glad this movie was made; this was an extreme homage to that period. It's kinda scary – not really, but if you believe in this hocus-pocus Ouija stuff. It's gory. And it has the most laugh-out-loud outrageous finale, as if they ran out of ideas and had to close it out. This is for die-hard fans, or just someone out for a good laugh.Side Note: I remember reading a wonderful "Ask Marilyn" (by Marilyn vos Savant) article that stated on how to prove the Ouija is a hoax, and I believe her. You get two people to control the Ouija Board, but blindfolded and have a third party watch them. Since they can't subconsciously control the pointer while in the dark, the results should be hilarious. Honestly, I have yet to try that, but I have met very few that believe in such nonsense. I'd love to prove the insanity this board has produced. At least it produced a fantastically fun 1980s horror movie.