Witchboard (1985)

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  April 23, 2012

  TheDudeLebowski65

  Witchboard is a delightfully creepy Horror film, with moments of tense suspense. Directed by the man who brought us Night of the Demons, Witchboard is a neglected low-budget gem of late 80's Horror. Kevin Tenney is a fine director and he once again proves it with this film. Witch... read moreboard is a great film, if you don't take it seriously. People are quick to judge on this film, without really trying to grasp the concept. The premise of the film is quite interesting, using the Ouija Board as a plot device is an idea not seen since The Exorcist, and instead of conjuring up a Demon, the evil spirit this time around is that of a mass murderer. In way this can branch into slasher film territory just for that aspect of the film, but it still retains a lot of its supernatural elements. Witchboard is a film that is a lot of fun; just don't take it seriously or anything. This is the type of film where you just need to unwind and enjoy something that's different. The pacing of the film is well done, and it permits the director to build up the tension and scares on screen to fairly good results, I know I did. The first entry of the series is a classic of 80's low budget Horror fare. But what really lacks is the terrible third entry that followed. I will always enjoy Tenney's original film, and he is one great talent in the Horror game. Night of The Demons and this film proves it. Witchboard does have a semi decent cast, but you don't care for anyone really because they're not likeable, and in the end you're kind of happy that a few get wacked off. These are not a perfect film, but if you're the type to enjoy cheesy, fun horror films, then give this one a look. Witchboard is a worthy piece of Horror from the second half of the 80's and in the hands of director Kevin Tenney, it's a terrific little gem often dismissed and it shouldn't be.

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  May 15, 2008

  creepfreak

  Witchboard is a good creepy little 80's horror film. The movie was directed by Kevin S. Tenney, the same man who brought you "Night of the Demons". I remember being frightened when I saw this as a little kid, and even though not so much any more, this movie still has the tendency... read more to creep you out. If you've seen Night of the Demons then you should already know, just like Witchboard, Kevin S. Tenney tends set the cheese factor at a very high level. Yes Witchbaord is cheesy, but it's done in such a way that makes the movie a very fun film to watch. Like Night of the Demons, Witchboard has many creepy elements that are thrown into mix. Right in between the corny humor and the dramatic acting lies a very chilling story to be told, which involves an even creepy character that goes by the name of Malfeitor. And don't expect any gore, although this is rated R this movie isn't about that.
  
  "Witchboard centers around Linda Brewster and the evil that befalls her whilst trying to communicate with the dead with a Ouija board. Linda falls under the seductive spell of the Ouija one night at a big party, and while her friend warns her to "never play with it alone", Linda does just that. She comes in contact with a spirit named "David" who claims to be the spirit of a seven year old boy, but in reality it is the spirit of an axe murderer named Malfeitor. Malfeitor starts to use his supernatural force to kill off all of Linda's acquaintances in a series of bizarre accidents. However, by the time that anybody realizes what the hell is going on, Malfeitor has already seized control of Linda's soul."
  
  Don't watch this movie and expect any top notch grade "A" film making. This is a semi low budget horror film that doesn't take it self as serious as you might think. The acting sometimes becomes over dramatic, but that's not to say that the acting is really bad. The acting is actually really good, and given the situations that are thrown into the story, the performances become quite believable. The humor in Witchboard, same as Night of the Demons, is subtle and quite cheesy but it's always very funny. Not "laugh out loud" humor, but still very funny. The good thing too was that the humor, or even the moments of dramatic acting, never really took away from the creep factor and as a matter of fact there are some truly chilling moments. Add to that a very creepy score and a very creepy character, Malfeitor, you got yourself an eerie little gem here. Witchboard is highly recommended! Watch this one alone at night.
  
  

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  July 8, 2007

  YosemiteSamFan

  An effective low-budget 80's horror flick from Canada which exploits our fears of the Ouija board for some great jump-frights. Sexy Linda (Tawny Kitain) messes with a Ouija board and ends up summoning the dangerous and scary spirit of an axe-murderer. Lots of spooky scenes. I lov... read moreed it!

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  March 13, 2008

  threefolddado

  Has it's moments.

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• 
  
  April 15, 2012

  fb137801577

  Though director Kevin S. Tenney has faded into obscurity in recent years, he did start his career in the late 80's with two solid horror efforts. The better known of his films is his second feature, the tongue-in-cheek gorefest "Night of the Demons" but his first film, the more s... read moreubtle "Witchboard", very well might be the best of the two. Considering how celebrated "Night of the Demons" is it does come out as a bold statement but trust me, the solid characterizations makes this come out a hair on top for me.
  
  While at a party, s smarmy arrogant rich snob brings a Ouija board and with the help of the luscious Tawny Kitaen (ex-wife of Whitesnake leading man David Coverdale, and she's best known for appearing scantly clad in his music videos straddling cars and such) they conjure up the spirit of a 10-year old boy. All goes well until Kitaen gets addicted to using the board and the spirit decides to turn evil, causing all sorts of poltergeist and exorcist shenanigans. Can her skeptical boyfriend learn to work with his arch rival, the rich snob, in order to save her from being possessed?
  
  For me, what makes "Witchboard" better than "Night of the Demons" is the characterizations and strong character arcs, which is a rarity of horror films of this nature. Many horror fans might find the first half of the film to be 'boring' as it takes time to develop characters. For this I applaud Kevin Tenney as his script truly got me involved with the characters and actually care about their outcome. The strongest part of his script has to be how our two feuding mails in the love triangle learn to solve their differences in order to save a human life. The twist at the end on who they really contacted while using the witchboard was also a treat. Well done Tenney!
  
  Tenney is also able to craft many scenes of shock, including and not limited to a scene where a guy gets crushed by selveral slabs of dry wall. It might be light on gore (something Tenney would amp up in his next film) but he makes up for it with so clever kills and chaotic climax which mixes supernatural and slasher essentials. To top it off he gives the audiences some great creative camerawork, the most memorable being a scene were our hero gets pushed out a window and a scene where he shoots the Ouija board at the camera with the camera going through the bullet hole!
  
  It may not be as gory or over-the-top as "Night of the Demons", but the subtlety works for "Witchboard"'s advantage making it an effective low budget horror film. Sure the acting can be shaky at times, but for the most part it's good and strong characterizations makes this for a more engrossing horror film experience and definitely one of the better horror films I've seen to emerge from the late 1980's. "Witchboard" is definitely a horror film worth hunting down. Like "Night of the Demons" it did inspire two sequels: "Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway" and "Witchboard: The Possession", which I have yet to see mostly for the fact that the second film is not available DVD.

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  March 17, 2011

  DaGMan4280

  im sorry even for the 80's this was a pathetic attempt of focusing on a ouija board...the actors were terrible i mean one of them looked like Ken was on a search for Barbie...the acting wasnt right, the script was terrible, and the way they went about it was terrible.

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  February 28, 2011

  MorpheusOne

  Wow! ...his movie just hasn't aged well since I first saw it on cable when I was about 13 - 15. When I first saw this movie it was at the time one of the more interesting scary movies that I ever saw. I must've been a retard back then...
  
  The fact that there was so little back-st... read moreory on the Malfeitor character might be the most disappointing thing about this movie. There is a certain possibility that this movie would have been pretty cool if they had set that up & done it right. Then there are the little things that bug me...
  
  
  1. Besides the fact that they couldn't have known where the kid was buried & they could be looking for his grave all night long & then some, a little over an hour into the movie when Brandon is jumping the wall into the cemetery he puts the flashlight down on the top of the wall, picks it up when he's up there & then after jumping down from the wall picks it up again...
  
  
  2. When Jim & Brandon are in the cemetery & Jim scares the shit out of Brandon the look on Brandon's face, just before Jim comes up behind him, is classic moron! The acting for the whole movie is pretty bad but, probably nowhere else in the entire movie is it this bad!
  
  
  3. During the Ouija board scene near the end when Brandon asks David "And you didn't kill Sarabeth?" the correct answer is yes, meaning "Yes, I didn't kill Sarabeth!" But, instead the answer is "No." meaning "No, I did kill Sarabeth!"
  
  
  Was the budget for this movie so puny that they couldn't afford to reshoot that scene or at least edit this minor scene to not make it look stupid?? Was the budget so puny that they couldn't afford to perform a few script readings for the cast?! Ultimately, this movie falls short bc they didn't really try at all to follow the storyline in a manner that makes sense and just went haphazardly blundering through it. If anyone with a minimum number of properly working braincells actually works/ed on such movies then they should know that since they don't have big budgets then they should stay away from the things that you basically need big budgets to have, to take proper advantage of, etc. Independently made, small budget films, by their very nature and description, don't have big budgets so while they can use, for example, some special effects they are better off barely using them at all bc all to often they look like fake shit. This means that smaller budget films, instead of relying on things that they can't, or can hardly, afford, since to rely on things like special effects/computer graphics, the best/nearly the best actors, expensive soundstages, etc., is just going to blow up in their face, ...they need to rely on intelligently written scripts, well written dialogue, better acting, real places for settings, ...things that they can actually afford!
  
  Granted, they didn't try very hard to control the things that they didn't have much control over, except for perhaps the dream sequence where Linda gets her head chopped off by Malfeitor...(It would have looked better if they hadn't of shown her head being chopped off with the axe; if she had woken up just before this happened in the dream that would have made
  more sense!) but, they really didn't try very hard at all to control the things that they did have control over, such as the script, the dialogue, a decent director! In a way, I sort of liked this movie but, it was just made by stupid ppl.
  
  Stephen Nichols, who played Brandon, did go on to a lucrative soap opera career.... so, that explains a certain amount of the stupidity right there.

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• 
  
  July 29, 2007

  citizenzero

  Malfaetor is H... E.... R.... Malfaetor is here? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!
  Movie was supergay.

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  June 19, 2007

  MovieGuruDude72

  This movie's only draw is for anyone wishing to see a pre-Whitesnake Tawny Kitaen in the buff. That's about it.

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• 
  
  May 19, 2007

  sleepykiss

  Yeah, I saw this flick a life-time ago. Tawny Kitaen, she married the lead singer from WHITESNAKE, right?... need I say more?

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• Todd Allen as Jim Morar
• Tawny Kitaen as Linda Brewster
• Stephen Nichols as Brandon Sinclair
• Kathleen Wilhoite as Sarabeth
• Burke Byrnes as Lt. Dewhurst
• Rose Marie as Mrs. Moses
• Gloria Hayes as Wanda
• J.P. Luebsen as Malfeitor
• Susan Nickerson as Chris

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• • Jim Morar: Damn I hate talking to ghosts with plaque on my teeth. (Brandon and Jim start laughing) A little psychic humor.
  • Brandon Sinclair: God why are we laughing?
  • Jim Morar: It helps us forget how scared we are.
• • Jim Morar: (at the cemetery with Brandon) Look nobody's home. The place is locked up.
  • Brandon Sinclair: Oh damn it. I guess we're just gonna have to come back tomorrow.
  • Jim Morar: Yeah, as long as we're here, I'm gonna check out David's grave.
  • Brandon Sinclair: Why?
  • Jim Morar: (turns around) Why not?!
• • Jim Morar: (while driving in the car with Brandon) What's our first move when we get there?
  • Brandon Sinclair: The big bad public library.
  • Jim Morar: Why?
  • Brandon Sinclair: Why not?
  • Jim Morar: (thinking for a moment in silence) Oh well, as long as you got a reason.
• • Brandon Sinclair: (talking to Jim about Sarabeth's death) She suspected something about David. She was gonna check on it. I think David killed her.
  • Jim Morar: Wait a minute, the spirit killer her?
  • Brandon Sinclair: Yes, and I think he cut your phone line too so I couldn't warn Linda about the Ouija. And he probably killed Lloyd. By that time I think he was after you!
  • Jim Morar: Man, are you listening to yourself? You're telling me that there's a ten year old ghost flying around Fairfield killing people.
• • Sarabeth: You ever heard of the word 'Malfeitor' before?
  • Brandon Sinclair: Malfeitor? It's Portuguese; it means 'someone evil'. Why?
  • Sarabeth: (asking about the spirit) Was David Portuguese?
  • Brandon Sinclair: No, I don't think so.
  • Sarabeth: And he was only ten years old?
  • Brandon Sinclair: Yeah.
  • Sarabeth: Whoa, he must've taken some mega vitamin 'cause he was a real toughie.
  • Brandon Sinclair: Something's bothering you, what is it?
  • Sarabeth: (looks frightened) I see danger ahead!
  • Brandon Sinclair: For Linda?
  • Sarabeth: For you, if you miss my house. (Starts laughing hysterically) Ha-ha-ha-ha It's coming up on the right.
  • Brandon Sinclair: (smiles) A little more psychic humor, huh?
• • Sarabeth: (gets scared) I see a vision!
  • Brandon Sinclair: What is it?
  • Sarabeth: Me! In your car, GOING HOME! (Turns around, laughing hysterically) Ha-ha-ha-ha Just some more psychic humor! Ha-ha Come on Brandi, let's hit the musky dusky. TTFN.
  • Jim Morar: (looks at Brandon confused) TTFN?
  • Brandon Sinclair: Uh, Ta-Ta for Now. (About the psychic) Uh, thanks for letting me bring her.
  • Jim Morar: Don't mention it, to anybody!

• What 1987 film had this tag line : Never play it alone ?  Answer »
• Kevin teeney had both directed and got writting credits for the 1986 film Witchboard ?  Answer »
• Who brings an Ouija board to a party in Witchboard ?  Answer »
• Ouija boards have been around since when in Witchboard ?  Answer »

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