Underplayed Gems

Witchboard (1986)

Witchboard poster
Directed by
Kevin S. Tenney
Genre
horror film, ghost film
Country
United Kingdom, United States
Runtime
1h 34m
Rated
R
Rating
5.7 of 10 from 208 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More films like thisWatch the trailer

or watch the trailer on YouTube

How it feels

A college student becomes fascinated by a Ouija board left at a party. Using it alone, she contacts a violent spirit that begins to terrorize and possess her.

tenseatmosphericcreepydread-filledslow-burnsupernaturalparanormalunsettling

What happens

Witchboard is a 1986 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Kevin Tenney in his directorial debut, and starring Tawny Kitaen, Stephen Nichols, and Todd Allen. The plot centers on college student Linda Brewster who becomes entranced into using her friend's Ouija board alone after it was left behind at her party. She is subsequently terrorized and eventually possessed by the spirit of malevolent serial killer Carlos Malfeitor, who committed a series of axe murders in the 1930s. Tenney wrote the screenplay while a student at the University of Southern California, inspired after attending a party in which a friend brought a Ouija board for partygoers to use. The film focuses on the notion of "progressive entrapment," the process by which a malevolent entity or demon takes control of a human being, a theme that was also touched on in The Exorcist (1973) after Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair) dabbles with a Ouija board. Filming took place in 1985 in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and San Francisco. Cinema Group gave Witchboard a limited theatrical release in the United States on New Year's Eve 1986. Following favorable box-office returns, the release was expanded in the spring of 1987, and the film went on to gross $7.4 million in the United States. Although the critical response to the film was largely unfavorable, it has attracted a cult following since its release, and was subject to significant critical analysis by academic Carol J. Clover in her 1992 non-fiction book, Men, Women, and Chain Saws. Two unrelated sequels, Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway and Witchboard III: The Possession, were released in 1993 and 1995, respectively. A remake directed by Chuck Russell was released in 2024. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.