Witchboard, 2025.
Directed by Chuck Russell.
Starring Madison Iseman, Aaron Dominguez, Melanie Jarnson, Charlie Tahan, Antonia Desplat, Jamie Campbell Bower, David La Haye, Victoria Lenhardt, Jamal Azémar, Riley Russell, Kade Vu, Renee Herbert, Elisha Herbert, Chiara Fossati, Francesco Filice, Simon Anthony, Kent McQuaid, Shawn Baichoo, Laura Paolillo, Dakota Jamal Wellman, Noah Parker, Alex Gravenstein, Marc-André Boulanger, and Kerrin Cochrane.
SYNOPSIS:
A cursed Witchboard awakens dark forces, dragging a young couple into a deadly game of possession and deception.
Before there were Ouija boards, there were pendulum boards, and before your Mike Flanagans and your Zach Creggers, there was Chuck Russell, here making satisfactorily returning to horror with the playful Witchboard (as is his style, such as in The Mask or A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors). One’s initial thought process might be pessimistic doubt (he has been making some awful low-budget action movies with John Travolta lately), and that this will be little more than a generic slasher, caused by a different kind of board you would think people would know not to mess around with. Admittedly, this film is that, but with a spin weaving in a 1600s past that is relevant to the modern-day central focus, alongside a diabolical revenge scheme and possession sequences more interested in having fun with its ideas rather than relying on self-serious trauma and tired jump scares.
Following a group of close young adult friends on the verge of opening a restaurant together, Emily (Madison Iseman) comes across the titular board in the forest. She can’t help but bring it back home since it’s a nifty antique. Also a recovered drug addict, but still with an addictive personality, Emily rapidly becomes drawn to learning how it works from her boyfriend Christian’s (Aaron Dominguez) supernaturally curious ex-girlfriend Brooke (Melanie Jarnson). When it helps her find a lost ring gifted to her by that boyfriend, her fascination has fully taken hold, but not without consequences; find an object, lose the life of a friend. The more Emily fiddles with the board (with Christian especially repeatedly suggesting to ease up on it), the more it alters her personality in unexpected ways that, again, are mined more for entertainment than anything.
Not only do we know the origins of this board from a lengthy opening prologue involving the accusation of witchery, burning medicinal expert Naga Soth (Antonia Desplat) alive while surrounded by an angry mob, the film (co-written by Chuck Russell and Greg McKay, based on a screenplay by Kevin Tenney) takes advantage of a couple of nightmare sequences to both get creative visually while also placing Emily back in time, as more about what led to that event unfolds. Meanwhile, a wealthy, pretentious aficionado of witchcraft, Alexander Babtiste (Jamie Campbell Bower), learns that his henchmen botched stealing the pendulum board from a nearby New Orleans museum (which is how it ended up in the forest in the first place), and will stop at nothing to obtain it for ritualistic reasons.
Wisely, Witchboard has enough self-awareness that no one will or should care about these dumb cardboard characters (there is relief when it becomes clear that ex-significant others aren’t building to out-of-place relationship bickering). It remains fixated on its wacky plot while giving just enough room for an understanding of who they are and to tell an actual story amid the ensuing chaos. That still might be more than this movie needs, but hardly cripples it.
Likewise, the kills also come with a sadistically fun tone, at one point with the board unexpectedly cursing someone who entirely deserves it. Messing around with the board and the past has also brought a cat into the equation, also getting in on the action. The film’s second half not only dips its toes into more witchery but also another sub-genre entirely worth applauding for its amusement, mild ambition, and seamless transition. There is a slight let-down in that it does feel as if more could have been done with the past timeline, but mild ambition in a low-budget horror movie is nonetheless worthwhile.
At nearly 2 hours, some of this could have been trimmed down, and the flashback story is less fleshed out and rewarding than the modern-day element (somewhat frustrating since they are dependent on one another). Still, Witchboard has a firm grasp on blending humor into supernatural horror and action to ensure it’s rarely boring, if also never scary. Terror isn’t the point, though; Chuck Russell is out to maniacally put his characters through inspired hellish paces, swinging between tones like an object on a pendulum board.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
