Review: Witchboard
(2024)
By William Pattison
Director Chuck Russell (Nightmare on Elm Street 3, The Blob)
marks his return to the horror genre with WITCHBOARD. Emily and her fiancé Christian discover an ancient
Wiccan artifact, a pendulum board, as they prepare to open a bistro in New
Orleans' French Quarter. Emily becomes obsessed with the board's power of
divination and spirit summoning, exposing her to the ancient spirit of the
Queen of Witches. Desperate to help his fiancé, Christian seeks the advice of occult
expert Alexander Babtiste . But Babtiste has secrets of his own, including his
connection to a modern-day coven of witches. A masked ball, murder and mayhem
ensue... With each swing of the pendulum, a dangerous game is played with
Emily's soul at stake.
This film is more a sequel than a reimagining, even with the
original director producing it. The fact that the main evil is the Witch Queen instead
of Malfador speaks volumes in this direction. Also the use of the pendulum
board over the Ouija board, aka Witchboard. I have to say that this film is a
far better produced film than the original, but I find the simplicity of the original
as well as Kevin Tenney’s style more to my liking. Not over explaining the evil
and not making everything connected made the original more believable to me.
The main characters were Innocents that got dragged into the situation. Yes,
this version had a far better last act, but the ending of the original was pure
low budget 80s gold. I wouldn’t change it. To me the original Witchboard is a
horror classic like Night of the Living Dead. It is their flaws that make them
special and memorable. And, even though Chuck and Kevin more than likely
believe this Witchboard is Witchboard perfected I won’t remember this new film next week. It’s just
another possession movie in a flood of possession movies. I’m not saying I
won’t recommend it. If you are looking
for a fun horror movie, this film will do the job. You’ll be happy with it. It’s just not something I’d add to my horror
collection, just like Witchboard 2. There is only one Witchboard and I really
don’t want another. If I want to watch
another Kevin Tenney film I’ll pull out
Witchtrap, which isn’t a Witchboard
sequel or reimagining…
