I’m going to cut right to the chase here. The new Witchboard movie left me thoroughly disappointed. I was extremely excited for its home media release because it’s a remake of Kevin Tenney’s 1986 classic. In my opinion, Tenney is overlooked as a master of horror. His top dogs – Night of the Demons & Witchboard – as well as their sequels are absolutely iconic. The fact that he was brought on board the 2025 remake as an executive producer had me hopeful that some of his magic would rub off on the new installment. Despite my admiration for Kevin Tenney, I did not enjoy this film. And I don’t believe many others did as well considering it only grossed $500,000 at the box office against a budget of $15,000,000. Long sigh.
Of course, this is not meant to be as a slight against writer/director Chuck Russell. His new addition to the Witchboard series, which was co-written by Greg McKay, is Hollywood ready. I cannot find a single flaw in the film from a production standpoint. Meaning Mr. Russell knows what to do behind the scenes and is capable of greater things. However, my biggest complaints are with the script and the decisions that were made that seemed… unfinished. I think one of my bigger complaints is that Witchboard ’25 dances between horror and dark fantasy drama without ever deciding what it truly wants to be. In the same breath, Witchboard ’25 would probably have survived better as an “exists in the world created by Kevin Tenney” type of flick instead of going forward as a remake.
Witchboard is produced by Chuck Russell, Greg McKay, Marc Cote, Bernie Gewissler, Jean Francois Roesler and Jade Vu. It features cinematography by Yaron Levy and editing by Alex Marquez, Joe Plenys and Emile Vallee. Lead cast members include Madison Iseman, Aaron Dominguez, Melanie Jarnson, Charlie Tahan, Antonia Desplat, and Jamie Campbell Bower. Again, no fault with the cast and crew at all. I just really didn’t care for the script, and without a good story there’s not enough to invest your time in. Using the word disappointed again because I really went into this film with an open mind. I even dragged my husband into it. And we both struggled to make it to the end of our on demand purchase.
And maybe that’s because Witchboard ’25 was two hours long? And it didn’t have enough “meat” to sink my teeth into. I hated the lead female character. Every time something scary would happen to her, I secretly hoped she’d bite it early so her fiancé could be the star without her in the background. Alas, that didn’t happen. I didn’t like the plot point of changing the setting from California to New Orleans. Which was a huge mistake in terms of atmosphere. New Orleans is inheritably magical and strange and electric, but none of that translated to the new Witchboard movie. What was the point of having a 17th Century French Witch haunt the ouija board instead of, I don’t know, a Creole Goddess or maybe a serial killer like in the 1986 original? Swing and a miss, folks.
The use of a ouija board, finding a lost ring, the male lead’s best friend dying first and a perceived exorcism were the only plot points that were related to the original Witchboard. Really, this felt like something completely different – from the inside out. No soul or creep factor to be found. I really hate bashing movies, but this one missed the mark on every occasion, and it included some of my favorite subgenres of horror. Sad day. Final Score: 4.5 out of 10.
