PLOT: While on their hike in the woods, Emily and her friends find a Witchboard and use it which brings in forth dire consequences. They have to make fast decisions and nullify the threats posed which seem to become dangerous.
REVIEW: The horror genre has its highlights: The Blob and A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors are among the best aspects of the blood, the gore, and the funnies to the max. So when I found out that filmmaker Chuck Russell was back nearly 25 years after filming his last project, I was literally excited. Russell was attempting to recreate Witchboard, a film that was made in the late 1980s but was slightly less aggressive and had themes associated with Ouija boards and pop culture. Clearly, with some tweaking, it sounded like an excellent film for 2022. This is why I am disappointed to state that Witchboard 2024 is somewhat of a jumbled puzzle.
If you wanted to see some sort of new twist on the 1986 storyline, then you better wish that this thought was never entertained to begin with as here we are presented with a girl who finds the board and is taken over by it. Well, that actually makes it almost more like the first one doesn’t it, but shoots a bunch of side stories about them wanting to start a restaurant and some dodgy investor funding them. There were moments when I had to verify if this was not some Blumhouse film. From the dull characters to the basic plot, Witchboard is everything you have seen before.
Madison Iseman has been in and out of the particular genre, but she is perfectly cast as the protagonist Emily. Madison has exposed herself to a lot of negative comments from outsiders as she is the one who makes her team join in on it in the first place. I can never quite fathom that sort of persona that has a heroine that doesn’t give a damn about anything. What actually annoys me is the utter disregard of her which has to be seen. Of course, The Witchboard seemed to have protected her but it is rather hard to root for her because she tends to look quite silly. Nor did the appearance of her drug dealer assist much. Yet again, makes it extraordinarily hard to empathize. But Iseman herself is quite persuasive. The main character is Aaron Dominguez and he does rather well. It conveys the necessity to be emotional towards Emily, although I often wonder ‘What the hell does he find appealing in this girl?’ His role seems to be highly naive and uncomplicated.
As i said earlier, Jamie Campbell Bower is the best part of the film, as he absolutely pulls off the role of Alexander Batiste. Bowers’s voice is quite emotional, and as we saw, his performance as Vecna in the Stranger Things series is quite commendable. As always his character is a rough archetype but he delivers so much energy to it. However, he got underused, especially toward the final third of the film. He receives some criticism for being a day or rather one-dimensionally evil but for me that was fine. In the film, Charlie Tahan of Ozark only has a small role but is very relevant which makes him the most human character in the film. He is even the only one when he sees the Witchboard he instantly asks for it to be as far away as it can be. What a naive fella, if only they’d heeded his advice.
Although it was not a concept that was given much consideration, I myself found the concept of directly employing an ouija board, I personally adored the concept of the board having a newer variant. Just as with the original, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was for legal reasons, but it sure looks good. The action of this movie is set in New Orleans which also provides this Witchboard its appropriate witchy atmosphere. The history of witches in the city is very ancient, thus preferring it as the shooting location for the film was only reasonable.
Indeed, the CGI blood sometimes gets overdone, and because it is used so many times, I started getting more and more annoyed with it. There are even simple moments in which they could simply do something in practical, but they opt to do it digitally, which is a bummer. Not everything is CGI, though, as there is indeed more neck cracking and a few other great features. They do combine some elements, but it is good success as well. Wetness was quite an experience in the process. In my opinion, however, the violence that was rendered with the help of CGI amazed me. Is it hard to dip a ko syrup into red? And the killings are very common, there is shock for the sake of shock only. I was expecting something crazy, some Osbourne-like style killings but I went back feeling disappointed.
Witchboard is downright ridiculous, and I am sure it is intended to be enjoyed by others. It’s a film that follows the script more then I expected, but Russell saves the movie with some hilarious deaths which would fit right into Final Destination. But then again, everyone is so stupid that there is no one to sympathize with, except for the main villain who has an engaging persona. I can only imagine how different the experience would be if I were to actively root for the children to lose. However, quite frankly, I believe this movie is one for the shelves, because with the kind of talent on show, this is what they offer, and It’s quite disappointing to say the least.
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