Witchboard

As someone who counts themselves a fan of the big-haired Tawny Kitaen-led 1986 original "Witchboard," I was not particularly enthused by the promotional material for this remake, but I felt a duty to give it a chance, especially given Chuck Russell's horror credentials. I will preface this by saying that I went into this with extremely low expectations. Is this remake high art? Absolutely not. But for sheer entertainment value, I was pleasantly surprised.

The story here takes the bare bones of the original film (with a few visual nods and recreations of scenes from the source material), setting it in present-day New Orleans where a young woman, Emily, crosses paths with a historic "pendulum board." As she and her chef fiancé prepare to open his new restaurant, Emily becomes overtaken by the board which possesses supernatural powers.

While the original film was not exactly known for its subtlety, Russell's reimagining is outwardly garish and plays with a lot of familiar witchcraft tropes and cliches in a manner that may cause some eye-rolling, though the handling of the material was less outrageous in some aspects than I anticipated. The screenplay is far from perfect, though, despite some trite dialogue here and there, I felt the story moved forward at a breezy pace. The history of the board itself and its association with a powerful witch takes center stage here, drawing us back to 17th-century France in a timeline-shifting plot thread that allows for some surprisingly well-orchestrated period set pieces. There is also a unique theme at play revolving around the history of Christian institutions surreptitiously co-opting and dabbling in the very dark arts they purport to condemn, something you rarely see explored in films of this type. These sequences are well-staged and at times reminded me of the period Hammer films of the 1960s and 1970s.

The performances here are decent given the material, with Madison Iseman giving the strongest turn in the film as the troubled Emily. Iseman evokes a natural guilelessness that is appealing, while also managing to strike the appropriate sinister chords as she literally loses possession of herself. Jamie Campbell Bower plays an occultist/New Age pagan with a vested interest in the board, and his performance is stagy if not amusing. Where the film suffers I think is its overzealous use of digital special effects, which give it a rather silly visual flair that recalls the cheapjack direct-to-video supernatural fodder of the 1990s. Whether this throwback element is intentional or not is difficult to say, though I believe the film would have been much better off without it. Still, there does remain a novelty aspect to seeing something of this nature on the big screen in 2025--and to be honest, it is perhaps not more egregious than a good deal of what we see studios like Blumhouse churning out year after year.

An amusing dinner sequence leads into a finale that is staged quite goofily to say the least, and there is a denouement that is equally goofy despite hearkening back to the aforementioned theme of religious institutions' interests in (and ostensible adoption of) the occult. At face value, the entire thing is admittedly ridiculous, but I can say that I was very much entertained by this film. I went into it with the expectation that it would be a chore to sit through, but I did not have that experience. While it is flawed, I think it is ultimately a decent if not campy reimagining of the original story. To think that a B-movie like this could claw its way to theaters today is a bit of a shock--what's more shocking to me, though, is that, despite being a fairly jaded horror fan, I found it an extremely watchable and reasonably entertaining popcorn movie. Check your expectations at the door and you may have the same result. 7/10.

Witchboard is a 2024 film that finally received a limited theatrical release in 2025, and as the title suggests, it dives headfirst into demonic themes, possession, and heavy doses of pagan/Wiccan culture. Going in, I already had an idea of what I was getting into-so the dark subject matter and occult framing weren't surprising-but what did surprise me was just how uneven the execution felt.

At its best, Witchboard is solid. The script is functional, the possession storyline makes sense within the world the film builds, and there are stretches where the tension really lands. The opening act in particular does a good job of setting the tone. Emily's first interactions with the board are creepy, creative, and believable, and the way her descent begins is the film at its strongest. For a while, I thought this could end up being a standout demonic horror entry.

But then the issues start to pile up. The most glaring problem is the film's obsession with flashbacks. While I understand the intent-building character backstory, showing trauma, and fleshing out motivations-the execution is repetitive and clunky. Instead of deepening the tension, the flashbacks feel like interruptions. They stall momentum, making the pacing uneven and dragging down the suspense that should have carried the story forward.

And then there's the CGI. Once the green mist, swirling tunnel visuals, and other effects-heavy sequences kicked in, the movie started to lose credibility. What began as atmospheric and unsettling suddenly shifted into something that looked cartoonish, almost like an early 2000s straight-to-DVD horror. The effects felt fake and cheap, and that kind of visual distraction breaks immersion instantly. For a horror film that's supposed to rely on tension and fear, it's a major misstep.

The cast does what they can with the material, though Emily is clearly the standout. Her performance helps ground the story when the script and effects threaten to derail it. Without her, I'm not sure the film would've had the same impact at all.

Would I watch a sequel? Honestly, yes-I think there's enough potential in the mythology and the pagan/Wiccan angle to justify another attempt, especially if the creative team tightens up the pacing and dials back the cheesy CGI. Did I enjoy Witchboard overall? For the most part, yes. It's fine. It has moments of creativity, and it isn't a total failure. But it's definitely not something I'd rush to rewatch or pay full price to see again.

For fans of demonic and Wiccan-themed films, Witchboard is worth checking out at least once. Just keep your expectations in check: this is a film with good ideas but uneven execution, more middle-of-the-road than memorable.

I haven't seen the original, so this review is solely based on this movie alone and not distracted by any comparisons to the earlier version. After reading the bad reviews, I was completely put off by them, but there were a couple that gave it higher ratings that seemed genuine, so I gave it a go (with very low expectations). I wasn't disappointed.

The minor downsides (there were no major ones) were the special effects and perhaps some of the acting, though nothing was standout bad, and besides, it's a low-budget B-movie, so what do you really expect?

I will add that the third act of the movie kind of went outside of the comfortable ballpark I had gotten accustomed to and embarked on a new direction, like a key change in a song. Here, up to the end, some of the action sequences (one in particular) left me cringing a bit, but as the rest of the movie had been pretty strong, I overlooked them. And for me, it had a reasonably satisfying conclusion (except for one thing, but that would be a spoiler).

Overall, I understand the low ratings from some people, but I watched this from start to finish in one sitting, and I didn't get bored or irritated once. I would happily watch it again with someone who hadn't seen it before.

First of all, I took a risk and watched this movie which has low number of reviews. So, I thought they are fake, just marketing the movie.

I dont know if they are real but I can say that my review is real.

I like the movie, it has several stages, it has characters, backstories, etc. It is not something very easy. I must say that execution of such a production is difficult and you can easily mess it up.

The stuff that I dont like is that this remake needs another remake, because this one has bad cgi effects, also a bit charicarure like villian. I would strongly suggest another future director to make it not a B movie. I suggest the design of the witchboard should be changed to something not looking like a grotesque toy. Some artists can work on that some with vision and talent. Then it can be more scary, also instead of swedish look alike villians, gor for something else.

Also, the ending is a bit weird but I am not gonna spoil it here.

I would call this movie as a hidden gen, I will now watch the original as well.

What happened to Madison Iseman's career, you guys?

Not that I expected brilliance, not at ALL. Frankly, this could've been a lot worse. I just can't help but think, every time that she's on screen in this, that Madison Iseman just might've peaked with Jumani the Next Level. Anyway, this movie is what you used to see on cinemax at 1am.