Witchboard (1986)

07 May 2023

Rating: 2.5/5

Pretty solid setup — at a party, Stephen Nichols introduces Tawny Kitaen to Ouija and the spirit of an 8-year-old boy named Danny. Her husband, Todd Allen, is drunk and irritable, stirring the ire of Danny

Kitaen continues to speak to Danny through the Ouija board, and something is causing havoc in Jim’s life. Kitaen grows edgier as she learns she is pregnant and wonders if Danny may be reborn as the child

The primary issue with this movie is that it barely functions as a horror movie until the third act. There are some neat dream sequences and jump scares up to that point. And even still, the final scenes feel like they’re from a different movie altogether

The movie takes time for character beats, which I kind of like, but they feel odd more than anything 

Kitaen gives a great performance — this movie does not deserve it. It sucks that her reputation is as the girl in the Whitesnake videos because she could’ve done a lot more 

Stephen Nichols is alright. His eyes do 3/4 of the work — and like a true soap star, he’s best in the melodramatic scenes

Overall, not a bad experience, just not one I would go out of my way to recommend 

Stray Thoughts


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