Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway (1993)

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

This follow-up to WITCHBOARD is pretty much a typical example of a bland horror film sequel, as this film is indistinguishable from numerous others. There isn't really much here that we haven't seen before, be it false scares, neurotic characters, boring dream sequences, and contrived deaths. All in all it's a textbook example of how to make a run of the mill film, which contains enough ingredients to mildly satisfy the audience but not enough to thrill them. The plot of the first film is re-run again (it was hardly original to begin with) with a few things changed; this time the spirit is a murdered girl who has become evil after her death (so much for Casper). Unfortunately, there is little to commend this film to hardened horror addicts: not much gore, no nudity, only some amusing swearing and some dodgy/funny special effects.A good game to play while watching this film would be spot the cliché. Whether it's the flying objects from THE EXORCIST or the spooky scares from POLTERGEIST, you can be sure that, in some way or another, we've been there, done that, before. The acting is generally bad with a generation of young, good looking television actors and actresses taking centre stage, which just shows the trend of picking actors for their looks instead of their abilities these days. And who says that beauty isn't skin deep? Ami Dolenz is not very capable as a heroine and her acting ranges from A to, well, A. Although she wears lots of skimpy clothes (the film excuses this as the Ouija board makes her sexually active, apparently), I didn't find her very attractive either, just another blonde bimbo. Her ex-boyfriend is irritating and macho, a butch guy who needs a good beating (and, thankfully, gets one!). A young heart-throb just stands around mumbling and looking good, so I'm pretty pleased when he dies. Another woman tries to be a hippy and is one of the most embarrassing characters I've ever seen in a horror film. I cheered when she died. The only good characters are a comedy Jewish spiritualist and a lecherous, drunken slob who meets a hilarious death.Why did I hate this film so much? It had potential to go somewhere, but copped out in a lame, indestructible killer ending which has been filmed millions of times previously. I mean, it's so dull that you just don't care what happens to anybody. The reason I give this film any kind of score is because there are some hilarious moments to savour if you can be bothered to sit through it. A guy's car is possessed and makes him speed through town in one scene, while a woman's body is crushed by a huge weight in another. The funniest bit comes when an overweight man is chased by a squad of killer tools, and the scene of him running, pursued by a flying killer circular saw blade (!) is absolute and utterly brilliant comedy, rivalling The Three Stooges and Laurel and Hardy put together. In fact I would say this is worth tuning in for, just for that one scene. Other than that, the few good moments are obviously the ones involving the Ouija board, but there are far too few of them and the novelty value wears off quickly anyway. WITCHBOARD: THE RETURN passes the time...if you have time to waste. And, unsurprisingly enough, it was followed by WITCHBOARD: THE POSSESSION in 1995.

I really wanted to like this. I am a fan of horror/supernatural films that range from the 50's up through the late 80's to early 90's. I have seen a lot of them and they all have their own hang-ups considering they are so aged compared to 2014. The problem with this movie isn't so much the movie itself as the choice for the lead actress. Sure, Amy Dolenz is very beautiful, but that voice and her acting is just pure hell. I wanted to contact a demon on my board just to shut her up. I would rather have Mickey Dolenz as the lead actress than Amy. The movie itself was what you would expect from the era and the genre, decent B quality stuff that keeps you entertained and you can poke fun at it because of the time. Give it a shot if you really must, but watch some other stuff first.

Paige Benedict is a wannabe artist who moves into a large apartment loft and discovers an Ouija board in the closet. After trying it out she starts receiving messages from the other-side by the previous tenant Susan Sidney. Who claims that she was murdered. Paige suddenly gets caught up into finding out what happened to Susan, but along the way people start dying off by strange occurrences.Well I've never seen the original, but there's no relationship between the two films that makes you have to seen them in any particular order. I was expecting something quite secondary, but Kevin Tenney's 'Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway' was a mostly fun and harmless little piece, which was competently directed with some nice inventive flourishes. While, it's not hard to figure out what's eventually going to happen (though the final twist got me) and the pacing can lumber along with long talky spells, but there are definite features that make up for these aspects. Tenney makes the most out of his budget to cook up some strikingly atmospheric camera-work, tautly effective music score, credible special effects and a humdrum script filled with some biting humour. There are some well staged action scenes that have energy and the edgy deaths are mildly inspired. Although they are rather tame. False jump scares are evident, but never fall into the cheap variety. It tries to be creepy in its set-up, but I found it to be too silly to be so. Laughable in patches, but it never gets overly cheesy. Although there are some totally unlikely (if moronic) plot developments in the script that will raise eyebrows. One thing that got on my nerves was the constant use of sounding out every single letter and letting us know what it spells when Ouija board comes into play. Sure I can hack it every now and then, but all the time. No way! At least we had a blond hottie doing it for us. Tenney sure does tease the viewer with the gorgeously dainty Ami Dolenz. Her perky performance is surprisingly good. Those looking for a bit of flesh will be highly disappointed. Laraine Newman is amusing as the flip-out hippie landlady. The beautiful Julie Michaels was fine as Susan. Timothy Gibbs, John Gatins and Christopher Michael as bawdy landlord were okay.It's a decent enough time-waster that has a certain quirkiness and stylish feel to it all.

Witchboard 2This movie has plenty of entertainment stuffed into it's 90 minute running time, but it isn't too scary. Witchboard 2 is about Paige, who moves into an artist loft apartment after leaving her boyfriend. While moving in, she finds a Oujia board inside a closet, and just for fun, begins to play around with it. But you can't play with a Witchboard as Paige soon learns, when she contacts the spirit who claims to be a former tennant of the apartment complex who was murdered. Then, people in the complex begin dying in weird ways, and Paige must uncover the spirit's true identity before it destroys her.The actors here aren't too bad, and Laraine Newman is hilarious as the eccentric landlord. This film has some 'jump' sequences that jolt you, but no real horror to scare you with. The movie also has a good mystery to it. Good for horror fans, and not cheesy at all. Don't expect a super-cheapy movie, it isn't that bad. 8/10.