Witchboard

This article is about the 1986 film. For the remake, see Witchboard (2024 film). For the board, see ouija board. For other uses, see Witch board.
Not to be confused with Witchtrap.
Witchboard
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKevin Tenney
Written byKevin Tenney
Produced byGerald Geoffray
Starring
CinematographyRoy H. Wagner
Edited by
  • Daniel Duncan
  • Stephen J. Waller
Music byDennis Michael Tenney
Production
company
Paragon Arts International[1]
Distributed by
Release date
  • December 31, 1986 (1986-12-31)
Running time
98 minutes
CountryUnited States[1][2]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1.5–2 million[1][3]
Box office$7.4 million[4]

Witchboard is a 1986 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Kevin Tenney in his directorial debut, and starring Tawny Kitaen, Stephen Nichols, and Todd Allen. The plot centers on a college student who becomes entranced into using her friend's Ouija board alone after it was accidentally left behind at her party, resulting in her becoming terrorized by a malevolent spirit.

Tenney wrote the screenplay while a student at the University of Southern California, inspired after attending a party in which a friend brought a Ouija board for partygoers to use. The film focuses on the notion of "progressive entrapment," the process by which a malevolent entity or demon takes control of a human being, a theme that was also touched on in The Exorcist (1973) after a character dabbles with a Ouija board. Filming took place in 1985 in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and San Francisco.

Cinema Group gave Witchboard a limited theatrical release in the United States on December 31, 1986. Following favorable box-office returns, the release was expanded in the spring of 1987, and the film went on to gross $7.4 million. Although the critical response to the film was largely unfavorable, it has obtained a cult following since its release,[5] and was subject to significant critical analysis by academic Carol J. Clover in her 1992 non-fiction book, Men, Women, and Chainsaws. Two unrelated sequels, Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway and Witchboard III: The Possession, were released in 1993 and 1995 respectively.

  1. ^ a b c d "Witchboard". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Archived from the original on June 4, 2019.
  2. ^ "Witchboard". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on January 18, 2022.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference carroll was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Witchboard". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
  5. ^ Campisi 2012, p. 94.