We’re entering the second week of our Fantasia Festival coverage and if you haven’t been following us on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter), you’re missing out! Not only can you follow what movies we’re seeing, but you can also see additional coverage, including from the red carpet!

Last night, I got to see the world premiere of Witchboard, the latest from writer/director Chuck Russell. If you’re around my age or even a little older, chances are you’ve seen a few of Russell’s movies before. His credits include Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, The Blob (1988), The Mask with Jim Carrey, The Scorpion King with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and Eraser with Arnold Schwarzenegger. That’s one hell of a diverse range of movies and is one of the coolest filmographies I’ve seen for any director. 

This was Russell’s return to the horror genre, but he didn’t come alone! The cast includes Madison Iseman who you may recognize from the Jumaniji movies or Annabelle Comes Home, Jamie Campbell Bower, who is probably best known for playing Grindelwald in the Harry Potter series or his more recent turn as Vecna in Stranger Things, Charlie Tahan, who you may know from Ozark, and Aaron Dominguez, whose biggest credit is a 10 episode stint on Only Murders in the Building. 

According to the director in our red carpet interview, Witchboard is more of a re-imagining than a remake of the original movie from 1986. To keep spoilers light, we will only give you an excerpt from the IMDB synopsis: 

“​​Emily (Madison Iseman) and her fiancé Christian (Aaron Dominguez) discover an ancient Wiccan artifact, a pendulum board, as they prepare to open a bistro in New Orleans’ French Quarter. Emily becomes obsessed with the board’s power of divination and spirit summoning, exposing her to the ancient spirit of the Queen of Witches.”

So, did Witchboard have me spellbound or did it just conjure up disappointment? 

My Thoughts

There is a lot to like about Witchboard, but right off the top I want to stress an important thing this movie does. Witchboard is another great example of a movie with a really specific vision for itself. The movie knows exactly what it wants to be and doesn’t take any detours to try and be more than that. This is one of the most refreshing things about my experience so far at Fantasia. Much of the movies I’ve seen have been free from studio interference, and it REALLY shows. If you’ve watched basically any studio movie you probably know what I’m talking about. Maybe it’s a comedy full of laughs, but suddenly the movie screeches to a halt so we can get a very serious scene to make the main character feel more relatable. Or maybe you’re vibing with a fun slasher movie and someone is running for their life from a killer but somehow finds fifteen minutes to give us some tragic backstory so they feel more complex. None of these kinds of moments occur in Witchboard but that’s not to say it lacks in relatability or complexity for its characters, it just finds a way to weave those aspects into the story. 

Much of the credit for that has to go to Chuck Russell, who hasn’t lost his love for the genre. I asked Russell what it is about horror that brought him back to the genre and he said that, “[Horror] is one of the genres where you can be the most imaginative and the most fearless,” and this imagination and fearlessness is evident in the movie. Witchboard very much feels like a movie made with passion and a genuine desire to make something unique. While it has some more traditional horror elements and jump scares, the movie also has some pretty gory action sequences, some pretty solid restaurant cooking scenes, and even covers some different time periods. It’s hard to describe exactly, but something about how this movie was shot and what happens in it just oozed creative passion and an earnestness that I haven’t felt too often in movies these days. 

Beyond that, though, there were some standout performances here too. I’ll start by talking about the biggest scene-stealer in the movie for me: Jamie Campbell Bower. I absolutely loved his performance in this movie. To be clear, this movie definitely has some camp to it, but it wasn’t always clear to me how much of it was intentional or not. However, I never had any of those doubts with Bower. I’m a sucker for a performance where you can just tell that the actor is having a great time, and there is no question that Bower enjoyed playing the eccentric occult expert Alexander Babtiste. It floors me that people aren’t jumping over each other to cast him in their movies, but I hope that will soon change!

Madison Iseman and Aaron Dominguez were solid as our leads, particularly earlier in the movie, but I also felt like their relationship suffers a bit from the ambiguously campy tone. Certain moments got some laughs in our screening, but the music and performances felt like they wanted me to be taking them a bit more seriously. This wasn’t a significant issue or anything, as these moments are rare. Speaking of laughs, though, the movie is very aware of the comedy that can be found in the horror genre and there are plenty of intentional laughs to be had here. Iseman, in particular, is given a lot to do in this movie and she manages to excel no matter what situation her character is faced with. I also loved Charlie Tahan here. He has an energy about him that makes him incredibly likeable. He was really great in the movie and had a hand in some unforgettable moments! 

I might be a little biased, but I loved the locations used in this movie too. The movie takes place predominantly in New Orleans, but they also filmed here in Montreal for some scenes and they managed to blend the two perfectly. It wasn’t until the Q&A after the screening that I learned that shots I would’ve sworn were done in New Orleans were actually shot here in Montreal. 

Another high point of the movie was it’s special effects. Almost everything was done practically (or at least in camera), except for two noticeable exceptions and a few minor enhancements. There were two particular shots in a bed and a bathtub that stood out as very impressive examples of practical sets and effects. In my opinion, the movie finds just the right balance when it comes to the use of computer effects to enhance practical ones. 

There wasn’t really any one thing that I strongly disliked about the movie, but I do wish that I liked the two lead performances as much as I enjoyed some others in the movie. To be fair, too, I don’t think this was an issue with the actors, but more in the script. Some of the relationship dynamics and conversations between the leads didn’t quite work for me as the movie went on and things felt a little more one note.  

Verdict

Overall, this movie’s magic definitely worked on me! With The Blob, Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, and now Witchboard, it’s clear that Chuck Russell knows how to make a fun horror movie. Thanks to some standout performances, Witchboard sets itself apart by giving us a cast of characters that we actually enjoy spending time with and don’t want to see killed off. 

We live in an era of franchises, many of which don’t need to exist. However, I would be more than willing to return to the world of Witchboard if Russell wants to keep playing with this pendulum board a little bit longer.