Witchboard (2025) Review!!

Synopsis – From legendary director Chuck Russell (A Nightmare on Elm Street 3, The Mask), Witchboard resurrects the ’80’s horror classic with a chilling new vision. In present-day New Orleans, a cursed artifact unleashes a vengeful witch, drawing a young couple into a deadly spiral of possession, temptation, and occult terror.

My Take – Considering their continued acceptance in mainstream space, I genuinely believe remaking horror features is a trend that will never go out of practice. Irrespective of the fact whether these remakes/reboots manage to exceed or fail to capture the success of the original material, both critically and commercially.

Joining this ever growing list is the latest feature from filmmaker Chuck Russell, who is still best known for directing A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) and sci-fi horror remake The Blob (1988), who along with co-writer Greg McKay has taken upon himself to re-introduce the world to the Witchboard franchise.

Acting as a very loose remake of the 1986 cult film of the same name, which also got two unrelated sequels in the form of Witchboard 2: The Devil’s Doorway (1993) and Witchboard III: The Possession (1995), director Russell‘s horror remake is mostly a standalone feature, that roughly chronicles the same events as the original and once again centering on the titular ancient artifact, whose users face catastrophic results.

And while the film has got enough atmosphere, sincerity, and style to hold your interest from start to finish, it works as a fairly decent straight-faced supernatural tale that with the exception of an engaging character journey, doesn’t add anything to the genre.

Sure, while the original film is not exactly known for its subtlety, this re-imagining mostly plays with familiar witchcraft tropes and clichés exhaustively in its 112-minute run time. Making it one of those basic horror films you throw on to pass the time or even in the background while you’re busy with another task.

Opening with a gripping prologue set in 1693 France, the story then moves to modern-day New Orleans and follows recovering drug addict Emily (Madison Iseman), who has joined up with her loving fiancé Christian (Aaron Dominguez) and their group of friends to open up an organic café in New Orleans’ iconic French Quarter. But while the group works is mostly busy working to renovate an old carriage house for their new business, things get complicated when Emily stumbles upon an ancient pendulum board.

Though she initially starts to use the board out of curiosity, Emily inadvertently ends up connecting with a vengeful spirit tied to a dark occult past. Unleashing a series of eerie events that put her and her friends in supernatural peril.

And as she digs deeper, Christian turns to Christian’s ex, Brooke (Mel Jarnson), and a mysterious occult expert named Alexander Babtiste (Jamie Campbell Bower), whose own murky motives only complicate things further. As a powerful witch named Naga Soth (Antonia Desplat) begins to blur the line between vengeance and justice, threatening to consume them all.

Indeed, director Russell keeps the pace brisk, the world-building engaging, and the characters worth rooting for. Here, the history of the board itself and its association with a powerful witch takes center stage, 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.

The film thrives particularly when it explores Emily’s struggle with sobriety, which returns to the spotlight throughout the first half of the narrative as she slowly loses her grip on reality. However, in attempt to update the source material with stylized veneer it ends up with clumsy horror tropes. Like replacing the original demon with the spirit of an angry witch isn’t exactly groundbreaking.

Also, with the exception of the climax, Russell and co-screenwriter Greg McKay‘s script banish filmmaker Kevin Tenney’s scrappy ’80s charm, and replace it with derivative scares borrowed from other horror franchises without understanding what made those films effective. There are minor nods to the original film, and the remake incorporates some practical effects. But there are parts where the CGI is noticeable enough to folks who watch a lot of horror, and it doesn’t look great.

Performance wise, Madison 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, who is memorably known for his role in Stranger Things Season 4, is hamming it up in a turn that looks stagy if not amusing.

Aaron Dominguez does fine enough with whatever he is handed, while Charlie Tahan is wasted in a small role. Mel Jarnson is likable, while Antonia Desplat is captivating as the enigmatic witch who may or may not have a point. On the whole, ‘Witchboard‘ is a generic horror remake that is ultimately a decent but flawed re-imagining of the original story.