Witchboard is a 1986 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Kevin S. Tenney in his directorial debut, and starring Tawny Kitaen, Stephen Nichols, and Todd Allen. The plot centers on a student who becomes entranced into using her friend's Ouija board alone after it was accidentally left behind at her party, where she becomes terrorized by an evil spirit.
The film had a limited release on December 31, 1986, and expanded into wide release on March 13, 1987. Although the critical response to the film was largely unfavorable, it has obtained a cult following since its release. Two unrelated sequels, Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway and Witchboard III: The Possession, were released in 1993 and 1995 respectively.
Plot[]
One night at a party, Brandon Sinclair uses his Ouija board with his ex-girlfriend Linda Brewster to contact the spirit of David, whom he communicated with before. Her boyfriend, Jim Morar, insults David, which provokes him to slash the tires of Brandon's car. The next day, Linda uses Brandon's board that was left behind to contact David, who informs her where her lost engagement ring is. At the construction site where Jim works, his friend Lloyd is killed by fallen drywall. When Jim is questioned by Lieutenant Dewhurst at Lloyd's funeral, Linda contacts David about the accident, but he says that he did not cause it.
Linda begins to fall under progressive entrapment, where the spirit terrorizes the user enough to weaken them in order to possess them. Brandon brings over psychic medium Zarabeth Crawford to contact David through a séance, and to exorcise him if necessary. After the spirit leaves, a suspicious Zarabeth returns home to research the occurrence, but her throat is slashed before she is thrown through a window, landing on a sundial. The next morning, Brandon hears about her death and suspects that David killed her.
As Brandon leaves to seek information, Jim witnesses Linda violently thrown against the wall, rendering her unconscious. After she is brought to a hospital, Jim teams with Brandon to conduct research on David. At the lake where he died, they use another board to learn that a different spirit, Carlos Malfeitor, was terrorizing Linda all along. Jim is suddenly knocked out by barrels, and Brandon is killed by Malfeitor with a hatchet. Upon regaining consciousness, Jim grieves over Brandon's body. That night, he reads that Malfeitor was an axe murderer shot by police in his home in 1930—the same residence he and Linda live in.
After Linda releases herself from the hospital, she is attacked by Malfeitor. The next day, Jim finds their home in disarray, before a possessed Linda attacks him. Dewhurst enters to accuse Jim of the murders, but Linda strikes him with a fire poker. Jim takes his revolver, where Linda tells him that he is the "portal", taunting him into committing suicide. He shoots the board before he is pushed through a window and lands on a car. After the events, Jim and Linda resume their lives and marry each other. Their landlady, Mrs. Moses, finds the board and wonders if it still works. The board is thrown into a box, where its planchette moves to the word "yes" by itself.