Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway Blu-ray Movie Review

Wordplay, the Satanic edition.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 14, 2013

Ami Dolenz might want to brush up on her history just a bit. In the “making of” featurette included as one of the supplementary features on this new Blu-ray of Witchboard 2, Dolenz puts on her figurative scholar’s hat and informs the audience that the Ouija board goes back to “B.C. times, before any real religions”. While that may tend to ignore little sects like, you know, Jews and Buddhists and many, many others, her basic tenet is at least relatively accurate—so-called “talking boards” or “spirit boards” are indeed a very old phenomenon in one form or another, though the actual Ouija board evidently dates from the late 19th century and didn’t become extremely well known until the World War I era. Ouija boards tend to split the general populace into two fairly divergent camps. Some people are incredibly freaked out by this ostensible “game”, believing quite devoutly that somehow it opens a portal to the afterlife, and for the more fundamentalist sorts in this particular group, perhaps a door to demonic possession. Other more secular types (or at least scientifically minded) tend to see the Ouija board as a completely harmless parlor game that perhaps borders on the ridiculous, or at least the atavistic fringes of the superstitious human mind. Witchboard (apparently due in early 2014 on Blu-ray from Shout! Factory’s Scream Factory imprint) was released in 1986, detailing the supposedly horrific tribulations of a young couple who get involved with an evil spirit who is using a Ouija board to contact the female. (There’s a kind of interesting lack of logic to a basic premise of Witchboard and indeed its follow-up—the spirits in both of these films do not seem bound by any relationship with the actual Ouija board, as they cavort around fairly freely, wreaking havoc right and left with people who are nowhere near the board at any given time. This begs the question as to why the board is needed at all.) Though Witchboard was an obviously low budget affair, it did reasonably well at the box office, and one would have thought that a quick knock off sequel would have been released quite quickly after the first film. Instead writer-director Kevin Tenney went on to several other projects (including Night of the Demons , also evidently due soon from Scream Factory) before finally returning to the ostensible Witchboard franchise in 1993 with Witchboard 2, a film which also has sometimes included the soubriquet The Devil’s Doorway, just in case anyone was wondering what the film’s approach to the subject matter would be.

Much as with the first Witchboard, Witchboard 2 concentrates on a beautiful young woman, in this case lovely young accountant Paige (Ami Dolenz). Paige checks out a neat loft apartment which is shown to her by a leering handyman named Jonas (Christopher Michael Moore). Paige takes the place and soon meets Jonas’ partner, landlady Elaine (Laraine Newman), a former hippie who seems to be lost in a permanent flashback. While moving in, Paige is almost accosted by a Ouija board that has been left on the closet shelf, and after arranging her belongings, Paige settles down and begins playing with the “game”, shocked to discover she can make contact with a spirit named Susan.

Tenney gives us two human nemeses surrounding Paige, Mitch (Timothy Gibbs), her over aggressive ex-boyfriend who also happens to be a cop, and Russell (John Gatins), another resident in the apartment house who develops an interest in his new neighbor. While Paige (and ultimately Russell and Elaine) make repeated contact with Susan, there are a number of increasing mysteries, and, not merely by coincidence, murders or at least attempted murders. Susan communicates to Paige through the Ouija board that she herself was the victim of murder and was in fact the previous tenant of Paige’s apartment, though neither Elaine nor Russell, who knew Susan, seem to think that could be the case, and cop Mitch can’t really track down any salient information, either.

Meanwhile, a number of poltergeist activity leads to one spectacular death, recurrent nightmares for Paige where she increasingly sees Susan’s last moments, and in short order a daytime transformation where Paige seems to be possessed by Susan’s spirit and personality. Tenney’s writing is not exactly a model of subtlety and nuance, and even those without much experience with horror thrillers like this will probably be able to spot a few red herrings and who the real bad guy is going to turn out to be, but on a directorial front, Witchboard 2 has a number of rather well done elements.

The first sequence that shows Tenney’s flair is a great segment utilizing practical effects where a bunch of tools, including a “disembodied” circular saw blade, take off in pursuit of a character, ultimately leading to the first death in the film. The dream sequences have some nice quasi-hallucinogenic moments, including the famous “poster art” moment when a hand reaches out of the Ouija board and grabs Paige (see screenshot 19). But without a doubt the coolest effect takes place during a fantastic sequence where Mitch’s car careens through Los Angeles neighborhoods without any brakes, and Tenney’s camera actually travels straight through the car (and this was not done with CGI). Later, there’s another great reverse tracking shot that caps the film with a well done trip from inside an apartment out through a window and back through a glistening cityscape.

Witchboard 2 is frankly no great shakes, but it’s weirdly enjoyable on its own small scale terms. Dolenz of course is incredibly beautiful (she looks rather like Sarah Michelle Gellar in much of this film), and does well in a pretty hapless role. The supporting cast is colorful, if awfully hammy at times, and Tenney, as discussed above, stages things remarkably well almost all of the time. Structurally, the film has a few problems, including a too quick possession for Paige and a silly (if expectedly) hyperbolic denouement, and Tenney's decision to have the board's "dialogue" spelled out by the various actors actually becomes comical after a while. But Witchboard 2 has probably just enough of a spook factor to further convince those who look awry at Ouija boards to continue avoiding them.

Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Witchboard 2 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The elements used for this transfer are in amazingly good shape, with only pretty negligible damage to report. Colors are rather vivid and well saturated and if they've faded, they have done so only very slightly. Fine detail is quite excellent in close-ups, revealing things like the cotton knitting of Newman's headband and in a couple of scenes the actual face powder makeup on Gibbs. The film still has a fairly soft overall appearance, however, though this presentation offers a nicely filmic appearance with no signs of digital manipulation, as is Olive's stock in trade. Contrast is generally quite strong, delivering both the sun dappled exterior shots as well as some the cloistered confines of Jonas' workroom or Russell's photo studio very well.

Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Witchboard 2's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix which features nice fidelity and some excellent dynamic range in a couple of the film's big set pieces. Dialogue and the film's nicely sparkly score (by Tenney's brother Dennis) sound fine and are well prioritized. The track has no damage of any kind to report.

Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

All of the video supplements seems to have been sourced from tape and they all have anamorphic squeezing, not even filling a traditional 1.33:1 frame.

• Feature Commentary with Writer/Director Kevin S. Tenney and Actors Julie Michaels and John Gatin. This is a fun, resolutely conversational, commentary that sees Tenney taking the lead with occasional additions from the actors. Some of this is fairly inconsequential (lots of "boy, he/she was great to work with"), but there is some very interesting information about a couple of the film's outstanding visual effects, including the great shot that travels through a car.


• Deleted Scene 1 (480i; 1:03). Someone didn't proofread how to spell "Deleted".


• Deleted Scene 2 (480i; 2:31)


• Behind the Scenes Featurette (480i; 7:54) has some interesting tidbits about the special effects.


• Home Video Trailer 1 (480i; 1:24)


• Home Video Trailer 2 (480i; 1:38)


• 60 Second TV Spot (480i; 1:03)


• 30 Second TV Spot (480i; 00:33)


• 15 Second TV Spot (480i; 00:18)

Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Witchboard 2 has a couple of fantastic little set pieces which help to elevate this sequel from its other fairly standard elements. The cast is attractive, and if the writing is a little lame at times, Tenney's directorial finesse helps to keep things moving along briskly enough that most will probably be willing to forgive the film its goofier moments. This Blu-ray features nice looking video and sounding audio and unlike many Olive releases, this one actually has some supplements. Recommended.