Director: Kevin Tenney
Cast: Ami Dolenz, Timothy Gibbs, John Gatins, Laraine Newman
Screenplay: Kevin Tenney
98 mins. Rated R for horror violence and language.

When discussing impactful horror director, Kevin Tenney’s name rarely comes up, but few iconic horror filmmakers have been heavily involved in not one, but two, successful franchises. Tenney ushered in the Night of the Demons films and also the Witchboard movies. Argue importance all you want, but both of these franchises had modern remakes, so IP recognition is there. Tenney’s first Witchboard film is a fairly standard cursed object film using the notable Ouija board, but this second film brings a mystery and an unsolved murder plot into the fold, with somewhat disappointing results.

Paige (Ami Dolenz, Ticks) has just moved into an Los Angeles loft to begin working on her art. While cleaning, she finds a Ouija board in the closet and plays with it, taking part in a conversation with a woman on the other side named Susan. As the two continue contacting each other, Paige comes to believe that Susan is dead through nefarious means, but that’s not what she’s been informed by the residents who believe Paige’s Susan is a former tenant. As her fascination with the Ouija board becomes an addiction, she finds that she’s losing control of herself.

While the bones of Witchboard 2 carry a lot over from the first film, this one develops a pretty interesting mystery about Susan and what happened to her. Whereas the first film was more focused on what was awakened by using the Ouija board, this film spends a lot of time on the question of who or what is the being attempting to contact Paige, and the nature of addiction works well enough in concept, even if Tenney never really makes anything of value out of it. I think the faults of Witchboard 2 come down to too many disparate characters all more interesting than the character they have to develop through, Paige. She’s not written very interestingly, and I don’t think Ami Dolenz can do much with the flimsy character on the page. There’s a distinct lack of narrative momentum so much so that I was interested in the mystery but bored by a lot of the moments surrounding that mystery.

Timothy Gibbs (Pacific Rim) and Laraine Newman (Inside Out) both add a lot to the film as Paige’s on/off boyfriend and her landlady, respectively. Gibbs has a lot of intensity and Newman has a lot of strange energy and they uplift the more meandering elements of Tenney’s screenplay. Together, they make up for a lot of bland and slow story.

Witchboard 2 is a sequel that doesn’t learn from its predecessor, and it is neither exciting nor fun enough to maintain 98 minutes. I’m actually scratching my head trying to figure out how this film could be 98 minutes because not enough actually happens from beginning to end. Still, a handful of scenes and some interesting side characters as well as a central mystery that had some interest make for a watchable, but ultimately disappointing follow-up.

2.5/5
-Kyle A. Goethe

• For my review of Kevin Tenney’s Witchboard, click here.
• For my review of Kevin Tenney’s Night of the Demons, click here.