Writer/director Kevin S. Tenney’s 1986 horror classic Witchboard (watch it HERE) is one of my all-time favorites, and we’ve been hearing rumblings of a remake for a long time now. Going all the way back to the 2007, in fact. Cyrus: Mind of a Serial Killer director Mark Vadik was attached to write and direct the film in 2011, then in 2019 we heard that Chuck Russell – whose credits include A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, The Blob (1988), The Mask, Eraser, and The Scorpion King – had signed on to direct the film. And it looks like the Witchboard remake is actually going to happen with Russell at the helm. Deadline reports that Russell has even found the first cast member for the project: Jamie Campbell Bower, who caught a lot of attention last year for playing the villainous Vecna (pictured below) in season 4 of Stranger Things.
Russell had this to say about Bower: “There is a tradition in cinema of great English actors that have the charisma we associate with stardom as well as the acting chops to truly be a chameleon, playing a variety of character types. Jamie Campbell Bower is that kind of actor and his time is now.“
According to Deadline, Russell intends to go beyond the original Witchboard IP “with a deeper storyline, high intensity scares and imaginative visuals”. As such, the screenplay he has written with Greg McKay sounds quite different from the original film. Here’s the synopsis: Emily, her fiancé Christian and a group of their friends open an organic café, refurbishing an old carriage house in New Orleans’ French Quarter. But a darkness descends over Emily when she discovers an ancient pendulum board, once used to summon spirits. Christian seeks help for Emily from occult expert Alexander Babtiste, but Babtiste has secrets of his own, knowing the fateful bloodlines that binds them all to the Witchboard. A modern coven of White Witches, a masked ball at Babtiste’s mansion, and the legacy of Naga Soth, the Queen of Witches, are all part of a dangerous game that puts Emily’s very soul at risk.
The original Witchboard had two sequels that followed different characters and featured different evil spirits. The main connection between the films was the presence of a Ouija board. Russell’s Witchboard sounds separate enough from the original that it might as well be considered Witchboard 4… despite switching out a Ouija board for a pendulum board.
This Witchboard remake is an A-Nation Media production, and Russell and McKay are producing the film with Kade Vu and Bernie Gewissler. Eric Schiermeyer, Sarah Buxton, John Paul Isham, and Walter Josten serve as executive producers. Filming is set to take place in Montreal and New Orleans, and cameras start rolling in May.
Are you interested in the Witchboard remake? What do you think of Jamie Campbell Bower being cast in the film? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.