Director Kevin S. Tenney's 1986 film WITCHBOARD is one of my favorite horror films of the '80s, and now a remake is coming our way with the director of another one of the '80s coolest horror offerings at the helm: A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS' Chuck Russell.
The Russell-directed WITCHBOARD is one of the projects on the development slate at Grimmfest Films, a production company founded by Simeon Halligan and Rachel Richardson-Jones, directors of the UK genre film festival Grimmfest. Grimmfest is teaming up with Falconer Pictures, M2 Media Post Inc, and Minds Eye Entertainment to bring this new version of WITCHBOARD to the screen. The script has been written by Russell and producer Greg McKay.
A "spine-tingling tale of murder, mayhem, mystery, and the hereafter", the original WITCHBOARD had the following synopsis:
It's called a "Witchboard" (ouija board) and it has a set of strange rules that must be followed. First, the mind must be cleared of all malevolent or distracting thoughts. Second, no mind-altering substances may be used. And finally, never, NEVER us the board alone! The results could be deadly.
This witchboard provides a terrifying doorway to the supernatural as an evil, demonic spirit is unleashed and terrorizes a small community. Tawny Kitaen ("Bachelor Party") stars as Linda, who becomes intrigued by the board at a party. Thinking she is calling up the soul of a deceased boy, she unknowingly contacts the spirit of a dead ax murderer, Malfeitor, who rekindles his "fascination" with blades. Linda's boyfriend Jim (Todd Allen – "Mask", "Silverado"), suspected of being responsible for the gruesome deaths, must find a way to return the evil spirit to its resting place before it completely takes over the soul of his unsuspecting girlfriend.
WITCHBOARD was followed by two sequels. A remake has been in the works for quite a while, and back in 2011 it was set to be written and directed by CYRUS: MIND OF A SERIAL KILLER's Mark Vadik. Russell has been attached to the project for a couple years; in 2017 he told Bloody-Disgusting that his take on the concept
uses the original as a springboard to take us into a far deeper supernatural fantasy."
Russell also directed the awesome 1988 remake of THE BLOB, so WITCHBOARD should be in good hands with him.
Other projects on the Grimmfest Films development slate include:
Audrey Cummings’ Cidic, produced by Other Animal which is shooting later this year in Ontario, Canada. Jason Lei Howden’s Deathgasm (Heavy Metal Apocalypse) Part 2, a sequel to his 2015 Deathgasm which premiered at SXSW; Paul Hyett’s post-Iraq War thriller The Blackening; Joanne Mitchell’s supernatural thriller Hospice; Sonny Laguna and Tommy Wiklund’s Scandi slasher Draven; Andy Mitton’s Dollmakers; Serena Whitney and Justin McConnell’s Christmas horror Do You See What I See?; and serial killer film Past Life, to be directed by Halligan in Ottawa, Canada and co-produced by Falconer Pictures.
I look forward to hearing further news on all of these.
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