Witchboard | |
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Directed by | Chuck Russell |
Written by |
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Based on | Characters by Kevin Tenney |
Produced by |
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Starring |
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Production company | A-Nation Media |
Distributed by | Gala Film |
Release date |
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Running time | 115 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Witchboard is an upcoming American supernatural horror film directed by Chuck Russell, and co-written by Russell and Greg McKay. It is a remake of the 1986 film and stars Jamie Campbell Bower, Madison Iseman, Aaron Dominguez, Antonia Desplat and Charlie Tahan.
The film is set to have its world premiere at the 28th Fantasia International Film Festival on July 26, 2024, before its released by Gala Film later in the year.
Emily, her fiancé Christian, and their group of friends have opened a new organic café in the French Quarter of New Orleans by renovating an old carriage house. However, things take a dark turn when Emily finds an ancient pendulum board that was once used for summoning spirits. Concerned for Emily's well-being, Christian seeks the help of an occult expert named Alexander Babtiste, who has knowledge of the bloodlines that connect them to the witchboard. As events unfold, a modern coven of White Witches, a masked ball at Babtiste's mansion, and the legacy of Naga Soth, the Queen of Witches, all become part of a dangerous game that puts Emily's soul in peril. [2]
In 2017, Chuck Russell and Greg McKay became attached to write a script for the remake of the 1986 film Witchboard . [5] It was reported in May 2019, that Russell would direct the film and was to be produced by Grimmfest, in partnership with Minds Eye Entertainment, Falconer Pictures and M2 Media Post. [6]
In March 2023, pre-production restarted with A-Nation Media replacing the previous production studios. [2] Principal photography took place in Montreal and New Orleans from April to June 2023. [7] [8] Some scenes were shot in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue at Morgan Arboretum in late May. [9] The production was granted an interim agreement allowing the actors to continue working on the film during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. [10]
Witchboard is set to have its world premiere at the 28th Fantasia International Film Festival on July 26, 2024. [1] [11] The film is scheduled to be released by Gala Film in 2024. [3]
Jamie Lee Curtis is an American actress, producer, and children's author. Known for her performances in the horror and slasher genres, she is regarded as a scream queen, in addition to roles in comedies. Curtis has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, as well as nominations for an Emmy Award and a Grammy Award.
Kurt Vogel Russell is an American actor. At the age of 12, he began acting in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (1963–1964). In the late 1960s, he signed a ten-year contract with The Walt Disney Company, where he starred as Dexter Riley in films such as The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972), and The Strongest Man in the World (1975). For his portrayal of rock and roll superstar Elvis Presley in Elvis (1979), he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. According to Robert Osborne of Turner Classic Movies, Russell became the studio's top star of the 1970s.
A scream queen is an actress who is prominent and influential in horror films, either through a notable appearance or recurring roles. A scream king is the male equivalent. Notable female examples include Barbara Steele, Sandra Peabody, Linda Blair, Olivia Hussey, Marilyn Burns, Neve Campbell, Daria Nicolodi, Dee Wallace, Jamie Lee Curtis, Mia Goth, Samara Weaving, Heather Langenkamp, Shawnee Smith, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Linnea Quigley.
Emily Olivia Laura Blunt is a British actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and four British Academy Film Awards. Forbes ranked her as one of the highest-paid actresses in the world in 2020.
The Rage: Carrie 2 is a 1999 American supernatural horror film directed by Katt Shea, and starring Emily Bergl, Jason London, Dylan Bruno, J. Smith-Cameron and Amy Irving. The film is a sequel to the 1976 horror film Carrie based on the 1974 novel of the same name by Stephen King, and serves as the second film in the Carrie franchise. The film was originally titled The Curse and did not have connections to the Carrie novel or film, but was eventually rewritten to be a direct sequel to the 1976 film. Its plot follows the younger half-sister of Carrie White (Bergl), also suffering with telekinesis, who finds that her best friend's suicide was spurred by a group of popular male classmates who exploited her for sexual gain.
Fantasia International Film Festival is a genre film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. It focuses on niche, low budget movies in various genres, from horror to sci-fi. Regularly held in July/August, by 2016 its annual audience had already surpassed 100,000 viewers and outgrown even the Montreal World Film Festival.
Barbara Crampton is an American actress and producer. She began her career in the 1980s in television soap operas before starring in horror and thriller films. In 2024, Crampton was inducted into the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards' Monster Kid Hall of Fame.
Witchboard is a 1986 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Kevin Tenney in his directorial debut, and starring Tawny Kitaen, Stephen Nichols, and Todd Allen. The plot centers on a college student who becomes entranced into using her friend's Ouija board alone after it was accidentally left behind at her party, resulting in her becoming terrorized by a malevolent spirit.
Chuck Russell is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer, best known for his genre films. His best-known works include the fantasy slasher film A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, the 1988 remake of the 1958 monster horror film The Blob, the Jim Carrey superhero comedy film The Mask, the Arnold Schwarzenegger action film Eraser, and the Dwayne Johnson action-adventure The Scorpion King.
Briana Evigan is an American actress and dancer best known for her roles in the Step Up series and for her scream queen roles in numerous horror films. Born in Los Angeles, Evigan is the daughter of actor Greg Evigan and his wife Pamela, a dancer, model and choreographer. She began dancing and acting at a young age, graduating from Los Angeles Valley College with a degree in speech and communication.
James Metcalfe Campbell Bower is an English actor, singer and model. He made his feature film debut in 2007 with a supporting role in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. He went on to feature in The Twilight Saga, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, and as the young Gellert Grindelwald in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. In 2022, Bower featured as Henry Creel / Vecna in the fourth season of the Netflix series Stranger Things, for which he received critical acclaim.
Charles Tahan is an American actor. Starting as a child actor, with appearances in the 2007 films American Loser and I Am Legend, he has progressed through teen and adult roles. His notable roles include Ben Burke in the Fox dystopian mystery thriller series Wayward Pines (2015–16), the young Jonathan Crane / Scarecrow in the Fox/DC Comics superhero drama Gotham (2014–17), and Wyatt Langmore in the Netflix original crime drama Ozark (2017–2022).
Mark O'Brien is a Canadian actor and director best known for his roles as Des Courtney in Republic of Doyle and Tom Rendon in Halt and Catch Fire. He won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Actor at the 8th Canadian Screen Awards for his performance as Terry Sawchuk in the biographical drama film Goalie.
Madison Elizabeth Iseman is an American actress. She is known for starring in the CMT comedy television series Still the King (2016–2017). She is also known for appearing in the psychological thriller film Fear of Rain (2021), the fantasy adventure comedy films Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019), the comedy horror film Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (2018), the supernatural horror film Annabelle Comes Home (2019) and the Amazon Prime Video horror television series I Know What You Did Last Summer (2021).
I Know What You Did Last Summer is an American horror film franchise consisting of three slasher films and one television series, loosely based on the novel of the same name by Lois Duncan. The first installment was written by Kevin Williamson, directed by Jim Gillespie, and released in 1997.
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