Jamie Campbell Bower, the actor who plays the villain Vecna in Stranger Things, is set to star in a remake of the 1980s horror film Witchboard. That’s a movie I haven’t seen in a very long time. The first and only time I watched it was in high school when I rented the VHS tape from Blockbuster video.
In the film, “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 movie centers on Jim and Linda, who decide to throw a party, “Linda’s ex-boyfriend — and Jim’s ex-friend — Brandon brings out a Ouija board to contact a pleasant, childish spirit named David with whom he communicates often. Apparently, the lines get crossed, because they instead reach across the supernatural divide to the decidedly less pleasant Malfeitor, who uses his connection to the world of the living to wreak havoc and terrify his new acquaintances.”
The remake will be directed by Chuck Russell (The Blob, A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors) from a script he wrote with Greg McKay. Russell shared in a statement: “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.”
The filmmaker is said to be to go “beyond the original IP with a deeper storyline, high intensity scares and imaginative visuals.” The film shoots in May in Montreal and New Orleans. Maybe this will make a for an entertaining and creepy remake!
Source: Deadline