“Witchboard” permits Chuck Russell to reinvent horror as soon as once more
The Enjoyable of Horror
Aug 14, 2025
Chuck Russell has constructed a profession on taking acquainted tales and giving them a recent, imaginative spin. From A Nightmare on Elm Avenue 3: Dream Warriors to The Blob to The Masks, Russell has discovered methods to reframe a well-recognized narrative to nice impact. His newest venture, Witchboard, follows the identical path.
Kevin Tenney’s 1986 unique helped kick-start the Ouija board horror craze, however Russell noticed a possibility for one thing completely different. “It’s actually a couple of pendulum board,” he says, “however we honor the reminiscence of the unique.”
In Russell’s reimagining, Madison Iseman performs a recovering drug addict whose try at a recent begin takes a sinister flip after she and her mates uncover a mysterious pendulum board of their New Orleans condo. Because the group experiments with the item, they open a non secular doorway that unleashes lethal penalties.
The historical past behind these boards proved irresistible. “They’re the predecessor to Ouija boards,” Russell explains. “The Pope within the 1700s… outlawed them, and different folks have been burning ladies on the stake who had pendulum boards. They go all the way in which again to historic Egypt. So that may be a non secular portal. It is a cautionary story. Don’t use these occult issues.”
Russell says the power to get pleasure from a venture is a major want for him, which he noticed in abundance in Witchboard. “I’ve solely reinvented issues that I believed may use better creativeness that had already had a resonance in popular culture and may very well be an awesome springboard for me,” he says. “If I don’t have enjoyable, then I don’t suppose the audiences are going to have enjoyable.”
A part of that enjoyable comes from working with actors in ways in which honor his roots in theater. “I like to recommend to younger administrators to perform a little appearing… see what you’re actually asking your actors to do, as a result of it’s fairly enlightening and can actually assist your directing fashion,” he says. On Witchboard, that meant casual “tea time” rehearsals and ensuring the forged was ready for elaborate sensible results.
In fact, the “enjoyable” of horror additionally comes from its scares, and one centerpiece scene—proven within the trailer—concerned lead actress Madison Eisman being grabbed by fingers bursting from a mattress.
“That was actual time, all sensible,” Russell says. “There have been puppeteers below the mattress, grabbing Madison’s physique. And he or she wasn’t shocked. We labored it out beforehand and he or she was fairly recreation.”
For Russell, the physicality of sensible results adjustments every little thing: “One thing magical occurs within the efficiency that I imagine is translated proper to the viewers. There’s a herd intuition amongst human beings. So my favourite recreation is to unfold concern from my set proper to the viewers with sensible results scenes.”
Because the movie’s launch approaches, Russell is aware of the stakes. “Launch date is if you pull the lever and all of your plans… perhaps they’re going to exit the window,” he says. “We’re a sailboat amongst these studio cruisers. It is a restricted launch. Help unbiased movie and have a beautiful time letting us scare the shit out of you. That’s the recreation.”