Spiritika 2 - Il gioco del Diavolo

This is one of those movies that you must see. Ok, it's not as good as the first one but it is still worth renting. In this movie Kevin S. Tenney shows us everything that happened in the first, but this time with some better acting and better death scenes. For actors you have Ami Dolenz (Ticks), and Timothy Gibbs (Leprechaun 3). I didn't care for anyone else, except for Laraine Newman who played the "I'm still stuck in 1969 lady". She's a good actor, and plays the role of a hippie pretty well. (To be honest a little to well). If you liked "Witchboard" then you will probably like this one. Stay away from the third one. Kevin S. Tenney didn't even write that one. For Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway ~ 7/10 stars.

I didn't care much for Kevin S. Tenney's Witchboard: the script was weak, the acting was lousy (Tawny Kitaen, who played the central character, was more wooden than the Ouija board itself!), and the effects were cheap. However, this sequel, also by Tenney, is thankfully a lot better.

Sure, the plot isn't that original (essentially being little more than a retread of the first film), but Tenney seems to have polished his skills as a director a little, and has been wise enough to get himself a cast who can actually act.

This time around, it's a pretty young artist named Paige (Ami Dolenz) who discovers that meddling with the occult is not a good idea; she finds a Ouija board in the new loft apartment that she is renting, and, pretty soon, people are dying in mysterious circumstances, and she's becoming a foul mouthed sex-bomb (well, maybe not all the effects of a Ouija board are bad). Is the spirit she has been contacting attempting to possess her body, or just trying to bring to justice those responsible for her death?

Occasionally events get a little too silly (the scene where a man is pursued by a whirling saw blade is awful), but, on the whole, this is a step in the right direction for the series. Dolenz is easy on the eye (and her hair isn't quite as 'big' as Kitaen's), there are some reasonable jump scares, and Tenney throws in some quite impressive camera-work (a couple of moments might even give Dario Argento a run for his money, with the camera swooping down through a building window into the loft apartment, and, even better, passing through a moving car).

Paige Benedict is a wannabe artist who moves into a large apartment loft and discovers an Ouija board in the closet. After trying it out she starts receiving messages from the other-side by the previous tenant Susan Sidney. Who claims that she was murdered. Paige suddenly gets caught up into finding out what happened to Susan, but along the way people start dying off by strange occurrences.

Well I've never seen the original, but there's no relationship between the two films that makes you have to seen them in any particular order. I was expecting something quite secondary, but Kevin Tenney's 'Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway' was a mostly fun and harmless little piece, which was competently directed with some nice inventive flourishes. While, it's not hard to figure out what's eventually going to happen (though the final twist got me) and the pacing can lumber along with long talky spells, but there are definite features that make up for these aspects. Tenney makes the most out of his budget to cook up some strikingly atmospheric camera-work, tautly effective music score, credible special effects and a humdrum script filled with some biting humour. There are some well staged action scenes that have energy and the edgy deaths are mildly inspired. Although they are rather tame. False jump scares are evident, but never fall into the cheap variety. It tries to be creepy in its set-up, but I found it to be too silly to be so. Laughable in patches, but it never gets overly cheesy. Although there are some totally unlikely (if moronic) plot developments in the script that will raise eyebrows. One thing that got on my nerves was the constant use of sounding out every single letter and letting us know what it spells when Ouija board comes into play. Sure I can hack it every now and then, but all the time. No way! At least we had a blond hottie doing it for us. Tenney sure does tease the viewer with the gorgeously dainty Ami Dolenz. Her perky performance is surprisingly good. Those looking for a bit of flesh will be highly disappointed. Laraine Newman is amusing as the flip-out hippie landlady. The beautiful Julie Michaels was fine as Susan. Timothy Gibbs, John Gatins and Christopher Michael as bawdy landlord were okay.

It's a decent enough time-waster that has a certain quirkiness and stylish feel to it all.

Much like the original, this is a reasonably entertaining film, but still nothing to brag about. I'd say that this was a little silly, even by horror film standards, but unlike most horror movies, I wasn't ever bored while watching this. However, like all other horror films that I have seen, this movie isn't scary, and the story isn't nearly interesting enough or funny enough to overlook this problem. This film was a decent time killer, but if you're looking for a good movie, try something else.

Witchboard 2

This movie has plenty of entertainment stuffed into it's 90 minute running time, but it isn't too scary. Witchboard 2 is about Paige, who moves into an artist loft apartment after leaving her boyfriend. While moving in, she finds a Oujia board inside a closet, and just for fun, begins to play around with it. But you can't play with a Witchboard as Paige soon learns, when she contacts the spirit who claims to be a former tennant of the apartment complex who was murdered. Then, people in the complex begin dying in weird ways, and Paige must uncover the spirit's true identity before it destroys her.

The actors here aren't too bad, and Laraine Newman is hilarious as the eccentric landlord. This film has some 'jump' sequences that jolt you, but no real horror to scare you with. The movie also has a good mystery to it. Good for horror fans, and not cheesy at all. Don't expect a super-cheapy movie, it isn't that bad. 8/10.