Writer / director Kevin Tenney's belated sequel to his breakthrough film stars Ami Dolenz ("Ticks") as Paige, a young accountant and aspiring artist who finds an old ouija board inside her new apartment. She uses it to come into contact with the spirit of a former tenant, who's hungry for vengeance. She falls into the same trap as the Tawny Kitaen character in the first film, becoming addicted to using the board while also determined to solve the mystery of the spirits' death and the location of their body.
Tenney doesn't really bring anything new to the table here. His story is reasonably entertaining if never exactly scary. A large part of why it remains so watchable is the lovely Ms. Dolenz, who creates an inherently appealing character. (However, she doesn't always have the greatest material, having to state the painfully obvious more than once.) Some of the camera moves are more impressive than one might expect. The very few murder set pieces come off as so goofy that they're at odds with most of the film, which is played pretty straight. Supplying some comedy relief is the ever reliable Laraine Newman, who's very funny as the hippie-ish landlord.
Don't go in hoping for a lot of gore, or much of a body count. Instead, we get a story that's rather similar to what we saw the first time. One difference is the restless ghost; Julie Michaels is undeniably extremely sexy in the role but she's nowhere near as creepy as J.P. Luebsen. Filling out the rest of the cast are Timothy Gibbs ("The Kindred") as the initially unlikable ex-boyfriend, future Oscar-nominated screenwriter John Gatins ("Flight") as young photographer Russel, a delightful Marvin Kaplan ("Wild at Heart") as an old occult specialist, and Christopher Michael Moore as a horny handyman. "Witchboard" 1 star Todd Allen has a cameo near the end.
There is one highlight involving a runaway car, and overall the films yields some modest entertainment.
Six out of 10.
Tenney doesn't really bring anything new to the table here. His story is reasonably entertaining if never exactly scary. A large part of why it remains so watchable is the lovely Ms. Dolenz, who creates an inherently appealing character. (However, she doesn't always have the greatest material, having to state the painfully obvious more than once.) Some of the camera moves are more impressive than one might expect. The very few murder set pieces come off as so goofy that they're at odds with most of the film, which is played pretty straight. Supplying some comedy relief is the ever reliable Laraine Newman, who's very funny as the hippie-ish landlord.
Don't go in hoping for a lot of gore, or much of a body count. Instead, we get a story that's rather similar to what we saw the first time. One difference is the restless ghost; Julie Michaels is undeniably extremely sexy in the role but she's nowhere near as creepy as J.P. Luebsen. Filling out the rest of the cast are Timothy Gibbs ("The Kindred") as the initially unlikable ex-boyfriend, future Oscar-nominated screenwriter John Gatins ("Flight") as young photographer Russel, a delightful Marvin Kaplan ("Wild at Heart") as an old occult specialist, and Christopher Michael Moore as a horny handyman. "Witchboard" 1 star Todd Allen has a cameo near the end.
There is one highlight involving a runaway car, and overall the films yields some modest entertainment.
Six out of 10.