WITCHBOARD Trailer Conjures Nightmarish Supernatural Occult Mayhem
Chuck Russell, the director behind The Blob and A Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warriors, is summoning some serious occult energy in his return to horror with Witchboard, a reimagining of the 1986 cult favorite.
The first trailer has dropped, and it’s packed with eerie imagery, ritualistic vibes, and a whole lot of supernatural mayhem.
Set in modern-day New Orleans, Witchboard follows a young couple who unwittingly unlock something ancient and malevolent after discovering a cursed pendulum board in their newly-renovated French Quarter café. What begins as a dream venture quickly spirals into a nightmare of possession, temptation, and full-blown occult terror.
Madison Iseman (I Know What You Did Last Summer) leads the cast as Emily, alongside Aaron Dominguez (Only Murders in the Building), Antonia Desplat (Shantaram), and Charlie Tahan (Ozark). Also along for the ride is Stranger Things star Jamie Campbell Bower.
Speaking with Bloody Disgusting, Russell said: “I wanted to get back to the horror genre. I’ve been keeping an eye out for that over the course of my career, and I wanted to do something even scarier and more imaginative. I wanted to top my other two horror films,” he said.
He added: “I put everything I hadn’t tried into this film. I hope that fans of my work will recognize my touch. But we have dreams; we have deadly hallucinations. We have body swaps; we have literal time travel. It’s fun in that regard, but number one is to scare the hell out of people, and I think we’ve done that, too.”
The trailer and poster showcase something far more visceral and stylized than the original Witchboard. There's a dreamlike terror to the imagery, flashes of fire-lit rituals, warped bodies, and distorted realities that suggest Witchboard is tapping into something deeply unhinged. It’s full-blown metaphysical horror.
The film is set to hit theaters August 15, 2025,