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"Witchboard" (1986) starring Tawny Kitaen

Is there a better example of audacious supernatural late '80s horror? I can't think of one. Tawny's hair in this is legendary, and her butch look when she finally becomes fully possessed is beyond words.

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by Anonymousreply 13July 31, 2025 6:10 AM

I've never heard of this movie, but 1:33:17 is the greatest scene in cinema history.

by Anonymousreply 1June 23, 2023 2:34 AM

Tawny was beautiful in this movie, but Kathleen Wilhoite as Zarabeth stole the show.

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by Anonymousreply 2July 31, 2025 3:30 AM

I've loved this movie since I first saw it as a kid in the '80s. Everyone is great in it and the characters draw you in. Great score and cinematography too. Only con is that the villain (Malfeitor) gets too little screen time. The late actor JP Luebsen looked scary as fuck in the role. Writer/director Kevin Tenney went on to direct the more popular Night of the Demons, but this film (his first) will always be superior. They've recently remade it, but it looks like a CGI nightmare.

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by Anonymousreply 3July 31, 2025 4:53 AM

I can’t believe she’s dead.

by Anonymousreply 4July 31, 2025 4:56 AM

[quote]Tawny's hair in this is legendary

Tawny's hair was legendary in everything.

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by Anonymousreply 5July 31, 2025 4:56 AM

When I was a kid in the mid-late '90s, my bored housewife mother took a job working at our local video store on the weekends. I was always drawn to horror movies, and would peruse the horror section of the store often. The VHS box art for this film and "Night of the Demons" (same director, as R3 notes) scared the shit out of me.

by Anonymousreply 6July 31, 2025 4:56 AM

Me either R4.

by Anonymousreply 7July 31, 2025 4:56 AM

R3 Luebsen was indeed terrifying. He played a similar role in Tenney's unrelated "Witchtrap" (1989) with Linnea Quigley. It is an abjectly bad film (and features some of the worst dubbing I've ever seen/heard—apparently this had to be done because the original sound operator fucked up the audio tracks for most of the shoot). It makes "Witchboard" look like Oscar material IMO, but his screen presence is still effective.

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by Anonymousreply 8July 31, 2025 5:22 AM

The unrelated sequel Witchboard III: The Possession (1995) looms large in my memory. It is a HORRIBLE movie, but the lead actor was gorgeous and there is a ridiculous softcore sex scene in it where you see his huge balls bounce up for a fleeting moment as the female lead is riding him. I saw it on TV (Showtime, maybe?) in the early 2000s as a young teenager. That moment was, as funny as it sounds, a key moment in my sexual awakening.

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by Anonymousreply 9July 31, 2025 5:37 AM

Agreed R8. Witchtrap is awful (acting, effects, dubbing) but JP was effectively spooky in it. I did like hunky James Quinn as the lead, though. He also played ill-fated Lloyd in Witchboard, and was the voice of demon Angela in NOTD.

by Anonymousreply 10July 31, 2025 5:46 AM

Tawny was a quirky woman. She apparently only agreed to film her nude shower scene if the cameramen and crew present were married men, as if it mattered. The director apparently had some of them wear phony wedding bands to assuage her fears. She looked great in it.

At least the girls and the gays got some good shirtless scenes with the hairy-chested Todd Allen.

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by Anonymousreply 11July 31, 2025 5:56 AM

Is that Rose Marie at the end of the movie? How weird.

by Anonymousreply 12July 31, 2025 6:06 AM

R12 a random appearance indeed. Apparently she shot a couple of other scenes, but they didn't make the final cut.

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by Anonymousreply 13July 31, 2025 6:10 AM
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