- Directed by: Kevin Tenney
- Written by: Kevin Tenney
- Stars: Todd Allen, Tawny Kitaen, Stephen Nichols
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 38 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBV125UHJ2k
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
The movie was made in the mid 1980s and looks like it, which is fun. While it does have a small body count, it’s pretty tame and dated for today’s audiences. It’s easy to see where the story is going, and it’s well made enough to still entertain. We wouldn’t call it a tremendous classic, but it’s worth checking out if you haven’t seen it already.
Spoilery Synopsis
As credits roll, people arrive at a big house for a party. It’s very… 80s. Jim watches Brandon and Roger argue over the existence of God. Lloyd and Mike show up, and they’re Jim’s underdressed friends. Linda consoles Jim over how nasty Brandon got. Meanwhile, Brandon explains the pronunciation of the word “Ouija.” Then he describes the process as if none of the many partygoers had ever seen one before.
Brandon talks Linda into trying the Ouija board. Brandon explains that this particular board is dominated by a little boy named David. Through the board, David answers a few questions but then gets upset by Jim mocking the process. Suddenly, Brandon’s tires on his car outside explode.
Later that night, as Linda and Jim have sex, the Ouija board in the living room sits there doing nothing, but it’s doing nothing ominously.
In the morning, Linda uses the board to try to contact David by herself. She’s just gotten a positive pregnancy test, and she wants David to enter her baby. David says no, because he doesn’t like Jim. Meanwhile, Jim and Lloyd talk at the construction site where Jim works until a bunch of material falls and kills Lloyd.
David tells Linda where to find her lost diamond ring: in the bathroom drain. Jim comes in and she tells him what happened. She actually found her ring where David said it would be.
At the funeral, Homicide department detective Dewhurst comes to Jim and Linda. He thinks Lloyd was murdered; could the killer have been aiming for Jim? When the couple argues later, she tells him that she’s pregnant.
Linda tells David that she’s giving the board back to Brandon today, and there’s nothing he can do about it. He soon sends her a sign that there is something he can do about it.
Brandon comes to talk to Jim about the Ouija board and David. Jim laughs, but Brandon takes it all very seriously. He explains that spirits will take advantage of her, and the board becomes very obsessive. Then the spirit starts to get mean and will eventually possess her. Jim just laughs. Brandon wants to call in a medium to exorcise the spirit. Brandon and Jim have a lot of history, and Jim doesn’t care about anything. Linda calls, and Jim decides to allow the medium into his house.
Zarabeth is weird, but she’s supposed to be the best medium in the region. The group decides to do a seance to talk to David. David says he’ll leave, and then a bunch of weird stuff happens in the room. Zarabeth says David chose to leave on his own.
Zarabeth tells Brandon that David seemed way too strong for a ten-year-old. After going home, Zarabeth dies a nasty death.
Brandon comes to Jim the next day and suggests that all the deaths are connected to David. Brandon thinks maybe David has been lying to them about his age and everything else. As Brandon leaves, Jim notices the detective outside watching the house.
Linda watches as David moves the Ouija’s planchette on his own and then throws her around the room. At the hospital, the doctor says Linda was never pregnant.
Brandon and Jim do research about David’s real life and death at the library, which soon sends them to the cemetery– at night. David’s parents both died just two weeks ago.
Brandon and Jim contact David through the board again, and this time, David says it’s not him. David says it’s “Evil” who has done the killings. It’s Malfeitor who’s been doing all this. “Malfeitor is here,” it says as barrels fall on the two men. That’s not so bad until a hatchet whacks Brandon in the head.
Jim researches Malfeitor, who was a major serial killer back in the ‘30s– in their house! Meanwhile, Linda gets stuck in the shower and has to break out. Then she sees Malfeitor, and he’s not so friendly anymore.
Jim comes home to find that Malfeitor has possessed Linda. They fight until Dewhurst comes in, gun drawn. He thinks Jim has been behind everything. The detective is almost immediately knocked out by Linda/Malfeitor, who says Jim is the portal, not Linda. They say the only way to close the portal is for Jim to shoot himself. Instead, Jim shoots the Ouija board just as it throws him out the window.
Later, we see Jim and Linda getting married. He’s in a neck brace. Back at the house, the landlady finds the Ouija board and wonders if it still works, even if it is full of holes…
Brian’s Commentary
It’s pretty formulaic, but it doesn’t get boring and the story moves along at a good pace. The acting isn’t bad, but not impressive either. This is one of those 80s films where all the young 20-somethings with perfect hair live in multimillion-dollar houses and drive sports cars while working in construction.
The whole existence of Detective Dewhurst seems unreasonable. Lloyd clearly died in an accident, so there’s no reason he would even be assigned as a case.
It’s very “80s” and seems pretty tame and dated today. There’s nothing at all wrong with it– it just feels too dated.
Kevin’s Commentary
Ooooo noooo, not progressive entrapment. Saying things like that gives an air of science to the process. This is set back in the days when you could still smoke in the hospital, it’s a very 80s kind of movie. I’d rate it above average for the era, it’s not great, but it’s quite good. Or good enough to do the job anyhow.