Movie Review: Witchboard 2 – The Devil’s Doorway (1993)
Witchboard 2: The Devil’s Doorway is supposed to be a sequel to Witchboard, but the only thing the two movies have in common is they are both about women who become obsessed with using a Ouija board and leave themselves open to becoming possessed by the spirit they have conjured up with their boards. A sequel is meant to continue the story or develop the theme introduced in the original movie. Witchboard 2 does not. None of the characters from the first movie make a comeback and the stories are set in different cities. Granted, the characters in both movies are using boards that share the same design, and the term “progressive entrapment” that was introduced in Withchboard is also used in The Devils Doorway, but that’s it. There are no other obvious similarities.
The central character is a young woman named Paige (Ami Dolenz). She has just split from her boyfriend, Mitch, and at the start of the movie she is viewing an apartment. Paige is an accountant, but she wants to develop her painting skills and she thinks the apartment is will make a good artist’s loft. The fact that the building’s boozed up, lecherous handyman, Jonas, can’t keep his eyes off her is not ideal, but he seems harmless enough.
The problem is the former tenant has left her Ouija board behind and something appears to be eager to help Paige find it. When a Ouija board jumps off the shelf and lands at your feet it’s hard to ignore, so it does not take long before Paige is sitting with the board in her lap and asking, “Hello. Is there anyone there?”
Paige makes contact with a spirit called Susan, who appears to know Paige is seeking a promotion at work. Susan claims she has come through to help and says one of Paige’s work colleagues, Carla, has stolen some important account books in order to scupper Paige’s chances of promotion and move up the ranks herself. This turns out to be true and the timid girl starts to get tough and retrieves her work from Carla’s desk drawer. When Carla sees her shutting the desk drawer and demands an explanation, Paige tells her to “shut the fuck up” and warns her her she will need dental treatment if tries such a trick again.
The new and improved Paige is also better capable of standing up to Mitch, who wants her back but is a little too pushy and overbearing for his own good. There is also a new guy on the scene. His name is Russel, he’s a photographer, and it does not take him long to convince Paige to pose for him. It turns out Susan also posed for Russel, but when Paige asks him how Susan died he says she is still alive and has moved away. The spirit continues to state otherwise and when Paige asks Mitch to look into things he cannot find her address.
As Paige continues to use the Ouija board, she is haunted by troubling dreams, loses her girl-next-door look, and becomes a lot sexier. Russel notices all the changes in the aspiring artist and, as her addiction to the board grows stronger, he points out she is falling into progressive entrapment and tells her to stop using the board. The symptoms of progressive entrapment are fainting spells, aggression, excessive use of profanity, and overtly sexual provocative behavior. Paige has got the lot, and she knows it, but stopping using the board proves to be a hard thing to do.
Witchboard 2: The Devil’s Doorway is not as good as Witchboard, but it’s a pretty decent movie. Viewers are kept guessing about the true identity of the spirit for a long time and the special effects are not bad. Several of the characters have rather nasty deaths, but Witchboard 2 is a movie that offers more appeal to viewers who enjoy supernatural horror movies rather than those who are looking for a gore fest. If blood and guts are your thing, you’d be better off watching House of 1000 corpses. If you enjoy something that offers a few chills, or just like to watch movies about Ouija boards, stick with Witchboard 2. You will probably enjoy the original as well, but bearing in mind the stories have no relationship to each other it probably doesn’t matter which one you see first.