Fantasia International Film Festival 2024 –Remakes can be tough to get right. Witchboard, directed by Chuck Russell (Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, The Blob, The Mask), is a wildly inventive reimagining of the 1980s franchise. The film, which heralds Russell’s return to the horror genre, contains some gnarly practical effects and a bedeviling story about a pendulum board with gruesome history and strange effects on its latest keeper, Emily (Madison Iseman).
We spoke with Russell and Iseman, as well as cast members Aaron Dominguez, who stars as Emily’s fiancé, Christian, and Charlie Tahan, who plays Emily and Christian’s friend and co-worker, Richie.
This interview was edited slightly for clarity.
Chuck, what drew you specifically to this project, especially since it’s been decades since you’ve directed a horror film?
Chuck Russell: I’ve been waiting. I had a lot of ideas and things I wanted to try. I’ve been offered some more scripts, but I like things with high imagination. I’ve never done a straight up slasher film, although they’re wonderful and very scary. I wanted to do something where I could stretch my cinematic limits through all kinds of nightmares and the spirit board, and this wonderful cast, and try to top myself. I wanted to top what I think of as my horror trilogy, my trilogy of reinventions of great, resonant horror films.
To add onto that, Chuck, your work in the horror genre is known for practical effects, especially Dream Warriors and the remake of The Blob. Can you talk about the effects in this film, and for the cast, what was it like working with these effects? You all get pretty bloody during the course of the runtime.
Chuck Russell: Well, look, it was all practical effects, and to be completely honest, because I respect the audience, I use CGI as an enhancement tool. But things are a lot scarier when they’re kinetic, and honestly, I think the performance is improved because no matter how potentially safe these things are, they are explosives when they are physical effects. There’s a moment before I roll action that I could just feel their heartbeat rise, and I think that ends up getting communicated to the audience. So, all three of them were quite trusting and courageous with some of the things I put them through, and I think it pays off in the story.
Madison Iseman: I think that was one of the reasons why I was so excited to work with Chuck. He’s so great with his practical effects. After reading the script, you kind of knew what you were jumping into. It was on the page. When you’re acting with a tennis ball or a green screen, it’s just not the same. We had such a great stunt crew. The production team was just so amazing. It’s really nice to be able to live in the actual circumstances of what was written down on a piece of paper.
Aaron Dominguez: It was a thrill. Madison is, number one, a hell of an actress, and she’s had her own success in this genre already. So, getting the chance to work alongside her and know that I had to be ready to go there with the caliber of actor she is, and then working with a legendary director like Chuck and the success that he’s had was very intimidating, but also reassuring in the sense that, obviously, the production was going be through the roof with Chuck, Madison, and Charlie as well. It was a great, cohesive thing. When it comes to the stunts, you have to trust him [Chuck]. He would say, trust me, nothing’s going to happen to you.
Charlie Tahan: I was obviously a fan of Chuck’s work, and I’m just a big fan of practical effects and working with them. We had an amazing effects team. Like Madison said, when you’re acting off a green ball or green screen, it’s just not the same. The stakes aren’t as high, and there’s something great about knowing how much you have to reset when you’re dealing with so many bells and whistles. There’s certain added good pressure. It feels a little bit more alive, and you know there’s more riding on it when there’s a bunch of people holding something behind cameras that has to go off. It adds a nice adrenaline rush.
Chuck Russell: I think that performance in horror is underrated. It’s actually Shakespearean level. It’s high drama. These kids are all wonderful actors. It’s a great, great ensemble cast in this picture, but to do that level of performance while things are flying at you is a unique talent.
Madison, your character Emily goes through quite an evolution, and by the film’s second half, Emily takes on the traits of the 17th Century witch Naga Soth (Antonia Desplat). Talk about the character’s evolution and playing her.
Madison Iseman: Emily was just so nice on the page, too, because as an actor, you know, you’re looking for roles. She just sort of goes through every single emotion possible, and her journey is just so vast, from the beginning of the story to the very end. As far as halfway through, when Atonia is with us, she’s just such a powerhouse actress. She’s incredible. She made all of that just so easy, and it was so great to work with her. Everything was just sort of laid out in the talent as it was and also in the writing as well. Chuck wrote such an incredible female role. She was incredible to play and a lot of fun. She went through a lot of different things and a lot of crazy practical sequences, which as an actor, was so much fun.
Chuck Russell: Everything you see that Madison in particular went through, the elements were all there and really happening. We had to build the whole bedroom and bathroom setting. I think it really helps the impact [on the audience].
Aaron, your character, Christian, is more grounded in reality. He’s not quick to believe in the supernatural. It’s a counterweight to the other characters. Can you talk about playing the character and the counterweight he provides?
Aaron Dominguez: Number one, first and foremost, it was a great contrast that Chuck wrote in the script. You need that kind of contrast with these characters. Christian is not too quick on the trigger to believe what Emily experiences and goes through. That’s the human condition and the human experience. Then, there’s a beautiful transition that takes place, in the midst of dealing with all that he’s dealing with regarding the restaurant and death of his friend, he decides to fully lean in and help his fiancé tackle this thing headfirst and headstrong. Ultimately, things happen. It was a fun journey and a beautiful journey that Christian goes on. He juggles a lot, too. Christian deals with a lot of different emotions.
Chuck Russell: Aaron handled the arc of the character very well, but I never wanted to do the cliche that I ended up disliking characters for. While he didn’t experience it firsthand, he says to her [Emily], whatever is happening to you is happening to both of us. He bonds with her and eventually looks for a solution to a supernatural event.
Charlie, you’ve done a lot of other horror projects, including Super Dark Times, as well as TV shows and other films. What made Witchboard different from those other genre projects?
Charlie Tahan: That just came down to Chuck really. I talked with Chuck on the phone. He was enthusiastic. I was really excited by the script. It read like a throwback in a good way. Even though it’s an independent film, it read like a very cinematic horror movie where I feel like nowadays, there are more contained stories. That excited me. The script was just great. I was just a fan of Chuck’s. It didn’t require much thought or any convincing.
Can you address the setting of this film, in particular New Orleans and all of its witchy history? While watching it, it feels like you’re walking round the French Quarter, from the food, to the music, to the history. How much of this did you film in New Orleans?
Chuck Russell: We did film in New Orleans. One of the all-time most interesting practical effects is just walking in a door on a street in New Orleans and then walking onto set. It’s one of the oldest effects, going back to silent cinema. I’m very aware of that. I’m lucky because my grandpa used to play trumpet in Dixieland bands. I was raised with all that music. That’s where the Cab Calloway stuff comes from in The Mask. I was hearing all of that stuff. I wanted to get that flavor and make it unique in the French Quarter. I also wanted to go deep into Wicca, mythology of witches, and a witch’s familiar. I’ve never seen a cat used this way in a real horror film. I thought New Orleans represented all of that. We had a wonderful production team in Montreal where we did our own New Orleans Street and we got to shoot in the streets of New Orleans a well. You can’t beat the flavor of a restaurant in New Orleans.
Witchboard premiered at the 2024 Fantasia International Film Festival.
