Horror Legend Chuck Russell on Witchboard and His Return to Horror Roots

If you’re an ‘80s horror geek, or just someone who was watching a lot of movies between the late ‘80s and mid-‘90s, then you almost certainly have some kind of fondness for the work of Chuck Russell. The screenwriter and producer-turned-director had his hands on plenty of genre classics over the years, from as early as 1981 golden age Linda Blair slasher Hell Night–where he met frequent collaborator Frank Darabont–all the way to 2004 Michael Mann/Tom Cruise thriller Collatteral. But to film fans, Russell is most beloved for the works he personally directed in the midst of this run, including the gooey and gross 1988 remake of The Blob, 1994’s Jim Carrey launchpad The Mask, and the single most beloved Nightmare on Elm Street sequel, 1987’s Dream Warriors.

Those titles alone would assure Chuck Russell a spot in the horror genre hall of fame, but he’s now making his long-delayed return to the genre with August’s upcoming wide theatrical release of independent horror flick Witchboard, a–you guessed it–reimagining of another minor 1980s classic. Where that 1986 film featured possession through use of a Ouija board, however, Russell has inverted things by instead using a “pendulum board” in his version–an occult tool where a chain is dangled over the board, and its swinging arm reveals information to the practitioner. It’s a clever evolution that both works as a nice horror mechanic on screen (I’ve seen Witchboard, and our review is forthcoming), and distances the film from comparisons to the likes of 2014’s Ouija.

For the 67-year-old Russell, it’s also the biggest and most handsome film he’s made since returning to the director’s chair with more regularity in the last decade. He recently sat down with Paste to talk Witchboard, the evolution of film production, and reminisce a tiny bit on some of his own well-regarded classics.

Paste Magazine: First of all, what drew you to Witchboard as a return to the horror genre? Was there something about this property or the original film that you wanted to expand on or modernize?

Chuck Russell: Well I started my career in horror, as you know, and then at a certain point I wanted to get back to my interest in comedy with The Mask, and action-adventure films. And I always intended to return to horror–I never planned to not do horror for this long, but I’ve been busy with a number of projects.

And then Witchboard came to me, and it’s a wonderful franchise–it started the whole Ouija board mini genre, and I loved that back in the day. And I thought, I’ve always wanted to go back to horror and also do what I saw as the third in my trilogy of reinventions of franchises. The first being Dream Warriors, because New Line wanted something different for the Elm Street series after number two, and The Blob was a property that I got early in my career that I thought really deserved a new version. I won’t really “remake” something literally, but I’ll reinvent it if I feel I can really bring something new and still honor the original. And with Witchboard, just like The Blob, the original is a great piece of pop culture that deserved a piece of reinvention.

Now I’d also had an interest in pendulum boards from my own research in the occult and mysticism; they’re a really famous device for spellcasting, discovering your own fate, asking your own subconscious questions, and I really didn’t know why I hadn’t seen them featured in the genre. So Witchboard was the perfect opportunity to do that.

Paste: I do really love the titular object that it’s tied to, because it’s tangential to the Ouija board that everyone knows, but it’s a new aesthetic and a good visual horror mechanic with the swinging of the pendulum.

Russell: The scientists have an explanation for that; that there’s these micro-muscle movements attached to your subconscious, so you’re essentially creating the movement yourself. Spiritualists will tell you the opposite, that it’s something from the spiritual realm. I think it’s something in between. I’m actually sort of cautious about bringing back pendulum boards, because in my opinion if you use these objects you need to use them cautiously, with a positive intent. It’s a very resonant object. For the film, it’s a one-off, like the mask of The Mask–I’m fascinated with a prop that might be able to drive the whole story.

Paste: When you returned to directing in the 2010s and started ramping up again, what were the most significant things you had to adapt to in terms of how film production has changed since the ‘80s and ‘90s?

Russell: You have to understand something about me; I love being an early adapter. So everything new in the filmmaking tech, I had already been waiting for. I actually tried to use CGI in The Blob, but we were way too early. Technically, the only CGI ultimately used in The Blob is the very last shot, where the crystals are twinkling. But I had been tracking the technology, so I was able to use it for The Mask way before most productions were able to use it, especially for comedy.

Now for horror, I do prefer practical effects, but having the familiarity with CGI makes it all work much more smoothly. The advances in CGI are just a little extra paintbrush for the paint box to erase some of the wires and some of the mistakes. But practical effects, I’ve learned over the years, are great for two reasons. First, they don’t really age–my early films still seem to be popular because the practical effects still look great.

Paste: Or they age much more gracefully.

Russell: Yes! The hairdos still look like the ‘80s, at least. But the scares still work even now.

The second thing with practical effects is, the actors themselves carry a tension that you just don’t get on a green screen stage. As much as we might have safety measures, when they know that something is going to explode up from the floor or whatever is going to happen in that scene, in real time and real scale, it’s another level of tension that ends up on screen.

Paste: Can I ask what the Witchboard budget was like?

Russell: We were high end for independent films, around $15 million.

Paste: It’s really handsomely made–to me, it looks very much like a major studio production. I love some of the little visual flourishes, like when you can see the spirit of the witch in reflections of the pots and pans of the kitchen.

Russell: All part of our wicked plans. The fun is, to have enough prep time on a film where I can take a young cast and crew and do a film on this level based on my experience.

There’s a lot of … I won’t say waste outright, but there’s a certain way we make movies at bigger studios involving hundreds and hundreds of people, but there’s another way to make films like Witchboard have this kind of impact by giving new craftsmen opportunities, and by giving up-and-coming cast members a chance. Although I have to say, Jamie Campbell Bower is in my mind already a big star.

Paste: Alright, yes, we have to talk about Jamie Campbell Bower as the antagonist, who people might recognize from Stranger Things. He gives as Babtiste what might be one of the most entertainingly over the top performances I’ve seen in a movie of this kind in recent memory. It reminded me of like a role that Vincent Price would have had in the ‘60s or ‘70s, or Jeffrey Coombs would have had in the ‘80s. What kind of instruction did you give him?

Russell: Jamie is a classic English actor, but I’ve called him a chameleon; I really believe he can do anything. I don’t know if you saw him in that Kevin Costner movie (Horizon: An American Saga), playing an American gunslinger. He has an extremely powerful screen presence, and an extremely impressive command of his craft.

Paste: He really has a spectacular voice in particular.

Russell: I mean, oh my god. Even in our trailer, to hear Jamie say “I want you to turn off all the lights, turn off your radio and television and get ready,” it makes you wonder where we’re going.

In the beginning he actually told me that he likes and prefers direction, because I think he’s already treated like one of these stars who is beyond that by some filmmakers. But I’m there to help him, to support his performance. And I wouldn’t call it over the top; our whole film is filled with extreme situations, so I think he has exactly the right tone for our movie. He’s an unbelievably charming guy, and reminds me of like, a young David Bowie. He was our first casting decision. I’d work with him again any time.

Jamie Campbell Bower as the mysterious “Alexander Babtiste” in Witchboard.

Paste: Is there a significance to you in all the cats in the film, beyond their association with witches? The movie is absolutely crawling with cats.

Russell: Pretty much all the stuff about witches in the film is based in the historical record, including all of the cats. And I hadn’t really seen that in a film, unless you’re talking maybe about a witch comedy. I really like working with animals–it’s harder perhaps, as it was with the dog on The Mask, but the harder we work, the luckier we get, as my grandma used to say.

We found the perfect cat to feature; she enjoyed her performance, and worked for treats and attention. She seemed to know she had a job to do. I never allow any form of cruelty on my sets.

Paste: What was her name?

Russell: It’s “Tatiana!” She crossed genders to play male cat Mr. Lucky in the script. It was all about doing something with authenticity about witches. My production people thought I was out of my mind, that we would never make it happen unless it was all CGI, but unfortunately CGI cats just look awful. They can do Lion King, but they somehow can’t do a small house cat believably. And we didn’t have millions of dollars in our budget for that thing, either. So I went out on a limb that we would get the right cat and deliver, and she did even better than I expected.

Paste: One thing that stands out about the film to me is a very palpable sense of sexuality with basically every character. It can sometimes feel more recently that the horror genre has become rather sexless, but here it feels like nearly every character interaction is sexually charged. Was that an element you specifically wanted to highlight?

Russell: I agree! I thought it was my responsibility to bring sensuality back to horror. I’m glad it came across that way. I think horror and sensuality go together really naturally. Of course originally in the genre it was sort of used as punishment–in The Blob I had a couple making out in the car and the guy gets Blobbed almost as a direct result of it.

In this case, there’s a sort of inherent sensuality to witches that can get overlooked in movies that feature them. I didn’t just want to do a shadow Blumhouse witch, the ugliest possible witch. Our witch is frightening, but we need to know why she needs her revenge.

Paste: A semi-justified revenge at least.

Russell: Very! I think given the true history of witches, they would want a justified revenge. We see what drives her to the dark side, which is fun for me as a director to see that dramatic arc.

Paste: I interviewed Frank Darabont a few years ago, who called you a dear friend, and he reminisced about you guys going to a cabin to do a last minute rewrite of A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. What do you remember from doing that with him?

Russell: We had seven days to do a complete rewrite. And it was on a tight schedule, a page one rewrite. Wes Craven had a great angle on the original script he created, but New Line had rejected it. I loved the original, and just like Witchboard I thought I could take it in a new direction.

So Frank and I are very close friends, and we jammed on it. But I got a horrible flu–it was bad, like 103 degrees, and I was questioning if I had to go to the hospital until Frank made me this Hungarian soup, and we just kept going. We didn’t give up, and I think we came up with a great script.

Paste: I’d love to see the two of you collaborate again some day.

Russell: We might. We’re in touch now, and Frank knows that’s an open door. I’ve been a little obsessed with Witchboard, and am thrilled to see it finally coming out. I’m glad you picked up on the sensuality of it.

Paste: I don’t think anyone could miss it!

Jim Vorel is Paste’s Movies editor and resident genre geek. You can follow him on Twitter or on Bluesky for more film writing.