After her ex-lover shows off a ouija board at a party, Tawny Kitaen finds it at the apartment and tries it out herself. She thinks she is contacting the same shy spirit, but it soon becomes obvious to the audience that some other, malevolent spirit is speaking with her.

I freely admit I am not fond of straight-up horror movies, with their jump-scares and characters who can't see the obvious dangers that beset them. This one, however, has a good story arc, decent actors (Kathleen Wilhoite as a funky spiritualist is very amusing, until she gets killed by the evil spirit). I suppose I could have done without the moving shots that show clearly there's a mild fish-eyed lens in operation, but it's a pretty good genre piece.

Brandon Sinclair (Stephen Nichols) brings out the ouija board at a party. With Linda Brewster (Tawny Kitaen),he tries to contact a young spirit named David. Linda's jealous boyfriend Jim Morar (Todd Allen) disrupts the seance. Later, she contacts David by herself. As David threaten to possess Linda, Brandon is desperate to retrieve the ouija board and calls in medium Zarabeth (Kathleen Wilhoite).

This is a gosh darn campy horror. I'm not sure if it's a cult classic but I can see it. There are weird lines coming out of nowhere like the bomb lines. The acting is bad but there is something funny about it. Jim is a dumb as and everybody is over-acting. Wilhoite is trying so hard. Tawny Kitaen jumps through another glass naked. It's not a scary horror. It's not a good movie. It's not bland and it has a fun sensibility with its badness.

A woman (Tawny Kitaen) finds an interest in her friend Brandon's Ouija Board when he brings the occult tool by her party.

This was the beginning for much of the crew. Writer-director Kevin Tenney had never written or directed before, Kenney's college friend Gerald Geoffray had never produced before, nor had executive producer Walter Josten. Indeed, much of this came out of Tenney's film school classes.

Tawny Kitaen was cast because guys in the office were "drooling" during casting when they saw her. Tenney had actually favored another actress, but went with Kitaen because of this perceived charisma. (This casting also was a lucky break, because between filming and release, Kitaen blew up thanks to her infamous Whitesnake videos.) As a side note, O. J. Simpson was dating Kitaen at the time and would visit the set with his red-dyed poodle.

While not the greatest of the 1980s horror films, one has to admit this still holds up well. In some ways, it is more amusing now (2014) than it ever was originally because of all the 1980s hair and clothing. For example, just look at Zarabeth (Kathleen Wilhoite)... that is some weird 1980s style.

But really, this is something of a modern classic because what other horror film really captures the danger of the Ouija? None come to mind for me, and it seems like such an obvious choice... well played Kevin Tenney for going with this.

The Scream Factory disc contains a wealth of bonus features, including two audio commentaries. One of them features Tenney, Gerald Geoffray and Walter Josten, and is excellent, featuring many fine stories, including how much craft services loves doughnuts.