This Time, It’s Not a Game.
Written and directed by Kevin #tenney.
AKA
The Presence
Witchtrap: A Noite das Bruxarias (Witchtrap: Night of Witchcraft)
The Haunted
A man falls to his death from the balcony of a 19th century inn, Lauder House a.k.a. Slaughter House. A team are assembled by Agnes Goldberg (Judy Tatum): mental medium Felix Goldberg (Rob Zapple), who is Agnes’ husband; video technician Ginger Kowolski (Linnea Quigley); and physical medium Whitney O’Shea (Kathleen Bailey). They attend a meeting with Devon Lauder (Kevin Tenney himself) where they meet a security team; Mr. Murphy (Jack W. Thompson) and his operatives Levi Jackson (Clyde Talley II) and Tony Vincente (James W. Quinn). Lauder tells them the inn, a gothic mansion, is haunted by the ghost of his uncle Avery Lauder (J.P. Luebsen). He wants the team to exorcise the ghost as it’s bad for business basically and the security operatives are to go with them.
The seven of them go to the house and they meet Elwin (Hal Havins), the groundskeeper, who was Avery’s stage assistant; Avery was an illusionist, he was also a psychic and warlock.
The team soon communicate with the spirit of Avery Lauder who speaks through Felix. Whitney is attacked by Avery’s spirit which leaves her feeling drained. At the same time tragedy strikes elsewhere in the house…
This isn’t a sequel to #witchboard (1986). Witchboard was also written and directed by Kevin Tenney, as was Witchboard 2: The Devil’s Doorway (1993), and as with those two films the music in Witchtrap is by Dennis Michael Tenney, but Witchtrap is a spin-off if anything, not a sequel. The film even included a disclaimer to this effect:
NOTICE: THIS MOTION PICTURE IS NOT A SEQUEL TO WITCHBOARD
Interestingly, J.P. Luebsen who was in Witchboard is also in this; probably more interesting if you’re a fan of the original Witchboard.
While this isn’t quite in the same league as Witchboard or its sequel I couldn’t help liking it. The dialogue and acting are decidely clunkier than the Witchboard films but it has a pretty good atmosphere and a few decent deaths. It’s 80s horror through and through and not one of the best 80s horrors but if like me you go in understanding this then you shouldn’t be too disappointed; I wasn’t, like I said, I liked it.
Other films directed by Kevin Tenney:
Witchboard (1986)
Night of the Demons (1988)
Witchboard 2: The Devil’s Doorway (1993)
You might also like:
Ghosthouse (1988)
Witchery (1988)
Beyond Darkness (1990)
