Remember when Tawny Kitaen was hot? Remember when ouija boards were cool? Remember this movie? Admit it; you liked it, as long as you were a teenager when it came out. You thought this movie had the absolute facts in ouija board lore. What’s the most important thing about using a ouija board? Never, EVER use it alone!

Linda and her alcoholic boyfriend Jim have a party and Linda invites her asshole ex Brandon. Brandon brings a date, a ouija board with a spirit named David attached. They play with the board, piss the spirit off, and everyone leaves including Brandon who forgets to take the board home. Linda starts playing with it and at first it’s a lot of fun. The spirit answers some questions and helps her find a lost ring. Quickly the fun turns to horror as the spirit becomes more demanding and wants to get out. Jim and Brandon must figure out who the spirit is and what it wants in order to keep Linda from being possessed.

A couple of things lift this movie above the normal 80’s dreck. Writer-director Kevin Tenney (Night of the Demons) takes the time to flesh out the characters so you actually care what happens to them. The kills are done well, especially the death of Ric Ocasek (you’ll see). The spirit-view swooping camera angles were pretty nifty in its day; they hadn’t been done to death at that point. For those of you who are reading this impatiently wondering if Ms. Kitaen gets naked the answer is yes, there is a brief shower scene. The score is sufficiently eerie also.

Onto the bad, the dialog, especially Brandon’s oh so serious occult speeches (it’s not WEEGEE) is so freaking corny you’ll miss a lot of it since your laughter will be drowning it out. You’ll wonder why Linda who is super hot dates all these assholes. Jim doesn’t take Brandon seriously for most of the movie because apparently the symptoms for demon possession are the same as being pregnant, yeah insert your own joke here dads. There are two minor characters, a cop and a medium, who do absolutely nothing for the movie and are annoying as hell.

Whatever you do, do NOT leave the menu running for too long. You run the risk of being possessed by the melodic electric styling of Steel Breeze singing their smash hit “Bump in the Night” which is still in my head even as I type this.

Give this movie a shot even if it’s just to see Tawny Kitaen in her Jaguar humping glory days and try to forget the mess she’s made of herself now with needles and knives.

4.4 out of 10 mulleted soap opera stars that look better with a patch over one eye