Aaron Dominguez Archives

Review: ‘Witchboard’ (2025), starring Madison Iseman, Aaron Dominguez, Melanie Jarnson, Charlie Tahan, Antonia Desplat, Jamie Campbell Bower

August 19, 2025

by Carla Hay

Madison Iseman in “Witchboard” (Photo courtesy of The Avenue and Atlas Distribution)

“Witchboard” (2025)

Directed by Chuck Russell

Some language in French with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in 2023 in New Orleans (with flashbacks to the region formerly known as Lorraine, France, in 1693), the horror film “Witchboard” (a re-imagining of the 1986 film of the same name) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some black people and Latin people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A young woman comes into the possession of a stolen witchboard that has a connection to an accused witch who was burned at the stake in 1693.

Culture Audience: “Witchboard” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the 1986 “Witchboard” movie and predictable horror films about occult artifacts and supernatural spirits.

Pictured clockwise, from left: Melanie Jarnson, Jamie Campbell Bower, Madison Iseman and Aaron Dominguez in “Witchboard” (Photo courtesy of The Avenue and Atlas Distribution)

In the seemingly never-ending list of horror movies that are remakes, re-imaginings and sequels, “Witchboard” is a movie series (which began with 1986’s “Witchboard”) that legions of horror fans haven’t been demanding to continue. The “Witchboard” fan base is very niche. All of the “Witchboard” movies so far have been mediocre at best and complete trash at worst. Although this mid-2020s version of “Witchboard” made the effort to be very different from the 1986 version of the movie, it’s all resulted in an unimpressive collection of witchcraft clichés. Most of the acting isn’t very good, and this re-imagining isn’t very scary.

Directed by Chuck Russell (who co-wrote this “Witchboard” screenplay with Greg McKay), “Witchboard” has almost nothing in common with 1986’s “Witchboard” (written and directed by Kevin Tenney), except for the movie’s title and a concept about a young dating couple whose lives are turned upside down by a mysterious witchboard that becomes a fixation of the woman in the couple. Both movies also share a small plot point of a lost engagement ring that is found with help from whatever spirit is possessing the witchboard. The re-imagiing of “Witchboard” had its world premiere at the 2024 edition of Fantasia Fest.

This version of “Witchboard” begins in 1693, with a scene of a witch ritual taking place in the region that was then-known as the province of Lorraine, France. A fanatical witch hunter named Bishop Grogan (played by David La Haye) is tied up, as several witches dance around a fire. While the witches are dancing around the fire, several men invade the campfire grounds and massacre all of the witches. The only thing that remains on the ground is a witchboard, also known as a pendulum board.

The movie has other flashbacks to 1693 to reveal that Bishop Grogan accused a local woman named Naga Soth (played by Antonia Desplat) of being a witch and was obsessed with capturing her and having her burned at the stake. These flashbacks are somewhat sloppily edited in the movie, which is already jumbled with formulaic plot developments and plot twist “reveals” that aren’t surprising at all.

After the witch massacre scene, “Witchcraft” then shifts to 2020s New Orleans. At the New Orleans Museum of Natural History, there’s a break-in, where a burglar named Lebarge (played by Shawn Baichoo) steals the same witchboard that was shown in the witch massacre scene. Two security guards (played by Jason Moran and Vincent Michaud) try to stop this thief, but Lebarge shoots and kills them both and manages to escape with the witchboard that has various symbols on it.

It should be noted that even though this movie takes place mostly in New Orleans, none of the New Orleans characters sound like they’re from New Orleans. It’s one of many things that look phony in the movie. Even the people who speak French in “Witchboard” don’t sound like natives of France. “Witchboard” was actually filmed in the Canadian province of Quebec.

Not long after the murders and theft at the museum, four young people are shown walking in a wooded area in New Orleans, as they look for non-poisonous, non-psychedelic mushrooms. Emily (played by Madison Iseman) and Christian (played by Aaron Dominguez) are an engaged couple in their mid-20s. Christian and his two best friends—neurotic and fidgety Richie (played by Charlie Tahan) and mild-mannered Zack (played by Jamal Azémar)—are planning to open an organic cafe-styled restaurant called The Creole Kings, as an evolution from the food truck business the three pals used to operate together.

Emily finds the witchboard when she comes across a stray Maine Coon cat that leads her to the burglar bag where the witchboard is still tucked inside. Emily shows the witchboard to Christian and mentions that it looks like an artifact that would look good as a decoration in the restaurant. Christian agrees, so they take the witchboard home with them. Emily and Christian don’t notice that only a few feet away is the mutilated and dead body of museum thief Lebarge.

Meanwhile, at the museum, a museum official named Alexander Babtiste (played by Jamie Campbell Bower), who is a native of England, is upset with another employee named Booker (played by Kent McQuaid) because Booker failed in his task to find the witchboard. It’s explained later in the movie that Alexander is an expert in wicca. But in this scene, the movie reveals too early (within the first 15 minutes) that Alexander is the chief villain.

Alexander has a sniveling Booker murdered by his harem-like mercenaries: three look-alike women, each named Asha (played by real-life twins Renee Herbert and Elisha Herbert and their older sister Chiara Fossati), who look like “The Lord of the Rings” Sindarin elves wearing skin-tight Goth clothing. The three Ashas could have been compelling characters in a better movie. But in “Witchboard,” they are merely underdeveloped sidekicks with blank personalities.

Emily hears on the local news that the witchboard was stolen from the New Orleans Museum of Natural History, but she wants to keep the witchboard anyway. She finds a pendulum made of a human finger bone and uses it to summon the spirit of the witchboard to answer her questions. And sure enough, the witchboard starts acting like a Ouija board.

We all know what happens next: More people start to die in gruesome ways, all seemingly because of the witchboard. And that Maine Coon cat keeps lurking around. Bad things happen when the cat shows up. Emily is too slow to figure it out and convinces a reluctant Christian to let this stray cat stay at their place on a foster care basis that could lead to them permanently keeping the cat.

Too many scenes in “Witchboard” resemble a soap-opera-styled drama instead of a horror movie. Christian’s ex-girlfriend Brooke (played by Melanie Jarnson, also known as Mel Jarnson), who is a sophisticated antiques expert, has recently come back from a European trip. Brooke shows up at a tasting party hosted by Christian and his business partners. Emily isn’t too happy to see Brooke there because she knows that Brooke still has unresolved romantic feelings for Christian.

Emily has a troubled past: She’s in recovery for needle-using opioid addiction, and she has a drug-related arrest. Christian knows about Emily’s past and is supportive of her recovery. It’s implied that Emily received court-ordered rehab treatment and is on probation. Her probation is one of the reasons she doesn’t want to call police when certain things happen later in the movie.

Christian gets paranoid that Emily has relapsed back into drug addiction when she starts having nightmares and when she begins babbling about the witchboard being possessed. It doesn’t help that Emily’s former drug dealer Jessie (played by Francesco Filice) has been lurking around. Alexander finds out where the witchboard is and inevitably meets Emily and Christian when Brooke introduces Alexander to them.

One of the problems with “Witchboard” is the main characters are too generic. Christian’s personal history is barely mentioned in the movie, and Dominguez’s acting is unfortunately wooden is some of the scenes. Emily is a basic stereotype of a “woman in peril and the target of evil” who is the protagonist in so many horror movies. Iseman’s performance as Emily is as two-dimensional as the character is written. Brooke has a cynical personality with a little bit of edge, but she’s not interesting enough to be a scene-stealing standout.

As for Alexander, his creepy mannerisms, his harem trio of elf-looking women, his imperious British accent, and his obsession with reclaiming the witchboard all but telegraph that he fancies himself as some type of occult leader. There is nothing that Alexander does in the movie that is a surprise. Also not shocking are the all secrets revealed toward the end of the movie.

“Witchboard” has some kill scenes that look very fake and awkwardly staged. The movie also stretches credibility to the breaking point because certain people don’t try to get rid of the witchboard when they believe it’s causing so many problems. Have these people not heard of garbage dumps?

Of course, many horror movies rely on the characters not thinking logically in certain fear-filled moments. However, the entire plot for this version of “Witchboard” is built on the main characters being dimwits. And when the flimsy story’s scares are underwhelming, and the directing and editing are slipshod, they all make “Witchboard” a derivative and unsatisfying horror movie.

The Avenue and Atlas Distribution released “Witchboard” in select U.S. cinemas on August 15, 2025. Paramount Home Entertainment will release “Witchboard” on digital and VOD on September 16, 2025.

Review: ‘The Inspection,’ starring Jeremy Pope, Raúl Castillo, McCaul Lombardi, Aaron Dominguez, Bokeem Woodbine and Gabrielle Union

November 18, 2022

by Carla Hay

“The Inspection”

Directed by Elegance Bratton

Culture Representation: Taking place in 2003, on Parris Island, South Carolina, and briefly in New York City, the dramatic film “The Inspection” features a racially diverse cast of characters (African American, white, Latino and Middle Eastern) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: Based on a true story, a 26-year-old African American gay man enlists in the U.S. Marines to escape from homelessness, and he has to deal with rampant homophobia and bullying during his boot camp training.

Culture Audience: “The Inspection” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of stars Jeremy Pope, Gabrielle Union and well-acted dramas about LGBTQ people in the U.S. military.

Bokeem Woodbine and McCaul Lombardi in “The Inspection” (Photo by Josiah Rundles/A24)

Even when “The Inspection” becomes a little too repetitive in its drama, the movie shines brightest where it matters the most. Elegance Bratton tells a very authentic, heartfelt story of homophobia that he experienced inside and outside the U.S. military. The movie is based on Bratton’s real-life triumphs and traumas during his boot camp training in the U.S. Marines. There have been other movies about LGBTQ people who tried to hide their sexualities in the military, but “The Inspection” is a rare movie were the gay protagonist in the military is an African American cisgender man.

Bratton wrote and directed “The Inspection” as a semi-autobiographical film where the protagonist goes through many of the same things that Bratton went through in real life. Several characters are based on real people, while some characters are fictional. “The Inspection” had its world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival and its U.S. premiere at the 2022 New York Film Festival.

The movie takes place in 2003, during the era when the U.S. military banned any sexuality that isn’t heterosexual, but there was a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy when it came to disclosure of the sexualities of people in the U.S. military. In the beginning of the movie, Ellis French (played by Jeremy Pope), who prefers to be called French, is a 26-year-old homeless man. He lives in New York City, and he has been homeless for about 10 years. When he was 16 years old, his very homophobic mother Inez French (played by Gabrielle Union) kicked him out of their home because French (who is an only child) is gay. All of this happened to Bratton in real life, as he has said in many interviews.

French has no other relatives he can turn to for support. He never knew his father, who abandoned Inez when she was pregnant with French. French has a tight-knit group of friends, many of whom are also openly queer, but he’s become tired of having an unstable and dangerous lifestyle on the streets. It’s mentioned at one point in the movie that some of his friends have died from violent crimes, while others have died from AIDS, and others are in prison.

French doesn’t want to end up in any of these situations. His mother Inez works as a corrections officer at a prison, and she already thinks that French is a major disappointment. French does not want to risk doing anything that could further alienate his mother. French goes to his mother’s apartment unannounced to ask her for his birth certificate. Why? French has decided that he’s going to enlist in the U.S. Marines to receive training in a career so he won’t have to be homeless anymore.

Inez and French have been estranged for years, but French never stops wanting his mother’s love and acceptance. When he shows up at her door, she’s not happy to see him, because she knows he’s homeless. Inez immediately asks French, “Are you in trouble?” Inez mentions that she’s been getting “notice to appear” courtroom documents addressed to him in the mail. He tells her about his life as a homeless person: “You have no idea how hard it’s been … Something has to change.”

When French tells her the reason for the visit, Inez laughs at the thought of French committing to something as demanding and strict as the military. She is also skeptical that French will be able to hide the fact that he’s gay. “What about your lifestyle?” she asks, as an indication that she thinks homosexuality is a choice.

At first, Inez doesn’t want to give him his birth certificate, but she eventually does when she sees that French is serious, and he’s not going to change his mind. Even though the vast majority of “The Inspection” takes place during French’s training on Parris Island, South Carolina, he continues to make attempts to connect with his mother in New York. His attempts are usually rejected.

When French is at his former home with his mother, she tells him exactly what she thinks about French: “I made peace with losing you.” When she gives him the birth certificate, Inez tells French: “This piece of paper is all I have left of the son I have birth to. If you don’t come back, consider this birth certificate void.” There are indications that Inez has misguided hope that somehow, being in the military will turn French into a heterosexual.

French is so determined to leave his homeless life behind, before he leaves for boot camp, he gives his cell phone to an elderly homeless man named Shamus (played by Tyler Merritt), who was French’s friend on the streets. Shamus, who calls himself an “old queen,” comments to French about French’s enrollment in the U.S. Marines: “You don’t have to do this. You can be anything you want to be.” French replies, “You and I both know that’s not true.” Shamus adds with stern words of encouragement, “I better not see you back here.”

French’s boot camp training is depicted exactly how you think it will go, based on how boot camp has been portrayed in many other movies and TV shows. There’s the shouting, macho drill sergeant, who uses his superior position to bully new recruits, especially those he thinks are the weakest emotionally and physically. This cruel tyrant is named Laws (played by Bokeem Woodbine), who constantly hurls abusive insults and who looks the other way when his underlings physically assault each other in their attempts to impress Laws and each other.

Laws, who is in his 40s, served in Operation Desert Storm. He the type of drill sergeant who snarls at his underlings: “I hate recruits, but I love Marines.” Later, in another scene, Laws says, “We don’t make Marines. We make monsters.” Although “The Inspection” has many emotionally raw and realistic-looking scenes, the movie occasionally falters with these types of corny statements from Laws.

Even though the U.S. military has a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in 2003, Laws breaks that policy by yelling at French in front of his fellow recruits: “Are you now or have you ever been a homosexual?” French is afraid of “outing” himself, so he shouts back, “No, sir!” It’s a lie that will eventually be exposed.

In addition to having a mean-spirited drill sergeant, another predictable aspect of “The Inspection” is the protagonist having a jealous rival, who is also a bully. His name is Harvey (played by McCaul Lombardi), who is very competitive and wants to be the “alpha male” of the recruits. Harvey expresses his homophobic views early on in the boot camp process. There are also big hints that Harvey (who is white) is racist against people who aren’t white. Harvey’s ego gets even more inflated when Laws appoints Harvey as the squad leader of the recruits.

At first, French thinks he can hide his sexuality, in order to avoid homophobic bullying and possible expulsion from the military. When the other recruits talk about their girlfriends and wives, French pretends that he has a female love interest too. The “special woman” he’s writing letters to is really French’s dismissive mother Inez.

French’s secret about being gay is eventually revealed when he and several other recruits (ncluding Harvey) are in a public shower. French starts thinking of a sexual fantasy about a good-looking drill sergeant in his 40s named Rosales (played by Raúl Castillo), who is Laws’ second-in-command. And the next thing French knows, his fellow recruits have noticed that French has an erection. French makes a half-hearted attempt to deny that he’s gay, but the secret is out. It gives Harvey and the rest of the homophobes even more of a reason to target French.

And so, for most of the movie, French is either shunned or abused (including beatings) by Harvey and some other recruits for being gay. Laws finds out and does nothing to stop this cruelty. In fact, when French tries to stand up for himself and threatens to report this abuse, Laws lets it be known that he hates snitches. Considering that Laws will be the one to decide which recruits will graduate from the training program, it puts French in a very precarious and vulnerable situation.

There are some bright spots to French’s traumatic and bleak experiences as a bullied recruit. He befriends another “outsider” recruit named Ismail (played by Eman Esfandi), who is harassed and insulted for being of Middle Eastern/Islamic heritage, during a time after 9/11 when hatred against Middle Eastern and Islamic people was encouraged in the U.S. war against Iraq and Afghanistan. Ismail is one of the few people who’s willing to stick up for French when things get very rough.

Another recruit named Castro (played by Aaron Dominguez) doesn’t really befriend French, but Castro doesn’t fully participate in the bullying against French either. Castro is someone who “goes along to get along” and tries to stay under the radar and not alienate anyone. But there’s a pivotal scene in the movie where Castro is forced to take a side, and he has to make a decision that will test his ethics and show his true character.

The person in the Marines who has the biggest emotional impact on French is drill sergeant Rosales, who is battling some personal demons of his own. Rosales wants to be a friendly mentor to French. However, French is sexually attracted to Rosales and wants a physically intimate relationship with him. Rosales is in a troubled marriage to a woman and is conflicted about his own sexuality. You can probably guess what that means in terms of the movie’s plot development.

French is often underestimated as being a “sissy,” but he proves to be a resilient and physically adept recruit who’s a fast learner. As his skills improve in the boot camp challenges, so does his confidence. And that’s a problem for Harvey, who doesn’t like to see French excel. Harvey is a stereotypical “villain” in this movie that doesn’t give him much of a backstory.

“The Inspection” greatly benefits from having a very talented cast, with Pope, Union and Castillo giving the standout performances. Their respective characters are also the best-written in the movie as fully formed human beings, instead of shallow stereotypes. Even with all the blood, sweat and tears that French experiences during boot camp, Pope’s soul-stirring performance never lets viewers forget that French’s real heartbreak comes from being rejected by his mother.

Union doesn’t have very many scenes in the movie, but when she’s on screen, she brings depth to her Inez character. Inez has self-righteousness about her homophobia because Inez genuinely believes that French’s sexuality means that he’s doomed to be in hell on Earth and elsewhere. Her anger toward French has other reasons too: As a single mother who had financial struggles in raising him, she somewhat blames him for giving her a harder life than she thinks she deserves.

Castillo’s Rosales character doesn’t talk much, but Rosales does a very credible job of expressing Rosales’ inner turmoil. Rosales is a good listener and observer who, unlike Laws, has a compassionate side. One of the best scenes in “The Inspection” is when Rosales asks French why French puts up with all the abuse he’s getting in boot camp and why French wants to be a Marine. This scene is partially shown in the movie’s trailer.

French candidly replies, “I’ve been raising myself since I was 16. My mom won’t even talk to me, If I die in this uniform, I’m a hero to somebody.” Although the story in “The Inspection” is mostly limited to French’s boot camp experiences, the movie shows some hints that French is a talented camera operator—a foreshadowing of Bratton’s future career as a filmmaker. In real life, Bratton got his first experiences in filmmaking as a camera operator in the U.S. Marines.

“The Inspection” doesn’t have a lot of dazzle or artsiness in the movie’s cinematography because this emotionally gritty film doesn’t need it. This is not a movie where people should expect to see a lot of insight into anything other than the world as French sees it in this specific period of his life. Viewers will feel his isolation in the midst of being surrounded by people.

This movie isn’t about how U.S. Marines prepared for war in the Middle East in the early 2000s. It’s about how people can be at war with themselves and their insecurities. “The Inspection” has moments of despair and hope in telling this memorable story. The movie also effectively shows how sometimes a person’s biggest strength is having nothing left to lose.

A24 released “The Inspection” in select U.S. cinemas on November 18, 2022, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on December 2, 2022. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on December 22, 2022.