Fantasia Fest Interview: Discussing ‘Witchboard’ With Actors Madison Iseman, Aaron Dominguez, Charlie Tahan, and Filmmaker Chuck Russell

The Fantasia International Film Festival is home to the latest and greatest in genre cinema. Fans of all genres can find themselves in a festival that celebrates horror, action/adventure, Asian cinema, and animated films. It’s also home to massive world premieres, including Chris Stuckmann‘s Shelby Oaks and Jayro Bustamante‘s Rita, which NEON and Shudder respectively picked up before they screened in Montreal.

Another big production to have its world premiere at this year’s edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival is Witchboard. Not only does it mark legendary director Chuck Russell’s return to horror for the first time in over twenty years, but it also boasts an incredible ensemble comprised of Madison Iseman, Aaron Dominguez, Charlie Tahan, Jamie Campbell Bower, and French-Canadian character actor David La Haye. 

A remake of Kevin S. Tenney’s trilogy, the movie is tons of fun and marks a more than welcomed return to horror from one of our greatest cinematic innovators. Like his remake of The Blob and the third installment in A Nightmare on Elm Street, Russell keeps it as practical as possible, whether in the setpieces or through the camerawork.

It’s also exciting to have the film’s world premiere in Montreal, where most of the movie was shot. During the festival, I had a chance to sit down and chat with director Chuck Russell, who praised the Fantasia fans for being “the greatest. They line up afterward, not always for autographs. They just want to tell me about their experience with one of their favorite films of mine, which is super cool.”

Russell was also joined by Madison Iseman, Aaron Dominguez, and Charlie Tahan for an almost twenty-minute conversation on the making of the movie before its world premiere. Of course, we discussed the fact that the movie would premiere at Fantasia, the making of Witchboard, and what they hoped the audience who would attend the screening would enjoy the most.

Obviously, because the movie is currently not out and has no solidified release date, I had to tread incredibly lightly at not giving any spoilers or plot details away. Rest assured, this audio interview, seen below, keeps reveals at a minimum. You will instead get a lesson in making a great horror movie from one of our most treasured genre filmmakers alongside a great cast of terrific actors.

You can listen to the full conversation with Chuck, Madison, Aaron, and Charlie below, and hopefully, you’ll catch Witchboard soon!