The Craft (1996)
HORROR-THON 2021 • THEY’RE HERE
10/10
DIRECTOR: Andrew Fleming
STARRING: Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell
RELEASED: 1996
RUNTIME: 1 hour, 41 minutes
WATCH ON: HBO Max, Plex, Amazon, Apple TV, Fandango at Home
SCARE LEVEL: Low
INFLUENCE LEVEL: Enormous
Four Catholic school outcasts discover that witchcraft works and immediately use it for revenge. That’s the correct reaction. Every teenager who ever sat alone at lunch watched this and took notes.
Sarah transfers to a Catholic high school in Los Angeles and finds three girls whom everyone calls witches: Nancy, who’s angry about basically everything; Bonnie, who’s hiding burn scars; and Rochelle, who’s being targeted by a racist bully on the swim team. They need a fourth to complete their circle. Sarah turns out to have real power.
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The spells work. Bonnie’s scars heal. Rochelle’s bully starts losing her hair. Sarah puts a love spell on Chris, the jerk who spread rumors about her, and he becomes obsessively devoted. Nancy’s abusive stepfather dies and leaves her family money.
Then Nancy invokes a spirit on the beach and comes back with far more power than she can handle. When Sarah tries to pull back, the coven turns on her, and the last act is witch against witch inside a house full of snakes and bugs.
MY HUMBLE OPINION
Nancy is a vibe. I know she’s the “villian,” but she’s the only one of the four who is honest about what she wants. Fairuza Balk plays her like a lit match. Every scene she’s in, you can’t look anywhere else.
The movie is also smarter than it gets credit for. Each girl’s spell is about the one thing that makes her feel powerless, and each fix costs something. That’s why it hits harder than the typical teen movie. Rochelle deserved more. Rachel True gives her a real arc, and the movie mostly moves past her once the Nancy drama starts.
Now the look. The look is iconic now. Plaid skirts, knee socks, chokers, black lipstick and platform Mary Janes. It’s the reason every girl owned a choker in 1996. The styling still works 30 years later. Honestly, it works better now.
If you want to see how the remake compares, I watched The Craft: Legacy for Horror-Thon 2020. You can see that post here. Short version: I’d stick with this one.
FUN FACT FOR YOUR NEXT DINNER PARTY
Robin Tunney wore an auburn wig throughout filming because she shaved her head for Empire Records, which wrapped a month before production started on this movie.