Director: Andrew Fleming
Four girls at a Los Angeles Catholic school form a coven of witches that cast spells on their classmates and each other. Their new powers overwhelm them, leading to an internal power struggle
Peter Filardi
Release date: 1996
Actor: Fairuza Balk
Audience Score: 69861 vote
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✷✸ Server 1 Here
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The Craft is a film that comes with an appealing idea. A coven of teenage witches use their magic for self-improvement that develops into self-empowerment. Its an idea ripe with possibilities. And for the most part The Craft is a sharp, witty and involving postmodern spin on witchcraft. So more's the pity that it loses the focus in the final act and ends the film on a shrill idiotic note.
The coven in question is Sarah (Robin Tunney) the new girl in school who becomes the one who completes the circle. Nancy (Fairuza Balk) the cynical Goth who likes power a little too much. Bonnie (Neve Campbell) a scarred girl who turns her life around through magic. And Rochelle (Rachel True) the Black member who uses magic to combat the racists who make her life miserable.
One thing that quite impressed me about The Craft was its direction. I liked the way Sarah arrives at school. She's told to stay away from Nancy, Bonnie and Rochelle. They're quite wittily described as the 'Bitches of Eastwick. But Sarah's own innate magic power endears her to the others, and recognising them as kindred spirits, completes the coven.
And once they're powers are combined, they take steps to become a force at their high school. In the case of Sarah, she takes revenge on a boy who humiliated her by casting a love spell on him. Nancy kills her abusive father through magic. Bonnie cures herself of the scars that have scarred her life. And Rochelle punishes a racist blonde girl by making her hair fall out.
The film is smart enough to include the slowly developing consequences of each individual act. Sarah discovers having someone love you to death is dangerous. Nancy realises that power indeed does corrupt. Bonnie may look more beautiful on the outside, but in turn discovers the ugly side of human nature. And Rochelle discovers the line that separates bullied from bully is narrower then she thought.
This may all sound a bit preachy and moralistic. But its the cleverly observed performances from the girls that makes The Craft very astute for three quarters of its running time.
Robin Tunney turns in a smart and invigorating performance. She discovers power in her life, and her emotions rotate through fear, joy and horror at what she's become. Its an acutely observed piece of acting. Why she hasn't gone onto a rich acting career is frankly a mystery.
The same could be said for Fairuza Balk. Before The Craft, she was most well known for playing Dorothy in Return to Oz. Her performance here is a whole 180 degrees removed. Her turn as the cynical Nancy is quite shocking by contrast. Decked out in white makeup, jet-black hair, nose-ring and leering grin that would make the Joker envious, she has a complete ball in the role.
Hers is the most interesting character arc and she knows it. She knows the lust of power is too great a temptation, and her revelry in her own abilities is fun to watch. Her acting is broad and uninhibited but its tightly constrained within the boundaries of her character. Its only at the end she forgets that and ruins what was a fascinating piece of character development.
Pre-Scream star Neve Campbell and Rachel True are only really supporting players to Tunney and Balk. They get to have fun with their roles, but they're only written in as minute performers and that's about it.
Since The Craft uses high-school as a backdrop, it paints the girls coven in terms of not all dissimilar surroundings. There are times when they reminded me of an exclusive clique. But instead of a group of the most popular and well connected girls, they're a group that champions individuality and non-conformity. Its a witty reversal of what cliques are usually all about.
For three quarters of its running time, The Craft is a well judged and well executed portrait of teen witchcraft. There are hilarious throwaway gags like the girls watching an episode of Bewitched. And it alternates with the girls powers going from innocent applications, like the beautiful scene of a swarm of butterflies embracing the girls, to their powers turning nasty. And I liked the subtle buildup. We know something dangerous is forming on the horizon.
To return to the clique analogy, Nancy has always seen herself as the leader of the group. But when Sarah's powers prove greater than hers, it creates a shift in the group dynamic. Nancy feels threatened by her position being usurped, and takes steps to counter this, by fully worshipping the Dark Arts.
This stage of the film should have been The Craft's triumphal moment. And yet somehow I was left disappointed. Up until that point, I had really enjoyed the shifts in loyalties and narrative turns, but its the way its played out in the final act that wrecks everything.
Sarah and Nancy's battle could have made for some operatic developments. But the film's special effects start to take over. Beforehand they had been relatively restrained, leaving the actresses strengths and personalities to shine through. We get some really overblown scenes of Sarah's house swarming with scorpions, spiders, snakes, beetles, worms and maggots. And Fairuza Balk's acting here is horribly overdone. She lacks any menace. She looks plain silly trying to act insane and power mad. Almost reminiscent of Jack Nicholson at his worst.
And the epilogue is a real wet blanket. Frankly it doesn't make much sense at all. What a shame! Films like The Craft really disappoint me. How they start out great and in control. And throw it all away for some neat sense of resolution. A mistake The Witches of Eastwick made. Relying upon a special effects climax in a misguided attempt to wrap everything up.
I can't remember the last time I felt so cheated at the end of a film.
This movie has to be one of the best Teen witches movie that I have ever seen. Most people I know say that this movie uses a lot of real Wiccan beliefs. I think that this movie is really cool and people that enjoy witches movies should all watch this one. Out Of.
