The Craft (1996) Review
THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Sometimes, an inner circle isn’t meant for everyone.
PLOT
1996’s The Craft follows teenager Sarah Bailey move from San Francisco to Los Angeles with her father (Cliff De Young), having attempted suicide as an act of depression over the fact her mother died giving birth to her. When settling into her new school, she is noticed by student Bonnie Harper being able to levitate a pencil in class. In awe, she recruits her to complete her witch coven alongside Rochelle Zimmerman and Nancy Downs. Her crush, jock Chris Hooker warns Sarah to not trust those girls due to the rumor of them being witches. The rumor turns out to be true when they explain to worship the earth deity ‘Manon’. With four girls together, they can represent the Four Elements. After a trip shopping at an occult shop in LA, a homeless man who had previously harassed Sarah at her doorstep passes by her and tries chasing her again until being struck by a car. Believing their magic to be responsible for what transpired, the moment strengthens their bond. The following day does Sarah go out with Chris and when she turns him down in having sex, he spreads false rumors at school of them doing it. Wanting a form of revenge, she joins the girls in a unity spell to fulfill their desires. Sarah casts a love spell on Chris which is later proven to work when he slowly becomes obsessed with her. Bonnie wishes for beauty and she seemingly gets it when her past scars become completely healed as if they were never there. Rochelle straight up curses her racist bully Laura Lizzie, which leads to her hair falling off as a result of her mocking her nappy hair. As for Nancy, she wishes for power and after an outburst towards her abusive stepfather Ray (John Kapelos), the man has a heart attack and leaves behind life insurance for her and her mother Grace (Helen Shaver). With the money, they move to a luxurious apartment. The good feeling doesn’t become enough for nancy however, as she becomes drunk on power and tries convincing the girls to perform the ritual, Invocation of the Spirit. Despite being warned by practicing witch and the shop’s owner, Lirio (Assumpta Serna), they perform it at a beach and Nancy is able to walk on water the next day. This only paves the way for her to be all the more reckless. The consequential power starts affecting the girls when Bonnie starts acting more vein, Rochelle sees Laura become nearly bald and Chris nearly rapes Sarah. When the latter tells the group of what happened, Nancy tries to take matters into her own hands, imitating her via glamour spell to seduce Chris. When he realizes she is a real witch, he claims her to be jealous. This only pisses her off and chooses to kill him by throwing him out the window. Sarah would try stopping Nancy via binding spell, but it backfires and it causes the coven to go against her by invading her dreams and conjure insects before having her believe her father to have died in a plane crash. When they invade her home, she chooses to defend herself by successfully invoking Manon that heals & empowers her, but triggers a mirror illusion to scare off Bonnie & Rochelle. This allows her to defeat Nancy by successfully retrying the binding spell which disconnects her power. Some time after this confrontation, Bonnie & Rochelle try apologizing to Sarah for what they did, but she rejects their reconciliation and conjures a storm to warn them not to end up like Nancy. The film would end with the reveal of their former friend being institutionalized, as no one in the psychiatric hospital believes she had powers.
THOUGHTS
The 90s really was a phase because throughout, it seemed like everyone was into witches, whether they’re friendly like in Practical Magic or downright evil like Hocus Pocus. Director and cowriter Andrew Fleming brought something that was in the very middle. Throughout, it is the kind of story that instantly teaches you the addiction to power especially when surrounded by the wrong people. Graeme Revell’s score gets the mood going in how intense that feeling ends up becoming and there were times I had chills over Alexander Gruszynski’s cinematography over the fact on how immersive it must be to be a witch with simple moments like the prayer circles or the epic-ness of walking on water, but the payoff goes to the female ensemble that shows there are some sisterhoods not worth assembling because when you spilt power for selfish reasons, it’s gonna blow back significantly. Fairuza Balk is the straight up the finest example of how bad addiction gets. Given how bad her upbringing was, you can’t blame her wanting to feel so strong for a change. She wants to be in control with how she feels, but everytime she thinks she’s got the problem taken care of, she ends up becoming one way before choosing to kill Chris. Bonnie & Rochelle have similar approaches in that desire because Neve Campbell shows the former to be most insecure that doesn’t know how to accept inner beauty, whereas Rachel True depicts the latter to come off more into peer pressure from her own vulnerability despite still wanting the desire of agency. They get what they want but overtime, they see their chosen steps weren’t worth taking and the only reason it blows up is thanks to the one person willing to set things right. Robin Tunney has you root for Sarah the most because she’s most empathetic no matter conflicted she expressed herself to be. She sees firsthand how flawed people are the way Skeet Ulrich and Christine Taylor equally are as Chris and Laura, yet she tries to avoid to act as vengeful compared to the other girls. She wanted to be at peace over something that was never her fault, only to accept that tampering with the unknown wasn’t worth that step. Seeing her outsmart the other girls with everything they taught her was like poetic justice because they needed to be free of what was holding them back. While Bonnie & Rochelle will have to steer clear of Sarah for their sake, Nancy will have to cope with isolation just like she did for her own good which makes some tragic irony in this case. I think this movie is genuinely well made, but there are some things I couldn’t help scratching my head about. For instance, the odds are just so crazy for the same bum to encounter Sarah in public after already invading her home, but it feels a bit more unbelievable that Bonnie’s mom (Kathleen Lloyd) didn’t notice Rochelle floating in her bedroom. I even scratched my head harder on when did Sarah know where to meet Chris at one of his parties and when did he figure out where she lived. I mean it never seemed like they made the time to talk about this stuff in person or on the phone and it’s weird. While I do wonder how come Nancy didn’t transform into Sarah before she finds Chris, I’m all the more surprised Laura never suspected Rochelle to be responsible for losing her hair. Chris spread the rumor of her being a witch anyway apart from already bullying her, so it’s a miracle she didn’t put it together. Lastly, I’m sure Sarah’s dad must’ve had some sort of night shift that excuses his absence during the conflict involving all the girls, but it’s pure luck he didn’t see the branch land near Bonnie & Rochelle. That act alone could’ve made him suspicious of what Sarah became. Other than that, The Craft is a fascinating fantasy thriller for having you think more on what to do when feeling alone. If witchcraft is up your alley, then I think you’ll get a kick out of this one.
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