Tags
1990's, Andrew Fleming, Assumpta Serna, Christine Taylor, Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell, Rachel True, Robin Tunney, Skeet Ulrich, Supernatural Horror, Teen Movie, The Craft
Film Title
The Craft
Director
Andrew Fleming
Starring
- Robin Tunney as Sarah Bailey
- Fairuza Balk as Nancy Downs
- Neve Campbell as Bonnie
- Rachel True as Rochelle
- Skeet Ulrich as Chris Hooker
- Christine Taylor as Laura Lizzie
- Assumpta Serna as Lirio
A blend of supernatural horror and a teen movie, The Craft is the kind of film that will appeal to me always. Witchcraft and the awkwardness of being a teenage outcast mix for eventful results.
Sarah Bailey is a lonely teenager who moves from San Francisco to Los Angeles. She is a troubled girl who feels isolated and once tried to kill herself due to personal demons. She begins to attend a Catholic School not long after arrival. Sarah is ostracized from the main in crowd, but she gains the attention of a trio of misfits. The group contains goth leader Nancy, shy Bonnie and sarcastic Rochelle. The girls in question have been dabbling in witchcraft and after witnessing the latent abilities that Sarah possesses, Sarah becomes a part of their group and friends with the outcast troika. This ultimately completes their witches circle and they all begin to use magic to aid them in their own troubles( of which each girl has many). Sarah wishes for popular jock Chris, who bad mouthed her to everyone, to like her and finds that he morphs into her personal lap dog. Quiet Bonnie, who has burn scars on her body, sees them vanish away. Rochelle gets revenge on a racist bully by causing her hair to fall out. And Nancy wants liberation from her white trash life and this is granted when her abusive stepfather dies, leaving her and her mother with a lot of money from a policy he took out. While the girls use magic for their own means and it comes in very handy, events take a disturbing turn. They invoke the spirit of a deity named Manon, and it impacts on them all. This is especially true of Nancy, who craves the power magic gives her and results in a descent into mania. Sarah realises this and sees that she must confront Nancy. Yet this is not as easy as that and the girls are eventually drawn into dark conflict, with dire consequences.
Andrew Fleming presents a film that shows witchcraft in something of a different light to the usual Hollywood fodder. Often witchcraft in movies is depicted as something evil, whereas here it is shown as something that is powerful and depends on how you use it. He twins this with the themes of alienation and troubles that each of the girls had, showing that they are united by their shared experiences and that by using magic it is an outlet for their collected frustrations. Fleming’s direction is confident as he slowly ladles on layers of darkness due to the girls playing about with magic and getting their fingers burned. A smarter than expected script elevates the movie with the way it fuses the supernatural with the pains of growing up. These are captured with great work from the writing and performances. The effects used within The Craft are actually still pretty good, especially a hallucinating scene late in the film and the girls using the power of glamour( the ability to make one look like another). It helps that there isn’t an overabundance of effects used, instead the story takes the main stage. A 90’s soundtrack provides just the ticket for this excellent brew, further enhanced also by the score that has an almost otherworldly and spiritual pulse to it. There is also a lot of fun to be gleaned from looking at how 90’s the movie is and how cool it still remains.
A cast of 90’s sensations features in The Craft, ensuring greatness from the roles given. In the lead of troubled Sarah, Robin Tunney is very convincing at exuding a lonely sense of melancholy and terror as her observance of magic begins to alarm her. Tunney is a relatable presence on screen and probably the main one who you get to know best during the run. Making one hell of an impression and stealing the movie in my eyes is Fairuza Balk. For me, she is an actress who has always had an off-the-wall appeal about her and that is evident in the part of Nancy. She completely rocks the sullen demeanor and snarling attitude of the part, plus a dark charisma to boot. As the movie progresses, Balk is seen displaying a real sense of horror in the latter stages of the film as Nancy becomes psychotic. When The Craft finishes, it is Fairuza Balk who will be in the memory for her performance. Neve Campbell is very good as the shy Bonnie, whose years of feeling ugly have taken an impact. Campbell interprets the part well, charting the rise of Bonnie’s confidence that slowly morphs into sheer narcissism and arrogance. Completing the quartet of witches, Rachel True finds emotion and subtlety in the form of Rochelle, who has been the victim of racial abuse for a long time and finally gets revenge. Skeet Ulrich takes the part of Chris, who becomes Sarah’s slave yet gets out of control while Christine Taylor is nasty and bitchy as the popular bitch getting her comeuppance for her taunting of Rochelle. In a small but pivotal role, Assumpta Serna exemplifies wisdom and experience as a magic shop owner who warns the girls of magic’s danger, but to no avail.
An assured movie that is nicely performed and enjoyable on a number of levels, The Craft is one of those movies you can watch time and time again.
By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
GREat review Vinnie! This could have been such a fluff of a movie, but what they did with the characters actually made it much deeper and the casting was perfect!
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vinnieh said:
I liked the way the script made each girl very relatable. And with the casting, whoever did that was a great person. Especially in casting Fairuza Balk, man she was really frightening here.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
OMG! Nancy was one SCARY chick! Yet because of the way Fairuza played her, you couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.
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vinnieh said:
Nancy was creepy but at times very sympathetic. Gotta love that goth wardrobe she had too.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Absolutely!
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vinnieh said:
Loved the crazy curly hair, thousands of Rosary beads and dark dress late in the film.
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beetleypete said:
I really liked this film. I could watch Neve Campbell apply her make up, and be happy. She doesn’t even have to bother to act. (Wild Things. WOW)
But it is really the fascinating Fairuza Balk who stole that film for me. She is so compelling on screen, she can make even TV films worth watching. Talking of which, check this out.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114406/
Cheers, Pete.
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vinnieh said:
Neve Campbell is both gorgeous and very talented. Fairuza Balk just has that magnetism to her, you can’t quite take your eyes off her.
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ninvoid99 said:
This is a film from the 90s that I’ve watched several times but as the years have gone by. It hasn’t aged well for me. I don’t know why. It’s got some flaws that’s irked me as I’m not sure if I want to see it again. I was into the Goth thing during the mid-90s but never dressed up like one. I was also an outcast in high school at the time and I thought it was a good but not a great film. I was getting more into different kind of films at the time like The Doom Generation, Trainspotting, and Pulp Fiction.
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vinnieh said:
Thanks for commenting here. The way I look at it, our tastes in movies change over time.
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keepsmealive said:
Funny, I ignored this one at the time, and then completely forgot about it all these years. Maybe now I’ll check it out. Thanks!
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vinnieh said:
Oh you must give it a look! It is very worthy of your time.
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keepsmealive said:
Hm, my local library hasn’t got a copy. Will have to look for it elsewhere.
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vinnieh said:
I’m sure you’ll discover it somewhere.
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actualandrew said:
I love The Craft. So much. It combines everything I love; horror, witchcraft and 90s teen films to create a really different film. It could have been corny but it isn’t. It’s quite reserved and strong. And the ending makes me desperate for another film but I’m so glad they didn’t make one. Every time I watch the ending reminds me that I just watched a really solid film that hasn’t been ruined by a crap sequel but the story isn’t over. Loved this review!
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vinnieh said:
Hi Andrew, how are you man? I must apologise for my absence on your blog. You are very right that this movie could have been cliched and corny. But thanks to a strong script and acting, it succeeds in a lot of ways. It is a different film from most yet the combining of the genres is pretty neat in the scope of things. I hope they don’t do a sequel, as I don’t think it would reach the level of this one.
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actualandrew said:
No worries at all! I’m good thank you, how are you? Yeah, a sequel wouldn’t work now. I’ve heard rumours of a TV series remake but hopefully they’ll just stay rumours!
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vinnieh said:
I am doing very well, had a lot of inspiration of late. Let us hope that those rumours just stay exactly that.
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Bluebird4UDaily said:
Loved this film so much…
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vinnieh said:
Ever since my first viewing, I have always liked this movie. Can revisit it as many times as I like and I still like it.
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Rincewind said:
I love this movie..
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vinnieh said:
I haven’t come across anyone who didn’t at least enjoy this movie.
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emmakwall said:
Superb review brother! Wish we could watch this some time together 🙂 I LOVE this movie!
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vinnieh said:
I could watch this endless times and never get bored.
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Mario said:
I love this film! Nice review
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vinnieh said:
I can revisit it so many times and never find it dull. So much good going for it. Chief among them is the four girls who you can sympathise with and feel some sort of kinship to. And the atmospheric score is truly cool.
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abbiosbiston said:
This was one of my absolute favourites as a teenager and it’s held up really well!
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vinnieh said:
It’s marvellous isn’t it? The whole story about things coming back to bite is as clear as it ever was.
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gruadacreations said:
Very nice review. The Craft is one of my favorite movies.
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vinnieh said:
I love anything witchcraft related but this movie takes it up a notch with the successful teenage angst.
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