The Craft

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.

Wild Orchid

Tags

1980's, Assumpta Serna, Bruce Greenwood, Carré Otis, Erotic Drama, Jacqueline Bisset, Mickey Rourke, Wild Orchid, Zalman King

Film Title

Wild Orchid

Director

Zalman King

Starring

• Carré Otis as Emily Reed
• Mickey Rourke as James Wheeler
• Jacqueline Bisset as Claudia Dennis
• Assumpta Serna as Hanna
• Bruce Greenwood as Jerome

It doesn’t capture the attention in the guilty pleasure way that Two Moon Junction did, but Wild Orchid is still an erotic film from Zalman King, although hamstrung by attempts to give depth to what is frankly a ludicrous story that needed no attempts to be serious.

Emily Reed is a young and impressionable lawyer who gets a job at a prestigious law firm. Her first assignment is to travel to Rio de Janeiro to finalize the purchase of a hotel. She works under the guidance of the quick-witted and decisive Claudia Dennis, who is a lot more experienced than the novice Emily and knows exactly how to do business. Arriving in Rio, the two set about looking over the run down hotel, that could have a promising future if they manage to save a deal that hangs in the balance. A disgruntled Claudia must go to Argentina for a few days to consult the hotel’s manager who was unaware of them coming, so proceedings are put on Emily, including attending a date with a wealthy man by the name of Frank Wheeler. The self-made millionaire is a strange man who asks personal questions to Emily and hints at a depraved mind. He further introduces her to a world of sexual decadence and carnal pleasure, which disturbs the virginal Emily. The other strange thing is that while Wheeler’s surroundings are sexual, he himself is cold and does not like to be touched even as naive Emily makes plans to get closer; instead getting his kicks from manipulating Emily into strange scenarios that get more exotic as time goes on. Emily finds herself becoming ever more bewitched by the cold and mysterious Wheeler, and can’t quite choose whether to be repulsed or aroused by the world he introduces her too, where he pulls the strings. Add to the fact that Claudia has been infatuated with him for a long time and has in many ways pushed Emily onto him to see if he rebukes her as he had done to her, and events are going to get heavy.

Zalman King with all his directing prowess does fashion a sweltering climate of sexual interaction and carnal desire that knows how to catch the eye. It’s a shame that he also attempts to conjure up some seriousness as Wild Orchid is really about the heat and sensual games being played against the backdrop of steamy Brazil. That isn’t to say that his direction is bad( far from it if truth be told) yet some parts could have done with a fixer upper and just a general sense of wild abandon to suit the story. The atmosphere is there and that’s what people want from a film like this, on that score it delivers. So I can’t for the life of me fathom why anyone on the production or writing team tried to give Wild Orchid any complexity( a movie such as Wild Orchid should really be anything but serious). All attempts at it are really lost and drag the film out for longer than needed. Also, the script is littered with corny lines and the whole exploration of Emily’s awakening does feel a bit slow, which is detriment to Wild Orchid. What people expect and want from movies like this is a sensual emanation of overripe sex and in that department Wild Orchid is very adept. Bodies are shown laced in sweat as a couple makes animalistic love under water, masks are adorned for a voyeuristic ball and Emily is initiated into a strange but tantalizing world that she never knew there was. A heady carnival score that dabbles with sexy percussion and brass lifts some languor in Wild Orchid and at least suits the erotic atmosphere of it.

Carré Otis, while being very beautiful and someone the camera loves, is unfortunately very stilted in her performance as the naive novice Emily. With stunning bright eyes, tousled hair and full lips, Otis is gorgeous and it is easy to see why she was cast in the part of the sexually unaware Emily. It must be said that she does nail the fragile innocence of the part, but her line delivery is problematically bland and needed more expression for it to be at least interesting and lift the weakness of the script. I think if another actress played the part it may have had a bit more about it instead of making the character into something of a blank cypher. Mickey Rourke fares a lot better as the manipulative, sleazy and intriguing Wheeler, who casts a spell on both women present. The role isn’t much of a stretch but Rourke plays it well nonetheless. The most fun seems to be had from Jacqueline Bisset as the silver-tongued and wild Claudia. Bisset brings energy and vigor to her and when she isn’t on screen the movie lags quite a bit. Assumpta Serna and Bruce Greenwood have roles that amount to cameos as two people caught in Wheeler’s web of sexual games.

Filled with taut flesh in various erotic positions, sensuous ambiance and the beautiful locations of Rio, Wild Orchid gets by on these three things, yet suffers from corny dialogue and not surrendering to the sheer implausibility of the story that could have made it at least a very guilty pleasure of sex. It’s safe for me to say that Wild Orchid left me with decidedly mixed feelings.

Spin-Off Blogathon

Tags

Assumpta Serna, Spin-Off Blogathon, The Craft

I recently came across the announcement for a blogathon. It is hosted by the talented Sati over at Cinematic Corner and it is entitled the Spin-Off Blogathon. The idea is to choose a minor character from a movie or TV show who you would like to see in a lead role. Explain why you have chosen the character and what you think a movie would be like with them as the lead character.

My choice is Lirio (Assumpta Serna) from The Craft.

The Craft is a movie I discovered years ago that I have always enjoyed watching. It tells of four outsiders; Sarah, Nancy, Bonnie and Rochelle who dabble in witchcraft and the gradual emergence of Nancy spiralling out of control  in a power struggle with Sarah. The first glimpse of Lirio is when the girls take Sarah to the witchcraft shop that she owns. Lirio notices that Sarah is different from the other girls, in that she doesn’t steal and means well as a person. From the first time we see Lirio, there is a mystery surrounding her. On one hand she is kind and wise, yet there is a sense that she shouldn’t be crossed by anyone. Lirio warns the girls about the dangers of invoking the powerful deity they worship, and describes that “Pure magic is neither black or white. It is both because nature is both, loving and cruel all at the same time”. Out of the girls, Sarah listens to her message about the consequences of magic coming back on someone. Later on in the movie, she helps Sarah come to terms with her power after Nancy begins to torment her. She emerges as the guiding light towards Sarah’s salvation and arising as a powerful witch.

Lirio is mysterious, exotic and quietly powerful as a character. Her wise words may be wasted on the other girls, but they are soon proven right as magic comes back times three. I think that Lirio would make a great leading character. She is enigmatic and wise, yet there is a danger surrounding her. She exhibits power that she seems to subdue in times when it is needed. Lirio would be great as a character in a prequel to The Craft. We could learn about her past and how she came to be a witch. How powerful is she? Why does she take a liking to Sarah? All of these unanswered enigmas could be explained in great detail if a prequel was honed.Perhaps we would see the powers that she often conceals and the reasons she suppresses them. Assumpta Serna is a gifted actress who portrays warmth and passion whilst also suggesting the hidden depths of this wise and powerful woman. Her role may be small in the movie, but Lirio makes a lasting impact that is deeply felt throughout the course of it.

I’ve really enjoyed taking part in this blogathon and I want to thank the amazing Sati for setting it up.