Sunday 22 April 2012

The Craft

"The Craft" (1996, Andrew Fleming, Columbia Pictures)

Hey, so I enjoy some teeny-bopper witch 'horror'! I'm not embarrassed about it :)

The Craft is about four teenage girls who get into Witchcraft at school, and how they become corrupted by it. I think it's probably really about drugs... But as I'm from the 'Buffy' era, I'm going to ignore that logic and stick to the magicks.

It's not really a 'horror' movie. It's more like "10 Things..." but with more witchcraft and less singing Heath Ledger. Although if you have a thing about snakes, spiders and creepy crawlies you should probably avoid this one.

You have the usual 'Troubled-Teen-from-broken-home-new-girl-on-the-block' story.
You have your typical American High School stereotypes.
You have your 4 teen witches.

They're outcasts and they're hormonal. It's pretty obvious that they're going to use their magickal powers for their own gain. If you know anything of the Laws of Magick, it's that everything is supposed to come back to the caster three-fold; it's all about consequences. This movie is about getting what you want and then living with the consequences.

The Craft is a bit of a guilty pleasure, like 'The Sugababes' album that I keep hidden away from the rest of my CD collection and my copy of 'I Know What You Did Last Summer'. It's a turn-your-brain-off kind of movie.

The girls start off with small-ish spells, but eventually Nancy, the one who's most into the Craft, convinces them to help perform a much more advanced spell, and soon afterwards she becomes a much more twisted character.

The girls eventually turn on the 'new girl', Sarah, who begins to have seconds thoughts and tries to bind the other witches from their talents. The climatic scene with all the creepies I mentioned earlier, is entertaining, but a lot of the magickal talents the girls strive for are less Evil-Willow and more Sabrina...

I reiterate; a turn-your-brain-off-movie, but hey it's one of the most successful teeny-bopper 'horrors' about witches out there, so that has to mean something, right?

 (Picture: Columbia Pictures)

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