The Craft (film)
| The Craft | |
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 Original movie poster |
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| Directed by | Andrew Fleming |
| Produced by | Ginny Nugent Lisa Tornell Douglas Wick |
| Written by | Andrew Fleming Peter Filardi |
| Starring | Robin Tunney Fairuza Balk Neve Campbell Rachel True |
| Music by | Graeme Revell |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 3, 1996 |
| Running time | 101 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15,000,000[1] |
| Box office | $55,669,466[1] |
The Craft is a 1996 American supernatural teen horror film directed by Andrew Fleming and starring Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell, Rachel True, and Skeet Ulrich. The film's plot centers on a group of four teenage girls who pursue witchcraft and use it for their own gain. The film was released on May 3, 1996 by Columbia Pictures.
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Plot [edit]
Sarah Bailey (Robin Tunney), a troubled teenager, has just moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles with her father and stepmother. At her new school, she forms a friendship with a group of girls rumored to be witches, Bonnie (Neve Campbell), Nancy (Fairuza Balk) and Rochelle (Rachel True). At the same time, Sarah becomes attracted to the popular Chris (Skeet Ulrich). Bonnie, Nancy and Rochelle worship a powerful deity named "Manon".
Sarah exhibits supernatural powers from the onset of the film, and her new friends believe that she will complete their coven, making them all powerful. When Sarah is harassed by a vagrant with a snake (whom she had encountered before in her new house), he is immediately hit by a car and the girls believe that together they willed it to happen.
After a date with Chris, Sarah is upset to find that he has spread a false rumor that they have had sex, and he treats her disrespectfully in other ways. In response, Sarah casts a love spell upon him, while Rochelle casts a revenge spell on a hateful racist bully Laura Lizzie (Christine Taylor), Bonnie casts a spell for beauty, and Nancy for power. It very soon becomes clear that the spells have been successful: Chris becomes infatuated with Sarah, scars that Bonnie has on her back miraculously heal, and Rochelle's bully Laura begins to lose her hair. Nancy goes further by causing her abusive stepfather to have a heart attack and die.
Nancy becomes greedy for power and encourages the others to join her in a rite called "Invocation of the Spirit". On completion of the spell, she is struck by lightning. Afterward she lacks empathy and begins taking risks with her life and those of others.
The spells that the girls have cast soon begin to show negative consequences: Bonnie becomes aggressively narcissistic; Rochelle finds Laura Lizzie traumatized by her baldness and sobbing hysterically; Chris attempts to rape Sarah when she rejects his continual advances. In retaliation, Nancy uses her power to kill Chris.
Sarah performs a binding spell to prevent Nancy from doing more harm, but this does not work and the coven turns on Sarah. They invade her dreams, threaten her and use their powers of illusion to make Sarah believe that her father has been killed in an accident. They taunt her with visions of swarms of insects and snakes and try to persuade her to commit suicide, before Nancy cuts Sarah's wrists herself. Sarah successfully "invokes the spirit" and is able to heal herself and fight back. Sarah scares off Bonnie and Rochelle and defeats Nancy, binding her power to prevent her from doing harm. As the film closes, Nancy is committed to a psychiatric hospital, and Sarah is the only coven member who does not lose her powers.
Cast [edit]
- Robin Tunney as Sarah Bailey
- Fairuza Balk as Nancy Downs
- Neve Campbell as Bonnie Hyper
- Rachel True as Rochelle Zimmerman
- Skeet Ulrich as Chris Hooker
- Christine Taylor as Laura Lizzie
- Helen Shaver as Grace Downs
- Assumpta Serna as Lirio
Reception [edit]
The Craft received mixed reviews from critics, where it currently holds a 48% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 31 reviews.
Box office [edit]
The movie was a sleeper hit.[2] According to BoxOfficeMojo.com, The Craft is the 8th highest grossing movie since 1980 dealing with the genre of witches.[3]
A straight-to-DVD sequel was in the works,[4] but was terminated.[5]
Home media [edit]
Following the film's theatrical release, The Craft was released in VHS format in the United States on April 1, 1997 via Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. A second VHS edition was made available from Sony on April 14, 1998; this edition contained the film's original widescreen format. In the United Kingdom, the film was released on VHS by home entertainment company Cinema Club on August 6, 2001. The film has been made available as a double feature in the UK; Cinema Club released it with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein on December 27, 2000, and Uca Home Entertaiment released it with Disturbing Behavior on March 17, 2003. Cinema Club also release it in a triple feature, included with Urban Legend and Phantoms.
In the United States, the film made its DVD debut on August 6, 1997 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in a 'Deluxe Widescreen Presentation' edition. September 12, 2000 saw the release of the 'Special Edition' which featured a collection of special features including an Isolated Music Score, Director's Commentary, 3 Deleted Scenes, Original Featurette, Theatrical Trailers, Talent Files and Exclusive Making-Of Featurette: "Conjuring The Craft". Sony released the film with Wild Things as part of a 'Double Feature' on November 23, 2007, and another released was made on June 1, 2010 in a 'Dreadtime Stories' edition with The Woods. The Craft was first made in available on DVD in the United Kingdom on September 14, 1998 by Sony and the 'Collector's Edition' was released by Sony on December 4, 2000. Another standard edition became available on December 10, 2007 via Uca.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the film on UMD for Play Station Portable (PSP) in the United States and United Kingdom on May 20, 2008.
On October 13, 2009, Sony made The Craft available on Blu-ray format in the United States. It was released in Australia on Blu-ray on June 2, 2010 via Blu-ray by Sony.
The Craft was also released in several other countries via VHS, DVD and Blu-ray. Such countries include Germany where is is known as Der Hexenclub.
References [edit]
- ^ a b "The Craft". the-numbers.com. Retrieved July 31, 2011.
- ^ "The Craft Has the Knack for Scaring Up an Audience". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-06-03.
- ^ "Witch Movies". Boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2010-09-24.
- ^ "The Craft - Sequel". Bloody-disgusting.com. Retrieved 2010-09-24.
- ^ "BD Horror News - 'The Craft' Sequel Officially Dead in the Water". Bloody-disgusting.com. Retrieved 2010-09-24.
External links [edit]
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Craft (film) |
- The Craft at the Internet Movie Database
- The Craft at AllRovi
- The Craft at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Craft at BoxOfficeMojo.com
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