The Craft (film)
| The Craft | |
|---|---|
 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, Rachel True, Fairuza Balk and Neve Campbell. 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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[edit] Plot
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).
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 the false rumor that they have had sex, and now treats her disrespectfully. 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 "invoking the spirit". On completion of the spell, she is seen to be struck by lightning, and afterwards 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 outcomes; Bonnie becomes more conceited each day; Rochelle feels remorse as her bully Laura Lizzie is seen bald and hysterically sobbing; Sarah's love spell goes too far when Chris attempts to rape her. In retaliation, Nancy uses her power to kill Chris.
Sarah performs a binding spell to prevent Nancy from doing harm, but this does not work and the coven turns on Sarah, invading her dreams, threatening her and finally using 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, we see Nancy in a psychiatric hospital.
[edit] Cast
- Robin Tunney as Sarah Bailey: She is a natural witch who commits to the Craft after being introduced to it by Nancy, Bonnie and Rochelle. Her difficulty with her powers has led her to attempt suicide at least once.
- Fairuza Balk as Nancy Downs: Nancy is a sexually aggressive, ill-tempered girl who has a tumultuous personal life, including an abusive stepfather.
- Neve Campbell as Bonnie: Bonnie is a quiet, withdrawn girl due to fire burn scars she has sustained through an unspecified childhood injury.
- Rachel True as Rochelle: Rochelle is an African-American girl and the target of racial slurs from Laura Lizzie.
- Skeet Ulrich as Chris Hooker: Sarah develops a crush on Chris her first day at the new school.
- Christine Taylor as Laura Lizzie: A racist girl who victimizes Rochelle and exhibits contempt for Sarah. After she pushes Rochelle too far, Rochelle curses her and Laura gradually grows bald.
- Helen Shaver as Grace Downs: Nancy's long-suffering, alcoholic, depressed mother who inherits a fortune when her partner dies after her daughter Nancy casts a spell for her and her mother not to be white trash anymore.
- Assumpta Serna as Lirio: She is the owner of an occult shop and attempts to warn the girls about the consequences of misusing the Craft.
[edit] Box office
- According to BoxOfficeMojo.com, The Craft is the 8th highest grossing movie since 1980 dealing with the genre of witches.[2]
- A straight-to-DVD sequel was in the works,[3] but was cancelled.[4]
The Film was recently aired in the UK on Channel 5 on the 4 September 2011. It is only available on DVD in the UK as the Blu-ray has been discontinued (for now) there is no word yet if it will be released on Blu-ray in the UK. The Film has also been released in Australia, USA, Canada and New Zealand.
[edit] References
- ^ a b "The Craft". the-numbers.com. http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/1996/0THCR.php. Retrieved July 31, 2011.
- ^ "Witch Movies". Boxofficemojo.com. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=witch.htm. Retrieved 2010-09-24.
- ^ "The Craft - Sequel". Bloody-disgusting.com. http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/7041. Retrieved 2010-09-24.
- ^ "BD Horror News - 'The Craft' Sequel Officially Dead in the Water". Bloody-disgusting.com. http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/11758. Retrieved 2010-09-24.
[edit] External links
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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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