Horror Extreme Movie Catalog

Fire burn and cauldron bubble -witchcraft sure has changed since Shakespeare's day! For one, the coven of witches in "The Craft" are much more becoming than the hags portrayed in Shakespeare's Macbeth. The story centers around Sarah [a very young Robin Tunney] who is emotionally fragile, having recently failed in a suicide attempt. She moves with her father and stepmother to a new place, and finds it awkward at her new school until she is singled out by a group of girls, Nancy [a wicked Fairuza Balk], Bonnie [Neve Campbell], and Rochelle [Rachel True]. These girls are unpopular at school and nicknamed witches, which turns out to be true. They are amateur witches, dabbling in 'the craft' and Nancy, the leader is convinced that Sarah is the perfect fourth witch to complete their circle.

The plot is actually interesting and keeps the viewer engaged - Sarah turns out to be naturally gifted [inherited from mom] and initially the coven has great fun, bonding with each other, carrying out acts of retribution against those who have made life miserable for them at school, but it all comes crashing down when Sarah, who feels the group is getting out of control and overly obssessed with their powers, decides to quit. Nancy just won't take NO for an answer, and all hell breaks loose.

The four lead actresses here do a credible job with their roles, but it is Fairuza Balk's Nancy and Robin Tunney's Sarah that truly shine. Balk's Nancy is wicked and malevolent, all-consumed by greed and lust and truly epitomises the wicked witch. Robin Tunney portrays Sarah, the good witch or white witch, with benevolence and humility, though she doesn't stand for being stomped upon.

All in all, this 1996 movie is well-done and is one of those rare movies on witchcraft that makes for a riveting viewing experience. Highly recommended!

The real story and the main selling point is betrayal. Nothing is more familiar than having a friend suddenly turn on you for no apparent reason. The characters herein are like that. They turn on each other, lie, cheat and even kill. This leads to the witchcraft. The movie has a before and after structure to it. Before magick, my parents and classmates had me down and after when I got even. Then there is a finale that has some of the magick working wonderfully, like gene therapy and teaching racists a lesson, but love spells and Invoking The Spirit are heavy duty magick spells. Neither can apparently be undone and must run it's disastrous course. The finale has an attempted rape avenged by one of the witches, who seduces the guy while throwing a magic spell that makes her look like the girl he attempted to rape. He is unrepenant about it and this eventually costs him his life. The girl he had attempted to rape feels responsible for him thinking her love spell was too strong. Her sister in witchhood demands retribution for what he's done and magickally knocks him out the window where he falls to his death. Then there is a showdown between the good witch and the bad witch in which the good witch wins and the bad witch ends up in a mental hospital. The good witch wins and the bad witch is punished and the 2 middle of the road witches lose their power and the new girl in school moves away once more. Don't you love a happy ending?