| 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 |
| Gross revenue | $24,819,936 |
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, and how this changes their friendship. The film's original music score was composed by Graeme Revell. It was released on May 3, 1996 by Columbia Pictures.
Contents |
Sarah Bailey (Robin Tunney), a troubled teenage girl who has previously attempted suicide, has just moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles with her father and stepmother. She enrolls in a local Catholic high school, but has trouble fitting in. During French class, her classmate Bonnie (Neve Campbell) witnesses Sarah telekinetically causing a pencil to rotate while standing on its tip.
During lunch, Sarah is hit on by Chris (Skeet Ulrich), the school's football star. She asks about Bonnie and her two friends Nancy (Fairuza Balk) and Rochelle (Rachel True). Chris tells Sarah to stay away from the trio, because "they're witches". Bonnie tells Nancy and Rochelle that Sarah is the "fourth" who will complete their circle and make a full coven. The three girls each have issues: Nancy lives in a trailer with her mom and abusive stepfather Ray, Bonnie has massive burn scars all over her back, and insecure African American athlete Rochelle is subjected to racist taunts by popular girl Laura Lizzie (Christine Taylor).
After school, the three girls befriend Sarah and take her to an occult shop. The owner, Lirio (Assumpta Serna), comments that Sarah is not like the other girls and says to her: "Maybe you are a natural witch; your power comes from within." While leaving the shop, Sarah is harassed by a bum, and all four girls simultaneously will for something to happen; the bum is hit by a car. The girls escape, and Nancy is thrilled at their "connection". Nancy tells Sarah about "invoking the Spirit" Manon, which is their ultimate goal as a coven.
Sarah leaves the girls to meet Chris, but refuses to have sex with him. However, at school the next day, Sarah discovers that Chris boasted to the whole school that they slept together. Nancy, Bonnie and Rochelle comfort Sarah, and invite her on a field trip. They take the bus out to the country where they call the corners and cast some spells: Rochelle asks for the strength not to hate those who hate her, Sarah performs a love spell on Chris, Bonnie asks for beauty inside and out, and Nancy asks for "all the power of Manon."
Shortly after the spells are cast, they show signs of working: Chris becomes infatuated with Sarah, Bonnie's scars miraculously heal, and the next time Laura bullies Rochelle, Laura's hair begins falling out. At home, Nancy causes Ray to have a heart attack and die. Then Nancy and her mother find out that they have inherited $175,000 from an insurance policy. Nancy and her mother move into a posh high-rise where the girls meet one night and learn disguise-changing magic.
The girls go to Lirio's shop again, where Nancy finds a book about "Invoking the Spirit". Later that night, the girls go to the beach and form a circle, calling on Manon. At the culmination of the spell Nancy is struck by lightning. The next day the girls witness Nancy walking on the water, and from this point on, Nancy's powers have increased.
Later on, Rochelle sees a balding Laura in the locker room hysterically sobbing after swim practice. Rochelle feels remorse for the spell she has cast and when she looks in the mirror at herself, her reflection looks away.
Sarah's love spell goes too far when Chris attempts to rape her. Nancy tries to seduce Chris by disguising herself as Sarah, but when the real Sarah arrives as they have sex, Nancy causes Chris to fall out a third-story window, killing him. Sarah tries to stop Nancy by binding her powers, but this does not work and the three girls abandon Sarah. Needing help, Sarah goes to Lirio, who tells her to invoke the spirit herself. Lirio also reveals that Sarah's mother was a powerful witch, and that talent has passed on to Sarah.
Sarah returns home, where she is tormented by Nancy, Bonnie and Rochelle, who taunt her using magic and intimidate her with threats on her life. Nancy tells Sarah that in the old days, if a witch betrayed her coven they would kill her. After a few seconds of intimidation Nancy says "Bye!", cheerfully. Nancy later slashes Sarah's wrists. Sarah runs to her room, while Nancy, Bonnie and Rochelle wait for her to die. Rochelle then tells Nancy that this has gone out of hand. Nancy tells her to go upstairs and threatens to slit her throat if she doesn't. Rochelle and Bonnie obediently run up the steps to Sarah's room. Sarah is almost too weak to invoke Manon, but then she hears her mother's voice whispering, "Don't be afraid. Reach inside yourself." Sarah successfully invokes Manon and is able to cast spells to fight back. Forced by a counter spell of Sarah's to see themselves and what they've become by catching their reflections in a mirror, Bonnie's face horribly scarred and Rochelle's hair falling out, Bonnie and Rochelle flee, leaving only Nancy and Sarah. Nancy and Sarah have a showdown, in which Nancy is ultimately defeated by Sarah, who binds Nancy's power to prevent her from doing any more harm.
In the end, Nancy has been sent to a psychiatric hospital, and Bonnie and Rochelle lose any powers they had. They go to see Sarah asking if she still has any powers, and when she shows no interest in continuing a friendship with two girls who tried to kill her, they make fun of her as they leave saying "She probably doesn't have powers, anyway". On hearing this Sarah makes a bolt of lightning strike causing a tree to fall, nearly crushing the two girls, revealing that she still has powers. She warns them to "Be careful, you don't wanna end up like Nancy." The scene cuts to a bird's eye view of Nancy's room in the psychiatric hospital. She is screaming like a maniac, telling the nurse "He gave me powers, I can fly, I'm flying, I'm flying, I'm flying".
| Actor | Role | Description |
| Robin Tunney | Sarah Bailey | Sarah 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, but she becomes empowered as she discovers her heritage as a natural witch, allowing her to defeat Nancy. She is associated with the element Earth. |
| Fairuza Balk | Nancy Downs | Nancy begins by being the most resistant to the idea of a fourth girl, but later allows Sarah to join the Circle. She has a tumultuous personal life, including an abusive stepfather. It is suggested that Nancy's hunger for power stems from her frustration with her home life. It has been stated that Nancy is associated with the element Fire, although in the scene where the girls call on the powers, she calls on the powers of Air. |
| Neve Campbell | Bonnie | Bonnie begins as a quiet, withdrawn girl due to the scars she has sustained through an unspecified injury. Through the use of the Craft, and Sarah's help in particular, she manages to have her scars healed, and as a result becomes more outgoing and narcissistic. In the scene where the girls invoke the spirit, she calls on the powers of "Fire and feeling", although it has been stated that Bonnie's character is based on the element Air. |
| Rachel True | Rochelle | Rochelle begins as the target of racial slurs from Laura Lizzie, later casting a spell that causes Laura's hair to fall out. Rochelle's association with the element of Water is first suggested by her position on the school swim team as a diver. She invokes the powers of "Water and Intuition". |
| Skeet Ulrich | Chris Hooker | Chris Hooker is a boy on whom Sarah develops a crush on her first day at the new school. He later spreads the rumor that Sarah is terrible in bed after she turns down an offer to sleep with him. The social ridicule she experiences as a result of this binds her closer to the other girls, among whom at least one, Nancy, is a victim of similar treatment at the hands of Chris. |
| Christine Taylor | Laura Lizzie | A popular, racist girl who victimizes Rochelle and exhibits contempt for Sarah. Her hair falls out due to a spell cast by Rochelle, after which her treatment of others significantly improves. |
| Assumpta Serna | Lirio | Owner of a witch ritual-provisions-spells shop who attempts to warn the girls about the consequences of misusing the Craft. She advises Sarah to invoke the Spirit in order to combat Nancy. |
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The Craft is a 1996 film about a newcomer to a Catholic prepatory school who falls in with a trio of outcast teenage girls who practice witchcraft and they all soon conjure up various spells and curses against those who even slightly anger them.
Contents |
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Robin Tunney | Sarah Bailey |
| Fairuza Balk | Nancy Downs |
| Neve Campbell | Bonnie |
| Rachel True | Rochelle |
| Skeet Ulrich | Chris Hooker |
| Christine Taylor | Laura Lizzie |
| Assumpta Serno | Lirio |
   | The Craft at BoxOfficeMojo.com - The Craft (1996) |
| | BoxOfficeMojo.com - Box Office Mojo |
| | The Craft - Sequel - BD Horror News - More Sexy Witches in Sony's 'The Craft 2' |
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