The Craft (1996)

Directed by Richard Fleming. Starring Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell, Rachel True, Skeet Ulrich, Breckin Meyer, Assumpta Serna, Christine Taylor, Nathaniel Marston, Cliff DeYoung, Helen Shaver. [R]

New in town, a shy and troubled teenager (Tunney) with supernatural gifts falls in with a trio of female outcasts (“the Bitches of Eastwick”) and they dabble in witch powers…to profitable gains at first—a cute boy falls in love with one, another comes into a windfall of an insurance payout, a third hexes a bully, and the last regains her confidence after her burn scars peel away—but eventually it gets out of hand and turns deadly. The aesthetics are very much of its era, and it never pays the subject of witchcraft more than a cursory (even trendy) examination, but the writing has some smart and witty moments to go along with its teen movie clichés. Sardonic, “Hot Topic-goth”, and overacting with relish, Fairuza Balk is the clear standout among the quartet of SoCal earth deity-worshipers. A sequel (The Craft: Legacy) arrived almost twenty-five years later.

60/100