Teen Witches Don’t Cast Much Of A Spell Over Audiences
What if you played the slumber-party game “light as a feather, stiff as a board” and it actually worked? This question, among others, is explored in “The Craft,” a laughable movie about a coven of teen witches.
“The Craft” stars Robin Tunney as Sarah, a new girl at a Catholic school. A quiet girl, Sarah has natural powers (she can balance a pencil on its point) that make her attractive to a group of three bad girls who practice witchcraft in their spare time.
The leader of this group is Nancy (Fairuza Balk), and she wears her bad attitude as heavily as her black eye makeup. The group adopts Sarah as a fourth witch and her presence gives them even greater power than ever before.
Each girl has her own pain in life that is eventually cured by a spell. Bonnie has burn scars that are magically erased. A girl who makes fun of Rochelle’s kinky black hair gradually has her straight blond hair fall out. Nancy’s alcoholic father dies of a heart attack and Nancy and her mother cash in on his life insurance policy. A boy who had spread nasty rumors about Sarah falls in love with her.
These feats are accomplished by the girls’ appeals to an ancient deity. But when Nancy invokes the spirit, things get ugly. Nancy goes mad with her own power and begins killing people who get in her way.
The girls have been warned by an older witch who sells them books and candles that whatever they do to others will come back to them threefold, so Sarah is scared. When she tries to leave the coven, Nancy and the other witches try to drive Sarah insane so she will kill herself. Sarah has to summon the power inside her to invoke the deity for a good purpose.
“The Craft” would have worked well as a satire; unfortunately the makers of the movie didn’t realize that. Instead, it is one of those films where the audience laughs in parts that are supposed to be scary.
Balk proved she’s a talented actress in Allison Anders’ “Gas, Food, Lodging,” but her character’s evilness in “The Craft” is way overdone. Cheesy acting or not, at least she has more presence than Tunney.
It’s hard to get involved in a movie if it’s impossible to connect with any of the cartoony characters. It might have been forgivable in a satire, but “The Craft,” in its attempt to scare the audience and deliver a message about good and evil, indicates it meant to be serious.
The last scene in “The Craft” is straight out of a Sweet Valley High book. Bonnie and Rochelle approach Sarah, wanting to be friends again. Sarah says something like, “You tried to kill me. You weren’t my friends.” But then she uses her powers as a witch to summon a strong wind, just to prove she still can.
If you’re hungry for cheese, head for “The Craft.”
Grade: D