THE CRAFT

"THE CRAFT"
(1996) (Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk) (R)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Heavy	Mild

Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Mild	Moderate	Heavy	None	Moderate

Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
Heavy	Heavy	Mild	Mild	Heavy

QUICK TAKE:: Horror: A new student joins a trio of witches and they enact revenge on those who've taunted them.

PLOT:: Sara (ROBIN TUNNEY), is a new student at a Catholic school where Nancy (FAIRUZA BALK), Bonnie (NEVA CAMPBELL), and Rochelle (RACHEL TRUE) are believed to be witches. Seeing that Sarah has similiar supernatural powers, the girls get her to join them. Thus they form the quartet needed to cast spells on those who've taunted or bothered them in the past. They pick up a book, "The Craft," that teaches them everything to know about spells, and soon they're quite good at it. Sara, however, becomes concerned when the other three get too big for their britches and people start getting hurt. When she tries to leave the coven, the other witches aren't happy and decide to teach her a lesson.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: Although there are no stars, the young teenage crowd will be drawn by the ads and the bevy of popular music on the soundtrack. At our screening, there were a lot of teenage girls present.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R: For some terror and violence, and for brief language.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:: ROBIN TUNNEY plays a student who becomes interested in witchcraft, uses it for revenge, but then wants no part of it anymore.
FAIRUZA BALK plays a mean spiritied, rebellious student who can't wait to get even with other students and uses her supernatural powers to do so.; FAIRUZA BALK plays a mean spiritied, rebellious student who can't wait to get even with other students and uses her supernatural powers to do so.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE: The girls drink liquor from a bottle.
Sarah and Chris drink beer.
The girls drink a blood/wine concoction to start a spell.
A high school party has students drinking.

BLOOD/GORE: Severe scars are seen on Bonnie's back just before a surgical needle jabs in and out of her back (and she screams in pain).
Flashback/dream: We see Sarah slit her wrists and the blood runs from them and pools on the floor below her.
The girls prick their fingers (we only see one finger pricked with blood flowing) and drip their blood into a goblet already filled with wine. They then drink the mixture.
The scar tissue on Bonnie's back is peeled off in the doctor's office.
Nancy slashes Sarah's wrists with a knife and the blood flows out.
Bonnie and Rochelle see themselves in a mirror and Bonnie is covered with gross looking scars.

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE: The three girls (Nancy in particular) are not nice to Sara when they first meet her.
A male student refers to the three girls as "the bitches of Eastwick."
Girls shoplift goods from an occult store (stating that that's the way it works in nature).
We learn that Chris has told everyone he had sex with Sara (which is a lie).
Some swim class girls are mean to Rochelle and make fun of her. One of them says she does so because she doesn't like "Negroids."
Nancy's stepfather says he can almost see through her nightgown and moments later strikes her mother.
Nancy mocks cocking a shotgun and shooting her mother (as her mother raves on and on about their new apartment).
Once the girls have their supernatural powers, they (except for Sarah) become like those who taunted them before.
Once Sarah wants to leave their coven, the other girls/witches become mean to her.

FRIGHTENING/TENSE SCENES: There are many "witchcraft" related scenes that grow in intensity (and scariness) toward the end of the movie.
A strange looking man with a snake twice startles and chases after Sara.
The girls try to invoke "the spirt" and Nancy ends up being struck by lightning. The next morning, she's seen walking on water.
Chris attempts to rape Sarah when she runs from his car. He grabs and throws her to the ground and climbs on top of her. She gets away by kneeing him in the crotch.
Nancy goes wild and mentally causes Chris to fly out the window and fall to his death.
The three witches suddenly burst through Sarah's window at night, fly over top of her and begin strangling her in a truly scary scene.
Sarah is sitting in a school bathroom stall when the door latch begins to slowly slide open (this just after the above scene).
There is a long sequence where Sarah is haunted by maggots (spilling from the toilet), roaches (coming through the vents), rats, spiders, and a large amount of snakes that slither and crawl above, below and always very near to her.
The entire end of movie is scary, with Sarah and Nancy fighting each other and weird, spooking things happening (like Nancy's fingers turning into slithering snakes).
Nancy's in a mental ward, strapped to her bed where she has a passing resemblance to the Linda Blair possessed character in "The Exorcist."

GUNS/WEAPONS: Knife: Used in the flashback/dream of Sara's suicide attempt.
Knife: Held to the throat of each girl during a "spell" initiation.
Knife: Used by Nancy to slash Sarah's wrists.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR: Treating other people badly just because they're "different."
A male student refers to the three girls as "the bitches of Eastwick."
Phrases: "Slut," "Sucks," and "Stupid bitch."
The girls shoplift goods from an occult store.
Nancy drives through red stop lights at night.

JUMP SCENES: The three witches suddenly burst through Sarah's balcony window and attack her.
The three witches suddenly open a bathroom stall door (where the latch had slowly been sliding open) and scare Sarah.
Nancy suddenly opens a shower stall door scaring Sarah.
Nancy suddenly goes from a passive victim to a scary looking aggressive attacker.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE): Nearly all of the frightening/tense scenes are accompanied by equally frightening/tense music.
The later scenes (including the flood of snakes and other creepy critters) really pour on the scary music.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE): None.

PROFANITY: 1 "f" word, 11 "s" words, 5 asses, 1 slang term for male genitals (the "d" word).

SEX/NUDITY: A french teacher asks a male student in French (and then translates) "Did you get laid last night," to which the student responds, "Yes."
Chris is known to "come on to anything with tits," and "spread disease" which Nancy says she knows "from personal experience."
We learn that Chris is telling everyone he had sex with Sara (a lie) and that she's the "lousiest lay he's ever had."
There is a brief passing conversation about masturbation that mentions going blind and getting hairy palms.
Nancy's stepfather feels her nightgown and comments that it's almost see through, and then says that her real father was only good for a "bang in the back seat."
One of the girls says "nice ass" to a passing boy.
Chris (under a spell) asks Sarah if they can live together.
Nancy tries to seduce Chris but he's not interested ("Aren't you in the mood?" "Not to get my d*ck bitten off.") until she changes appearances to look like Sarah. They then deep french kiss and then are later seen with Chris' clothed hips moving up and down and Nancy/Sarah moaning.

SMOKING: The three girls smoke throughout the movie.
Nancy's mother smokes in nearly every scene she's in.
Students smoke at a high school party.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES: Nancy lives in a ramshackle house with her seemingly alcoholic mother and lecherous stepfather, the two of which argue and fight whenever we see them.
There is talk of Sarah's mother dieing during childbirth (and Nancy tells Sarah that she (Sarah) killed her mother during childbirth).

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT: The occult, witchcraft, and supernatural beliefs.
Attempted suicide (Sara has scars on her wrists from her attempt).
Judging a book by its cover: Once Bonnie's scars are gone, other students finally notice her.

VIOLENCE: The girls cause a man to be hit and run over by a truck.
Nancy's stepfather throws her mother across the room and threatens her.
Nancy then causes her stepfather to have a heart attack and die.
Chris attempts to rape Sarah when she runs from his car. He grabs and throws her to the ground and climbs on top of her. She gets away by kneeing him in the crotch.
Nancy mentally forces Chris to fly out the window and fall to his death below.
We learn the witches have caused Sarah's parents to die in a plane crash.
Nancy tells Sarah that she (Sarah) is going to kill herself tonight and then slashes Sarah's wrists with a knife.
Nancy tells the other girls "get your lazy asses upstairs or I'll slit your throats."
Nancy tries to kill Sarah during the end of movie. They struggle and Nancy repeatedly states that she's going to kill Sarah. She tries to stab Sarah who then kicks Nancy back across the room.

Reviewed May 3, 1996

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