Taglines: Welcome to the Witching Hour.
The Craft movie storyline. Sarah Bailey (Robin Tunney), a troubled teenager, has just moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles with her father and stepmother. At her new school, she forms a friendship with a group of girls rumored to be witches, Bonnie (Neve Campbell), Nancy (Fairuza Balk) and Rochelle (Rachel True). At the same time, Sarah becomes attracted to the popular Chris (Skeet Ulrich). Bonnie, Nancy and Rochelle worship a powerful deity named “Manon”.
Sarah exhibits supernatural powers from the onset of the film, and her new friends believe that she will complete their coven, making them all powerful. When Sarah is harassed by a vagrant with a snake (whom she had encountered before in her new house), he is immediately hit by a car and the girls believe that together they willed it to happen. It is later revealed that Sarah has attempted suicide in the past, presumably, because of difficulty in controlling her magic.
After a date with Chris, Sarah is upset to find that he has spread a false rumor that they have had sex. When Sarah confronts him, he treats her disrespectfully in front of his friends. In response, Sarah casts a love spell upon him, while Rochelle casts a revenge spell on a hateful racist bully, Laura Lizzie (Christine Taylor), Bonnie casts a spell for beauty, and Nancy for power.
It very soon becomes clear that the spells have been successful: Chris becomes infatuated with Sarah, scars that Bonnie has on her back miraculously heal, and Rochelle’s bully, Laura, begins to lose her hair. Nancy goes further by causing her abusive stepfather to have a heart attack and die. This enables Nancy and her mother to cash in on his life insurance policy and move out of the trailer park they had been living in and into a better home.
Nancy becomes greedy for power and encourages the others to join her in a rite called “Invocation of the Spirit”. On completion of the spell, she is struck by lightning. Afterward she lacks empathy and begins taking risks with her life and those of others.
The spells that the girls have cast soon begin to show negative consequences: Bonnie becomes aggressively narcissistic; Rochelle finds Laura Lizzie traumatized by her baldness and sobbing hysterically; Chris attempts to rape Sarah when she rejects his continual advances.
In retaliation, Nancy uses a glamour spell to make herself look like Sarah, attempting to fool Chris into having sex with her. She is interrupted by the real Sarah who tells Nancy to leave with her. Chris, upset at being fooled, tells Nancy that she is jealous. Nancy then uses her power to kill Chris by throwing him out of a window.
The Craft is a 1996 American supernatural horror film directed by Andrew Fleming and starring Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell, and Rachel True. The film’s plot centers on a group of four outcast teenage girls who pursue witchcraft for their own gain, but soon encounter negative repercussions from their actions. The film was released on May 3, 1996, by Columbia Pictures and it was a surprise hit, earning $55 million against a budget of $15 million. In the years since its release, the film has accrued a significant cult following.
Shooting took place throughout Los Angeles, including the Los Angeles International Airport, Sunset Boulevard, and Broadway. Verdugo Hills High School was the setting for the fictional Catholic school, St. Benedict’s Academy; production designer Marek Dobrowolski added various religious statues throughout the building and the grounds. Sarah’s home in the film was a two-story Spanish mansion, and the interiors were built on a sound stage at Culver City Studios. The occult bookstore was shot at the El Adobe Marketplace in Hollywood Boulevard.
The room was repainted and enhanced, and occult icons such as candles, stigmas, religious statues, masks and tribal dolls were added for effect. Jensen’s Recreation Center in Echo Park was chosen to avoid overuse of frequently seen Los Angeles locations. During filming, an unrelated accident occurred in which a child was injured; the production’s medic saw this and called paramedics.
The makeshift altar was set in Wood Ranch, a location that Dobrowolski called the hardest to find. Dobrowolski wanted to avoid manicured parks like Griffith Park. The beach summoning took place at Leo Carrillo State Park, which was chosen because its crest made it seem less visually boring.
The Craft (1996)
Directed by: Andrew Fleming
Starring: Fairuza Balk, Robin Tunney, Neve Campbell, Rachel True, Skeet Ulrich, Christine Taylor, Breckin Meyer, Nathaniel Marston, Assumpta Serna, Helen Shaver, Jeanine Jackson, Brenda Strong
Screenplay by: Andrew Fleming, Peter Filardi
Production Design by: Marek Dobrowolski
Cinematography by: Alexander Gruszynski
Film Editing by: Jeff Freeman
Costume Design by: Deborah Everton
Set Decoration by: Nancy Nye
Art Direction by: Gae S. Buckley
Music by: Graeme Revell
MPAA Rating: R for some terror and violence, and for brief language.
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: May 3, 1996
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