The Craft (1996)

Plot Outline: A girl who moves to a new city is revealed as the missing link to a trio of young witches who need her to become one of them to be able to unleash new powers that they never knew they had. But when they eventually start to use their powers for revenge, things get out of hand.

The Review: The idea didn't really appeal to me and I'm not one for witch movies. But it had good reviews so I thought I'd check it out. It was very over-hyped. As with all modern horror films, it isn't scary. In fact its more of a comedy at times. There are the usual teen horror movie certainties (young, good looking cast, lack of real tension, thin plot, over-reliance on gimmicks to scare, etc). It's just basically another "picked on teens getting revenge" movie such as Carrie or Prom Night, except this time there are witches instead of a knife-wielding psycho. The characters were too uninteresting to get the audience involved. Fairuza Balk's character begins quite interestingly but then as the film progresses, she descends into cartoon villain-esque proportions. The male characters were just made to look like dumb jocks and the other non-witch females were made out like super bitches. I felt like I was watching Dawson's Creek at times with the ridiculous amount of air-brushed, one dimensional characters. Having Neve Campbell and co. walking around in schoolgirl outfits does make up for a few crimes though. Having said that, the film was mildly enjoyable up until the final third where it got a little weird and pointless as the film descends in anarchy and confusion. The final showdown between Tunney and Balk is no where near as good as expected (or as good as needed for that matter). The special effects were effective though, especially the mass of snakes, rats and insects at the end. But it looks like the script didn't have a great time in getting to grips with the final third and everything falls apart.

Final Verdict: A lack of overall interest in any film isn't a good sign and too many times during this film, I felt bored. The Craft had good ideas but failed to deliver the goods when needed.

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