Every October I imagine that everybody watches at least one Neve Campbell film. Scream (1996) may be the quintessential Neve Campbell film, but The Craft (1996) is the go to title in my household. What’s not to love about Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell, Rachel True and Robin Tunney playing high schoolers in a coven that get themselves into some pretty hairy scrapes to the tunes of a kick ass soundtrack?
The Craft is Mean Girls (2004) for the goth kids. The film is full of clever observations regarding power struggles within various social constructs that are all wrapped up very tidily in witty banter. The Craft even gets mileage out of allowing the use of magic to exist as metaphor about two years before Willow hooked up with Tara on Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
There might not be a lot that’s ground breaking about this modest title directed by Andrew Fleming, but it really is a good deal of fun. I like that The Craft takes itself seriously enough for the characters to really matter to us, but that it also acknowledges the ridiculousness of the horror genre. That is an accomplishment in and of itself.
