Crafty

Up to now, had not seen the original The Craft (1996). We got interested in the remake, so decided now is the time.

Robin Tunney and her family move to LA, to a nice old Spanish Colonial mansion. They are greeted by a crazy man with a snake he found - it has a message. But he gets the bum's rush.

At school, she notices three outcast girls: Neve Campbell, Fairuza Balk, and Rachelle True. They are rumored to be witches and are bullied/feared. She tries to be friendly but they reject her - until they notice that she may have Powers. They need a fourth for their coven, and she might be it.

They take her to an occult bookstore for some light shoplifting, but on the way, the crazy snake guy shows up again. Tunney yells at him, and he gets hit by a car. Did she kill him by ... witchcraft?

Skeet Ulrich, a popular jock, spends some time with Tunney, and tries to get her into bed. When she doesn't come across, he tells his buddies that she did, and was a lousy lay. This will be her problem. Campbell's is that she has a massive scar on her back from a burn. Balk has a drunk mother and abusive father. True is black, and the cute blonde girls are racist to her. So they do a summoning. And it works:

• Campbell's scars heal
• True's tormentor's blonde hair falls out
• Balk's father dies, and they get an insurance payout
• And Ulrich falls obsessively in love with Tunney

So, it looks like witchcraft is a good deal, right? Well, you'd think so. But it starts to get out of hand. Tunney tries to dial it back, but the other girls won't have it. They become enemies and have a big mystical fight. The ending -SPOILER- is one of my favorite parts. Tunney gets enough power to defeat the other girls, especially Balk, more or less the leader. The next day, Campbell and True show up to sort of apologize and offer to be friends again.

So, not much horror, really, although the end got a little better. More like Heathers with some witchcraft. I've heard bad things about the sequel, but we'll probably watch it anyway.