The Craft is a 90s cult hit that starred Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell, Rachel True, and Robin Tunney. It followed four teens as they learned to master their witch powers. The Craft involved lots of magic, betrayal, snakes, and plenty of screams. Recently, Blumhouse revealed the trailer for the upcoming sequel, The Craft: Legacy. The Craft 2 looks like a film that will pay tribute to the original movie while also carving its own identity.
Because The Craft: Legacy isn’t completely ignoring the original film, it’s important to revisit the first movie to see what possible direction the new movie may take. If you don’t have time to rewatch the original The Craft, or you just don’t want to pay to rent it, let’s look at some of the key things to remember before the sequel premieres.
The Power Of Four
In The Craft, Bonnie (Neve Campbell), Nancy (Fairuza Balk), and Rochelle (Rachel True) had already been practicing magic when the film starts, but they couldn’t really tap into their powers until they got a fourth member. Sarah (Robin Tunney) moves to LA, and the magic really starts. The film has many references to why four witches are needed. One reason is so that they can all represent a location: west, north, east, and south.
It’s also mentioned throughout the film that the number four correlates to the four major elements: water, fire, earth, and air. It seems that The Craft: Legacy will also continue this theme of the power of the four because in the trailer, it’s mentioned that when Lily (Cailee Spaeny) arrives, they have their fourth witch.
How The Craft Magic Works
The magic in The Craft is loose and free, which means it doesn’t quite follow any specified rules. Based on the film, they need a fourth member to unlock their magic, but they don’t need to continue to be a coven to keep it. The Craft witches unlock their power through Manon. Manon is a spirit who isn’t good or evil, but more of a higher being in the same way nature rules humanity. As Nancy states, Manon is “everything.” Nancy and Sarah both end up invoking him to become even more powerful.
For magic to work, it needs a lot of concentration and some spell books. Nancy, Sarah, Rochelle, and Bonnie often visit the magic shop owned by Lirio (Assumpta Serna) to gather books, candles, and other witch necessities. Some of the magic used in The Craft includes a love spell, curing illnesses incantation, a curse spell, and illusion ones. The Craft: Legacy also appears to be including similar spells in this remake. On the trailer, we see boys following Lily around similar to when Sarah cast her spell on Chris (Skeet Ulrich).
Each Witch Had Personal Demons
The girls of The Craft were all fighting some sort of personal demon--typically ones faced by many teen girls like body issues, bullying, depression, and so on. Sarah’s biggest issue was her depression over the loss of her mother. It’s even revealed that she attempted suicide. Bonnie struggles with confidence and her body issues due to her burns. Rochelle is being bullied and dealing with racism from Laura (Christine Taylor). Nancy’s biggest struggle is wanting to leave her life of poverty and abuse.
Each of the girls are able to use magic to remove these issues, but they don’t necessarily become better versions of themselves because of it. I believe that The Craft: Legacy will cover their own versions of issues facing teen girls today, possibly online bullying, identity, and other things of that nature. The original Craft was very much about female empowerment, so I expect a 2020 version of that concept with the sequel.
What Makes A Good Witch And What Makes A Bad One
Towards the end of The Craft, Lirio explains how witches become good and evil. It has to do with their heart. If they have an impure heart, then they’re more likely to become a bad witch, but if they have a kind soul, then they’ll use their magic for good. Sarah ends up being the only good witch, while Rochelle, Bonnie, and Nancy all go towards the dark side.
It’s shown throughout the movie how Sarah doesn’t want to do bad things and questions their plans and vindictive behavior. Nancy completely embraces the dark side, and Rochelle and Bonnie join her without much convincing. Based on The Craft: Legacy trailer, it seems like the sequel may take an opposite approach. Frankie (Gideon Adlon) and the other witches discuss how a witch must be bound if she goes bad, like what happened to Nancy in the original film.
It appears that Lily may follow in Nancy’s footsteps and go completely evil and crazy, but instead of two others joining her, the other three witches may work together to bring her down. I personally like this change, if that’s the direction The Craft: Legacy goes, because I didn’t quite understand why Rochelle and Bonnie just went evil too. It made more sense for them to all work to bring Nancy down.
How The Coven Falls Apart
The Craft coven fell apart very quickly as Sarah starts to question their behavior, and Nancy doesn’t like it. The original three members decide that they don’t need Sarah anymore. Then they work to torture and kill her.
It’s a very dramatic response to some difference in opinions. I don’t know if The Craft: Legacy will have a similar approach, but it seems like there will be some sort of falling out and coven dismantling at some point in that film.
What Happened To Each Member At The End
The Craft ended with a big magic battle between Sarah and Nancy. Sarah wins and Nancy is seen in the last frame in a mental hospital. Rochelle and Bonnie abandon the battle after Sarah shows them ugly versions of themselves (Rochelle without hair and Bonnie with face burns). Bonnie and Rochelle come visit Sarah to see if she still has powers because they have lost theirs. The two girls fake being nice, but then make a snide remark about Sarah to each other. Sarah then shows them that she still has her powers and is even more powerful now.
Since none of the original four died, I’m hoping that at least one of the original witches makes an appearance in The Craft: Legacy.
The Craft: Legacy trailer looks really intriguing, so I am excited to see how they incorporate the original movie into this sequel. The Craft: Legacy will be available on-demand on October 28.
