Spoilers ahead for The Craft: Legacy.
During the recent horror genre, a ton of news movies have come to us from Blumhouse Productions. In addition to original projects like Happy Death Day or Insidious, the studio has also turned its focus to beloved properties. While Halloween Kills was delayed a full year, Zoe Lister-Jones' The Craft: Legacy was released via video on demand. The movie features a few notable LGBT characters, and the director/writer recently told me why this was important to her vision for the witchy sequel.
The Craft: Legacy is set within the same universe as Andrew Fleming's 1996 cult classic, but centered around a new young coven of witches and their classmates. The movie tells a wholly new story, and the cast is fresh and diverse. In fact, the movie not only features a trans witch in Zoey Luna's Lourdes, but Nicholas Galitzine's character Timmy comes out as bisexual throughout the course of the film. I had the privilege of speaking with Zoe-Lister Jones about this aspect of the movie's storytelling, and she told me:
For me as a filmmaker I’ve taken the responsibility very seriously when it comes to representation. So this film was an incredible opportunity to portray the world as it actually exists. And especially when looking at young people and the ways in which young people can be other-ed. I really wanted to include queer and trans characters in that conversation. Whether or not I would category this film as feminist, in any discussion of feminism or looking a feminist issues, trans and queer voices must be included. So that was really important to me.
Touche. While the original Craft movie dealt with issues that felt very current in the '90s, Zoe Lister-Jones also adjusted to the times in a relatable way. Namely, by including LGBTQIA+ stories into Legacy's narrative in a way that's organic. While the movie was met with mixed reviews, that aspect of the filmmaking is certainly effective.
The two queer narratives in The Craft: Legacy play out quite differently. The audience meets Zoey Luna's Lourdes early in the film, with the transgender bruja shown as perhaps the most experienced of the coven. Her transness is simply apart of the character, and not what defines the young witch. Although she does admit that trans girls have a special kind of magic.
The other queer story revolves around bully turned lovesick puppy Timmy, played by Nicholas Galitzine. While under the influence of Lilly's love story, he feels brave enough to come out as bisexual to the women of the coven. The four witches listen and accept him, and Lilly ends up connecting to him even more as a result.
This is a fairly groundbreaking representation of a bisexual man in pop culture. Bisexual and pansexual stories aren't typically represented, which factors into biphobia IRL. But projects like The Craft: Legacy and Schitt's Creek have helped to portray the fluidity of sexuality. And that was seemingly an important aspect of Zoe Lister-Jones' process as a writer and director.
The Craft: Legacy is currently available via video on demand. Be sure to check out our 2020 release list to plan your next movie experience.
