I can remember watching The Craft at sleepovers during 8th and 9th grade, collecting old books on witchcraft (always history books and never spellbooks, much to my adolescent disappointment), and playing with tarot cards and Ouija boards by candlelight.  I’m reminded of Willow’s mom (Buffy shoutouts, yo) brushing off her witchcraft as an “adolescent phase.”  In a lot of ways, I think it fits – the search for empowerment, female power, and sisterhood are all common components of the teen girl experience.

The Craft exemplifies all of these themes, as well as addressing other teen (and generally human) issues such as slut shaming, racism, beauty ideals, domestic violence, and sexual assault.

When Sarah and her father relocate to a new town, she is taken in by three aspiring witches as their fourth – completing the circle and representing all the elements.  While her friends, Nancy, Bonnie and Rochelle, work diligently at their craft, magic comes naturally to Sarah and she is able to bring to fruition the spells that they have been trying to complete.  However, things begin to turn bad, and when Sarah tries to leave the group she is harassed, until she demonstrates her superior power, scaring the other girls off and returning to a seemingly peaceful life.

Just minutes into the film, the high school slut shaming begins.  Jock hunk Chris and his two dumb lackeys are quick to torment the original three “bitches of Eastwick,” and quick to objectify and attempt to get with Sarah.  Chris warns Sarah to avoid the girls, as Nancy is a raging slut, and when he is denied sex by Sarah after their first date he spreads rumors about what a terrible lay she was.  He loudly tells her he’s just not interested and that she’s “pathetic” when she tries to confront him.  For better or worse, this isn’t the end of Chris and Sarah (or Chris and Nancy for that matter), but we’ll get back to that later.

When the four witches each cast their dream spells, we gain a great deal of insight into each of their most personal wounds.  For Rochelle, it’s the patience to deal with and protection from a racist classmate, who just doesn’t like “negroids,” what with their “nappy hairs” that she has trouble discerning from pubic hairs in her brush.  For Bonnie, it’s overcoming her insecurities about the burn scars that cover her back and arms.  After hiding behind layers of conservative clothes and her long hair, Bonnie discovers the joy of spaghetti strap tank tops when the spell works (ah, 90s fashion).  For Nancy, it is invoking all the power of Manon in order to escape her “white trash” life.  Nancy’s powers manifest in a Carrie-like way, blowing out the power in her trailer when her stepdad abuses her mother, inducing a heart attack and bringing Nancy and her mother a fortune in life insurance.  And for Sarah, it is learning to love herself as she copes with the guilt she carries regarding her mother’s death in childbirth and continuing her recovery from a suicide attempt prior to her move, which was driven by the need to escape terrible hallucinations of insects and snakes.  But, because it’s a teen flick and Sarah is the main character, there is also a love spell involving the desire for Chris’s attention (teen girls can be gluttons for punishment).

When Sarah’s spell works, Chris doesn’t just fall for her, he becomes obsessive and when she relents and goes on a date with him, he becomes overly physically affectionate and attempts to rape her.  She gets away and runs to her friends for comfort.  Nancy, who has an obsession with Chris of her own (likely due to being used and dumped, as seems to be Chris’s M/O) seeks revenge against Chris by seducing him using a glamour spell that makes him think she’s Sarah.  It’s unclear whether this “revenge” is for Sarah or Nancy herself, but when the real Sarah arrives mid-coitus and breaks the glamour, Nancy really lets Chris have it.  In another of her Carrie-esque rages, Nancy sends Chris out an upstairs window to his demise, screaming “the only way you know how to treat women is by treating them like whores.”

Is The Craft a goth Clueless, a 90s Mean Girls?  Is it a story of female empowerment, vengeance, hormones, friendship?  Whatever it is, The Craft is a teen girl classic in my opinion, and a fun Halloween flick, especially for those of us who had a “dark and scary” adolescent phase.