The Craft (1996)

Paganism, witchcraft, and Wicca as portrayed on TV, movies, and popular culture. Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, Practical Magic, etc. If you know of a good show or movie, you can recommend it here or discuss it with others.
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RedRavenFox
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The Craft (1996)

Post by RedRavenFox »

I like two thirds of this movie; before the CGI and other special effects take over. I love the scenes when the girls are working together as a team (even though the magick they are doing isn't the "do no harm" kind.) When they are bonding and forming the coven the scenes are somewhat realistic. I hate how the message is that Sarah is the natural witch and all the others are girls are just leaches. Instead of being a magical version of Mean Girls it would've been nice to see the girls work together to fight some outside force, not each other.

I like the soundtrack and I use the score for meditation but man, after they do the invocation I turn off the movie unless I am showing it to someone.

I hope the remake or sequel (whatever they tried to do with it now) isn't horrible but I am not holding my breath.
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Re: The Craft (1996)

Post by Firebird »

Oh no! They are doing a sequel?
We called it the Crap because it was so unrealistic. Although the one girl went kinda nuts and that can happen over time if one is not well grounded in what they are doing.
I had talked to the woman who was the real life witch consultant for that movie, she tried to see that things were not exploited but ultimately they're making a movie and in real life we're kinda boring, lol....all that crazy s**** don't really go down.
Guess I wasn't a fan, sorry. Interesting thing though, one of the actresses went on to open a Witch store didn't she?
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Re: The Craft (1996)

Post by RedRavenFox »

Yeah... doing a sequel. I imagine it will be horrible.

LIke I said I don't mind parts of the first one but the hair thing, the ending with the f'ing bugs and snakes...*sigh* The books and pictures that come to life...as I am writing this I think I realize how many elements of this movie I don't like now that I brought it up. LOL. Like when the girls say that haven't heard of the 3 fold law or anything resembling do no harm or do unto others as you like others to do unto you..."that's not in any book we read!" Really? It's been in nearly every book I've read on the subject.

The shop keeper who says "red (candles) are for love, black...well this will explain all of it.." and then hands the girl a book called the Craft which is about the size of a pulp fiction novel and would cover so little.

Yeah I know it's unrealistic and I wish they could have changed the story up a bit. I mean they make so many movies about other religions why can't they make a compelling story of Wicca or Witchcraft that doesn't involve say flying and give it so many negative attributes.

On the plus side during the late 90's many great supply/bookstores popped up in the area. You could go the suburbs or the city and easily find stores and other witches. On the other hand many of these stores have disappeared now. I think some teenage girls may have been disappointed when they couldn't get their teen crushes to fall under a love spell or that they had to actually use dye to change hair color.

Fairuza Balk owned a Witch Store for awhile but sold it off in the early aughts. But Rachel True does tarot readings and she did that before she starred in The Craft.
firebirdflys wrote:Oh no! They are doing a sequel? We called it the Crap because it was so unrealistic.
That's actually pretty funny.
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Re: The Craft (1996)

Post by Firebird »

Oh yeah Balk was the one!, we have so few stores anymore, it's like everyone just goes on line. One misses the feel of a creaking, musty, weirdly interesting book store with mystical trinkets.
Shoot then, do you know who will be in it? What shall we name it, two Crappy?, The Crap 2?, the Crap Continues? LoL blue_flee
Sigh...I remember when it was first coming out we were pretty excited, The initial comradery of the girls is good but the bugs really bummed me out among other things, it's been years and years since I've seen it, maybe I should refresh my memory.
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Re: The Craft (1996)

Post by RedRavenFox »

This is all I've heard about it: https://ew.com/movies/2019/03/26/the-cr ... ter-jones/

Apparently they were trying to remake it for a few years now.
firebirdflys wrote: Shoot then, do you know who will be in it? What shall we name it, two Crappy?, The Crap 2?, the Crap Continues? LoL blue_flee
"The Crap: Number Two" works. The Crap 2: Back to the Crapper...

I don't know. I brought this subject up and now I'm bashing it too. LOL
firebirdflys wrote:... we have so few stores anymore, it's like everyone just goes on line. One misses the feel of a creaking, musty, weirdly interesting book store with mystical trinkets.
I still go into the few stores available to me in the city. They are a little out of way but worth it. I order some things online but sometimes I feel a little guilty for doing so.
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Re: The Craft (1996)

Post by SpiritTalker »

I got The Craft movie on DVD - watched it twice & gave it away. I thought it had potential but died in Hollywood's bogus-thrill, Indiana Jones style effects. I very much preferred Field of Dreams... If you build it they will come.
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Re: The Craft (1996)

Post by RedRavenFox »

I love Field of Dreams. I don't want to give anything away. There may be some youngsters who haven't heard of it and might want to see it but I'll say this: The last scene with "Moonlight" Graham makes me cry every. single. time.
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Re: The Craft (1996)

Post by Firebird »

Maybe it's one of those things like, "you love to hate it" or "hate to love it"??? LoL ...Like Erica Kane! :lol:

The Field of Dreams I have not seen :shock: (was never much of a movie goer) But I watched the trailer and get the premise and I actually did a similar thing when finding my original coven. I built the circle garden and they came! Magic. (ask believe act receive)

I like the Secret Garden for a magic movie. When the kids do their little chant to bring the boys father home, it was pure intent.

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“There are things known and things unknown and in between are the Doors.”
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RedRavenFox
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Re: The Craft (1996)

Post by RedRavenFox »

firebirdflys wrote:Maybe it's one of those things like, "you love to hate it" or "hate to love it"??? LoL ...Like Erica Kane! :lol:
That seriously made me laugh. Yes. The Craft is the Erica Kane of my tastes.

ask believe act receive)
It still amazes me how that works. It took me awhile to realize how things can manifest and that somethings truly have to do with asking, believing, and acting. I had that so many times happen to me as a youth but perceived it as luck. Or perhaps I found something I didn't know I needed yet and everything I needed (not necessarily everything I wanted) fell into place.

“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
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Silas Nightfall
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Re: The Craft (1996)

Post by Silas Nightfall »

I actually rather enjoyed the Craft. If you can enjoy Toy Story, which is even more unrealistic, then this shouldn’t be a problem. But then, I’ve always been good at separating reality from fantasy. As long as you can do that, you can enjoy almost anything.
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Re: The Craft (1996)

Post by Corbin »

Silas Nightfall wrote:I actually rather enjoyed the Craft. If you can enjoy Toy Story, which is even more unrealistic, then this shouldn’t be a problem. But then, I’ve always been good at separating reality from fantasy. As long as you can do that, you can enjoy almost anything.
Its one of those films that make me cringe frankly - it's not because of my ability to separate reality from fantasy but through listening politely to others (now apparently experts on the subject) through gritted teeth lol!

Did enjoy the Witches of Eastwick though.
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Re: The Craft (1996)

Post by Firebird »

Yeah but Toy story was about animated toys, so one would expect there to be fantasy.
The Craft was supposed to be about our craft and it strayed so severely that it gave folks more fodder to hate us and the idea that this is how all witches act. It did not promote good feeling towards witches. IMO
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RedRavenFox
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Re: The Craft (1996)

Post by RedRavenFox »

The problem with The Craft is it squandered so much potential. They had a an actual Wiccan on the set to give real incantations but then decided that Fairuza Balk should look like a CGI Medusa in the end. They could've made a movie that didn't make witchcraft about revenge. Hell, even The Exorcist is better towards Catholics in a lot of ways. Even with all the horror it ends with a priest who doubted his faith, who is tortured that he failed his dying mother, finding hope and redemption (even though it's possibly in the most depressing way possible).
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Silas Nightfall
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Re: The Craft (1996)

Post by Silas Nightfall »

I understand what you all are saying, but that’s Hollywood. They exaggerate and distort everything. I don’t believe it was intended to be an accurate portrayal. One think I think some of you have wrong though is that it didn’t necessarily display us in a negative light. After all, the main character was good and won in the end. It was Balk’s character that was cast in a bad light. And let’s not forget there are plenty of dark witches. But I do agree on one thing. While I’d love to see a movie that explores a more accurate representation of us, I still found it relatively entertaining, considering suspension of disbelief.
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Re: The Craft (1996)

Post by Panthera »

You have to see movies about witches for what they are, entertainment. There will be some passages that will push us to do research because there is a part of truth and another where it is just to make us dream.

The Craft remains a good film for the time because it shows the duality of people and the practice of witchcraft.

Then I agree, it's a shame to show that Sarah is more powerful and that it's only through her that the other three can access their power or at least do something with it. In France, here we have a young woman who claims on youtube to be powerful because she would be a genetic witch. Did she watch the Craft too much? I don't know, but she has a huge ego because she says Wicca is crap. In any case, this is an example of the possible drift when we talk about how one person would be more powerful than another through his or her heritage.
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