The Craft review – cult high-school horror a reminder of the fearless 90s

The 30th-anniversary rerelease of this classic tackles the sensitivities of teenage anxiety with energy and confidence

The chrysalis of 80s and 90s high-school comedy finally gave us a veritable butterfly of fear in this cult girl-power classic from 1996, co-written and directed by Andrew Fleming, now rereleased for its 30th anniversary. It’s a movie to compare with Heathers or Mean Girls but with a supernatural edge, a flourish of scariness where the comedy or sexiness might otherwise go – and it incidentally delivers a very disturbing “René Magritte mirror” visual stab worthy of any straight-ahead chiller.

Robin Tunney plays Sarah, a shy, studious teen from San Francisco who suffers from depression and buried guilt about the fact that her mother died in childbirth, and from lingering resentment at her new stepmother, with whom her dad has bought her to Los Angeles for a fresh start at a new school. Something about this new arrival intrigues a clique nicknamed “the bitches of Eastwick”, led by badass goth Nancy (Fairuza Balk); she rules over her two disciples Rochelle (Rachel True) and Bonnie, played by Neve Campbell, that same year to become a scary-movie hall-of-famer for the fledgling Scream franchise.

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