The Craft

The Craft is a 1996 American horror film directed by Andrew Fleming and starring Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell, Rachel True and Robin Tunney. The film's plot centers on a group of four teenage girls who pursue witchcraft and use it for their own gain. The film was released on May 3, 1996 by Columbia Pictures.

Plot
Four girls at a Los Angeles Catholic school form a coven of witches that cast spells on their classmates and each other. Their new powers overwhelm them, leading to an internal power struggle.

Sarah Bailey, a sixteen year old troubled teenager with a painful past and history of suicidal tendencies and hallucinations, moves to L.A. with her father and stepmother to start a new life. She is soon enrolled into a Catholic school where she comes into contact with three unlikely friends, Bonnie, Nancy and Rochelle. The three girls dabble in occult practices, and when they notice that Sarah has the powers of a natural witch, they talk her into joining their coven. After Sarah agrees to accompany the girls in their group, they soon discover that with a fourth witch in the coven, they are able to cast spells more powerful than they could before, and begin to amend all the things wrong in their lives. However, like everything else in life - things come with a price.

Reception
The movie was a sleeper hit. According to BoxOfficeMojo, The Craft is the 8th highest-grossing movie since 1980 dealing with the genre of witches.
 * A straight to DVD sequel was in the works, but it was terminated.

Trivia

 * The producers hired a Wiccan consultant, Pat Devin, who was a part of the largest coven in the United States (The Covenant of the Goddess) and was employed to give information about witchcraft, along with Fairuza Balk. Pat mostly helped out in departments that Fairuza couldn't since Fairuza was in the early stages of practicing Wicca.
 * Fairuza Balk was a practicing Wiccan at the time of filming and often read books on set about Wicca and witchcraft, like The Qabalah.
 * When the four actresses did the "Invoking the Spirit" scene, the tide rose unnaturally several times. At one point, it washed their altar out to sea. Another time, when Fairuza yelled "Manon, fill me!" all of the power to the cameras went out.
 * The producers had to use a fake deity name to prevent teenagers running down to beaches and invoking a real spirit.
 * The movie began production in September 1995. Filming didn't take place until 1996.
 * Pat Devin recalls hearing the death of TV's most famous witch, Elizabeth Montgomery, on the radio while she was working on the set for The Craft.
 * Pat Devin, the Wiccan consultant for the film, stated that the girls were not practitioners of Wicca. They were just "playing around with magic".
 * Rachel True was the eldest one of the girls, being nearly 30 at the time while Robin Tunney was 24, Neve was 23 and Fairuza was 22.
 * Rachel True and Neve Campbell are still good friends.
 * The girls are seen watching the 1964 television series Bewitched at one point, which is a TV show about a witch who marries a mortal man.
 * Pat and her coven used a chant to help the film do well and it ended up being the number one film in the box office at the time.
 * The producers intended on a PG-13 rating but had to be rated R because the film delt with teenagers practicing witchcraft.
 * The DVD was released on July 2, 1997.