The Craft: Collector's Edition - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Craft: Collector's Edition

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
With Scream Factory digging through Sony’s vault I assume it was only natural for them to pull up one of Sony’s better selling Blu-rays from a good decade ago to re-release in their typical Collector’s edition. I have a sort of love/hate relationship with horror films and supernatural films of the 90s, as they are sooooooooooooooooooooo dated if you look at them critically. While the 80s have a certain nostalgic feel to them, the mid to late 90s gives me that feeling of bad hairdos, spiking your bleached hair, really REALLY bad goth phases, and a visual style that is highly burnished and sepia infused. Watching The Craft I remember how many people claimed it was Clueless with witches, but I tend to think of it more as Sabrina The Teenage Witch meets Mean Girls. There’s so much angst and quirky 90s style tropes that it makes me chuckle with glee, while simultaneously banging my head against the wall.

After transferring to Los Angeles, Sarah (Robin Tunney), finds friendship with the three outcasts Nancy (Fairuza Balk), Bonnie (Neve Campbell) and Rochelle (Rachel True). All three have been talked about as witches, but it’s only been a rumor until now. However, Sarah herself has a little bit of a secret, while the 3 girls are trying their best to summon minor spells and rituals, they’re failing due to not having a 4th person to complete the witches circle. But Sarah has a little bit of innate power herself, and after getting caught up with the outcasts gets dragged into their mystical little games. At first it’s simple girly stuff like casting a love potion on the jerky jock Chris (Skeet Ulrich), and then it’s Bonnie trying to make the scars under Catholic School outfit go away. But it’s really Nancy, the deep dark Gothic brat who starts to take things a bit too far. In a massively dangerous ritual she calls upon powers FAR outside her control, only to actually GET them.

The thing is, with great power comes great responsibility, and as a white witch says to the girls “whatever you give out in the world comes back to you 3 fold”. Soon their little “game” is anything but a game. Nancy, Bonnie and Rochelle begin to take out their hidden rage on the rest of the school, hexing students with suffering left and right. Sarah finally has enough of the darkness and decides to leave the coven, but tearing a schism in the witches circle is enough to turn the rest of the girls against her, and suddenly the new girls is facing the wrath of not one, but THREE witches who have been given way more power than they should have.

The Craft isn’t an overly clever movie, but it fits the bill of Mean Girls witches quite well. There’s a lot of very predictable story telling and cheesy characterizations, but the movie is still pretty fun to watch overall. I had a hard time with some of Robin Tunney’s acting (she’s never been known for her range, as fun as she is in The Mentalist), but Fairuza Balk is crazy as an outhouse rat, and her Hot Topic Gothic over acting is perfect for Nancy. Neve Campbell is actually a bit toned down from her normal seductress roles of the 90s, but there’s enough twists and turns in the film’s story to actually keep you interested despite some blandness. It’s a solid enough supernatural film and the ending is deliciously twisted (and something I didn’t expect the first time I saw the movie).




Rating:

Rated R for some terror and violence, and for brief language




Video:

It appears that Scream Factory has recycled the same 2009 transfer that Sony used for their Blu-ray release a decade ago, being that A/Bing the two discs shows no appreciable difference. This isn’t a horrible thing though, as the 2009 disc was more than capable, but I would have loved to have seen a new remaster from the source, as the film has a few vertical lines and a mild softness to it that would probably have benefited from a new 4K master or the like. Colors are that typical burnished 90s orange huge, but there are some really great looking sequences with the deep, dark, color spectrum. Blood is a tinge orangish, but the deep blacks of the girls outfits as well as the deeply saturated greens of the foliage make the backgrounds pop nicely. Fine details are generally good, but it has that sort of mid 90s softness that was prevalent in so many films, and some of the colors are a bit washed out at times (again, a sign typically from the 90s films that I’ve seen). it’s a good transfer, and very capable, but it IS showing it’s age a little bit.







Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix also appears identical to it’s Sony counterpart, which again, isn’t a bad thing. The track is really immersive, with huge swaths of the film bathing in magical battles, or the swirling sounds of wind rushing through trees and house windows. The opening spell casting scene with the three girls is a standout scene, with great use of the surround channels and a sense of directionality that is fantastic. However, there is a few quirks to the mix. The LFE channel is rather reserved most of the film, adding a light ambiance to some of the magical battles, with a lightning crash scene in both the 7th and the 13th chapter standing out as one of those “wow, that was nice” moments for the LFE channel. Otherwise it tends to just come through as basic low end support for ambient noises. It’s a track, one that has a LOOOOT going for, but the lack bass has always been a mild irritant ever since I watched the Sony Blu-ray.







Extras:

• NEW Directing The Craft – an interview with co-writer and director Andrew Fleming
• NEW Producing The Craft – an interview with producer Douglas Wick
• NEW Writing The Craft – an interview with co-writer Peter Filardi
• NEW Effecting The Craft – an interview with makeup effects supervisor
• Audio Commentary with director Andrew Fleming
• Vintage Featurette – Conjuring THE CRAFT
• Vintage Featurette – The Making of THE CRAFT
• Deleted Scenes with optional audio commentary
• Theatrical Trailer

Final Score:
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The Craft is a slightly goofy representation of mid 90s horror/supernatural thrillers and has kind of earned itself the cult status of being a Gothic blending of Mean Girls and Sabrina all in one. Which is probably one of the reasons it has stayed so popular to this day. Now, as for the new collector’s edition, this one is a bit dicey to recommend as an upgrade. The audio and video are direct ports of the Sony release (which is still out there for a very reasonable price), but what will really flip the switch is the array of new extras that Scream Factory has brought together for this new edition, basically doubling the amount that was available before. If you’re fine with not having new extras, than your old 2009 disc will do just fine, but if you’ve never seen the film on Blu-ray before, or you’re intrigued by the new goodies, then this is definitely the best version out there. Worth it as a fun cheesy watch.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell, Rachel True, Skeet Ulrich, Christine Taylor, Breckin Meyer, Cliff De Young, Nathaniel Marston
Directed by: Andrew Fleming
Written by: Peter Filardi
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1, AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Scream Factory
Rated: R
Runtime: 101 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: March 5th, 2019

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Cheesy Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I remember watching this long time ago. Will have to revisit it.

 

[Asere]

I remember it too. Thanks for the review.

 

[Grayson Dere]

Whoa!! Walking down memory lane for me : ) Thanks for the review, Michael.