The Craft
Andrew Fleming's cult sleeper hit about four Catholic-school outcasts who form a coven and discover real magic. Featuring Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell, and Rachel True, The Craft codified the 90s goth aesthetic, kicked off the teen-witch wave, and made "We are the weirdos, mister" a quotable rallying cry.
Released on May 3, 1996, The Craft starred four young actresses as misfits navigating the hierarchy of a Catholic prep school in Los Angeles. Sarah Bailey (Robin Tunney) is the new transfer student who befriends Nancy Downs (Fairuza Balk, magnetic and menacing), Bonnie (Neve Campbell), and Rochelle (Rachel True). The four discover they form a coven of actual witches when they perform a spell and it actually works—and what follows is a spiraling investigation of power, corruption, and the price of wishes granted.
The film became a sleeper box-office success (~$55 million on a tight budget) and left an outsized cultural mark, particularly on teen and young-adult audiences. Fairuza Balk's portrayal of Nancy Downs—ambitious, ruthless, and unrepentant in her pursuit of power—became iconic. The Craft's aesthetic—the black clothes, the pentacle jewelry, the moody invocations—crystallized the 90s goth teen archetype and inadvertently launched a trend: Buffy the Vampire Slayer arrived on TV in 1997, Charmed in 1998, and the teen-witch genre exploded through the late 90s and 2000s. The film remains a touchstone for alternative teens and gothic fashion.
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