The Craft – The Original Mean Girls

CRISTINA CUDUCO, Arts & Entertainment Editor

In honor of October, for the next few weeks until Halloween, you’ll be reading about some of the best spooky, scary, and gross movies Netflix has to offer. I’ll begin with a favorite of many 90s kids, The Craft (1996).

The Craft follows what seems like a typical teenage girl, named Sarah, as she enters the alluring and maddening world of witchcraft at a high new school. With her newfound friends and fellow “witches,” Sarah and her crew use their gifts to get what they want, leading ultimately to some obvious and unfortunate circumstances. After a moral and magical power struggle ensues, Sarah must free herself and the world of evil that comes with the powers of magic.

Although it may sound a bit campy, The Craft serves as a quintessential young adult thriller film of its time, dealing with issues of harassment, bullying, and revenge…sweet, sweet revenge. The ladies of this movie make themselves into the characters that you just love to hate – real mean girls. Although, the talented actors from this film have become less recognizable over the years, names like Fairuza Balk, Robin Tunney, and Neve Campbell still carry some weight.

The cast’s talented performance, as well as the amazing visuals represented in both set design and cinematography, help make this film an instant classic. I should clarify however, that The Craft has more of a cult following for the trends it created in fashion and culture: the film inspired many girls in the 90s to read up into witchcraft.

While The Craft may not have started the decade’s obsession with supernatural films and TV – Sabrina the Teenage Witch and The Crow did that – the film certainly helped solidify the genre.

This film will fill you with that teenaged nostalgia for the 90s, even if you didn’t live your adolescence through it.