Sections

Teens conjure angst in 'The Craft'

Adolescence. In the movies, at least, it tends to bring out the manipulative and destructive urges in people. With "The Craft," you get both for the price of one. Like a supernatural "Heathers" or a "Clueless" from hell, "The Craft"'s teenage angst not only has a body count and cool clothes, but heaping helpings of witchcraft thrown in for good measure - all of which makes for an entertaining if not spell-binding film.

Sarah (Robin Tunney) appears to be the typical new girl when she arrives at Los Angeles' St. Benedict's High: she's pretty, shy and naïve about the school's social laws. It's her uncanny ability to stand pencils on their pointed ends that

draws the attention of Bonnie (Neve Campbell), Rochelle (Rachel True) and Nancy (Fairuza Balk), a trio of misfits not-so-affectionately called "The Bitches of Eastwick." They're a would-be coven that spends most of its time stealing from the local new-age occult store and needs a fourth to round out its circle.

When Sarah reluctantly joins, they conjure to cure what ails each of them: Sarah wants the insensitive but popular captain of the football team, Chris, to like her; Bonnie wants the burns and scars on her back to disappear; Rochelle wants revenge against the racist cheerleader, Laura Lizzie; and Nancy - you can't quite tell exactly what Nancy wants, but it seems that nothing less than all-encompassing power will do for her.

The spells work, though not necessarily in the ways expected. Chris changes into a mindlessly devoted love slave; Bonnie becomes a fashion plate; Laura Lizzie loses all her hair. Nancy's trailer-trash wife-beater of a dad keels over, leaving her and her mother $175,000 in insurance money - which might get them a bigger trailer in real life, but since this is a movie, it buys them a fabulous new house and a jukebox that plays only Connie Francis ballads. For now, the coven's revenge is sweet.

Of course, it all has to go terribly awry, in order to teach the audience that It's Bad to Tamper with the Natural Order of Things, So Don't Try This At Home. Things get bad right on schedule when Chris, in a fit of unrequited passion, tries to rape Sarah. Nancy, ostensibly doing a favor for Sarah, goes to a party Chris is at and magically disguises herself as Sarah. Nancy and Chris start to make out and then the real Sarah catches them; Nancy throws a fit, and defenestrates him.

Not surprisingly, this puts a damper on the girls' friendship. Sarah wants out of the coven, mostly to escape the increasing weirdness and thirst for social and supernatural power Nancy exudes. The film ends with a showdown between the two, involving lots of creepy crawly bugs, snakes and rats, broken mirrors and telekinetically-hurled furniture. Nancy ends up in the funny farm, convinced she can fly, while Sarah ends up the only member of the coven to retain her supernatural gifts.

While the acting is more than competent - Fairuza Balk does her usual great job of portraying a psychotic anti-heroine, and Robin Tunney emerges as an enjoyable screen presence - the movie

tries to be too many things at once. It veers from a female bonding movie (when the coven does fun stuff like levitating each other and magically changing hair color) to a black comedy (when the coven first starts exacting its revenge) to a thriller (when the coven turns in on itself and goes for the kill), all of which gives the film a disjointed feel and a somewhat lagged pace. None of the characters but Sarah are fully developed, especially Bonnie and Rochelle, who not-so-magically evaporate once Sarah and Nancy start being witchy to each other. Also, "The Craft"'s with-it soundtrack - which features Matthew Sweet, Elastica and Love Spit Love - is too prominent in the actual movie, giving it too much of an MTV kind of atmosphere: "The Real World 666 - Salem."

On the other hand, "The Craft" does include some genuinely funny moments, mostly from Chris and his goofy friends. Even though the message of the movie is that revenge is usually bad, it's nevertheless entertaining to see the jerks get their just desserts. So even though it's not magically delicious, "The Craft" provides some mindless fun with its blue smoke and mirrors.