Sommerleigh Pollonais, Horror Head Writer

Plot: A group of high school students form a coven of witches. A sequel to the 1996 film, The Craft.

Review: When a movie is made that’s a reboot/reimagining or sequel to an iconic film, I usually rewatch the original to better judge how the new version holds up. I deliberately didn’t do that here because I’m a fan of the 1996 movie, and honestly, I never thought the sequel would deliver anything that could match it. While my prediction was correct, Legacy isn’t anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be. So let’s do some magic of our own and break it down.

Cailee Spaeny (Pacific Rim: Uprising/Bad Times at El Royale) stars as the newest member of the coven, Lily, and she does a great job of carrying the lead role. Her look alone embodies Robin Tunney from the first film and her performance was a solid one. But she’s not the only person who delivers. All of the young cast are quite believable in their roles and come across realistically in their portrayal of a group of friends with magic in their veins. It’s always a pleasure to see David Duchovny (The X-Files, Californication) and Michelle Monaghan (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Source Code) on screen, but they’re both woefully underused here, so don’t look for anything special from either of them.

I also liked the way they handled the “girl power” aspects of the story. Unlike another recent movie I can think of (I’m looking at you Black Christmas remake) the message here unfolded in a natural way and never felt like it was being force fed to me. There’s also that maturity that comes with time. In the first movie the girls were cruel, both to others and to each other. With a modern sensibility added, the message of “treat people right” is all over this one and you know what? I’m all for it.

The movie’s pacing is surprisingly sharp and at no time was I bored with it. But besides a fun soundtrack and the things I already touched on, The Craft: Legacy doesn’t offer much up in the way of thrills. While the first film had a R-rating and a much edgier feel to it, this one is more geared towards those who still think the Twilight movies were great. Even when there are deeper emotional moments or when the finale unfolds, the whole thing feels made for a much younger audience, and not for those who grew up loving the first film.

So it comes down to this – The Craft: Legacy will appeal to younger audiences, especially teenage girls. But for those of us who had a blast with the much darker first film, this will dissapear from your memory, faster than you can say abracadabra!

Sommer’s Score: 5.5 out of 10

For my Top 5 Horror Movies That Deserve a Sequel you can click here. And for more than 100 horror movie reviews and lists you can check out the RMR horror section here.

 Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes.

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