What else happened this year? Some stuff, there would have been Olympics, Clinton getting re-elected, and some other stuff. On a personal note, I grew 11 inches this year, which took me from an already tall kid, to an incredibly tall one. Luckily I never got too gangly, but I don't recommend it.
What is the plot - in one sentence? A new girl rocks up at a catholic high school in L.A., and joins a group of friends who are interested in witchcraft.
I don't have time,
just spoil it for me? Turns out, they each have some magical powers,
and struggle with how best to use them. The new girl and the 'leader'
have a huge falling out which ends in a witch battle which ends
with all of their powers stripped, possibly, but with the leader tied
down in bed in some sort of asylum. Also, the 'new' one still has hers she just has to keep them quiet.
What is the meaning of the title? It's the name of a book that she buys from an occult bookshop, staffed by a woman who I thought was going to be far more intrinsic to the plot.
 |
| So this is them all swaggering around, like grown women pretending to be jailbait. Just a reminder, Neve Campbell, on the left, was referred to as the ugly one for some reason. |
Anything that's not aged well? Does a woman get slapped around? No slappin', but the music is terrible. It's sort of post-grunge, post-goth industrial stuff, and there's never a time when it's used that it isn't jarring.
It's also jarring to have Christine Taylor, as an obviously not-teenaged high-school student declare 'I don't like negroids' to one of the four main characters.* Speaking of not-teenaged... the new witch who arrives, in real life, was married at the time and in her twenties. I also don't think it would end up with one of the four characters locked in a looney bin now, either, but hey, that's fashion.
*Yes she said that, and yes she was 25, posing as a high school student. Come on.
Any thoughts? The 'magic' that they use is really poorly defined. The new witch seems to have some genuine powers, and the others have some powers through spells. They also use their powers in shitty ways. The 'ugly' one uses a spell to make her more noticed by boys. She just starts wearing saucier clothing. She's also Neve Campbell, who is gorgeous. The new witch makes a boy (Skeet Ulrich - what happened to him??) fall in love with her, as punishment for telling people that they slept together. That ought to work.
There are a few 'gross' scenes which just show tonnes of spiders and snakes, but they don't really make any sense unless you had a pretty severe arachnophobia and whatever the equivalent is for snakes. The 'white witch' who owns a witchcraft store seems to be an enigmatic character, but is really just poorly written. One thing this movie does show, however, is the intensity of being part of a clique, and how awful high school is. I say this as someone who was pretty popular in high school too. [for the record, I'm not now.]
Would you recommend this? As a borderline middle-aged male, it's safe to say that this movie about highschool witches isn't for me. It is however, interesting to see where all of the stars of these movies are around. It seems that a few have carved out successful lives for themselves, others less so, and the leader of the clique, with the enormous mouth, seems to be somewhere in the middle of it. I wouldn't rush out to recommend it, but it's interesting to see where a million outcasts in various high schools around the world found solace.
Final thoughts? I don't remember why the group fell out, but I do remember that the queen bee, Faizura Balk, has an enormous mouth. That's all for this one, not my cup of tea.
The rest of this list is found right m'f'in' here - take care everyone
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