Craft, The: Legacy

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for Craft, The: Legacy
• a review of Craft, The: Legacy completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 30 October 2020.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the story

Lily (Cailee Spaeny) moves to a small town with her mum Helen (Michelle Monaghan) who is recently engaged to a charismatic man, named Adam (David Duchovny), with three sons. After a terrible first day at her new high school, Lily is befriended by three outcasts – Lourdes (Zoey Luna), Frankie (Gideon Adlon) and Tabby (Lovie Simone) – who soon discover that Lily has powers and that she is the ‘fourth’ for whom they have been waiting in order to form a coven. While Lily is tormented by bullies at school and struggles to fit in to her new ‘family’ she and her new friends begin to explore the depth of their combined power. They cast a spell on Timmy (Nicholas Galitzine), a notorious bully, to make him get in touch with his feminine side and in the process find that he has turned from a tormenter into a friend. The night after Lily casts a love spell on Timmy he is found dead and when the others learn what she has done Lily is blamed for his death. Consequently, the girls swear off using magic and bind Lily from doing the same. However, Lily then discovers that her would-be-stepfather is actually a demon in disguise, intent on stealing her power for himself. A message from beyond the grave brings new perspective to the coven and helps them unite against an evil force, stronger than each of them individually, but no match for the combined force of their power, friendship and female spirit.

Witchcraft; Bullying; Male domination; Supernatural phenomena; Adoption; Curses; Menstruation; Single parent families.

There is some violence in this movie including:

• Lily makes Timmy fly into a row of lockers, using only her mind, after he touches her and continues to taunt her.
• Timmy trips Lily on purpose, making her fall across the floor and continues to tease her for having her period.
• Timmy is rumoured to have killed himself. The actual death is not shown.
• Lily is upset with her mum for concealing the fact that she is adopted and she accidentally uses her power to shove her mother away.
• Adam tries to grab Lily, he punches her in the head and she falls to the ground unconscious.
• Adam repeatedly tries to attack Lily, threatening to kill her. He throws all of her friends into the air and they hit things, landing unconscious on the ground.
• Adam admits to killing Timmy.
• Lily and her friends burn Adam alive.

Material that may scare or disturb children

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

• Adam is a warlock in disguise. He can shapeshift and his eyes alternate between looking human and looking pure black and evil. He transforms from Lily’s mum back into himself and in the process looks demonic, like his body is made from the fires of Hell.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

• Lily gets her period in the middle of class on her first day in a new school. Blood is seen dripping from behind her chair, her jeans are soaked through the back and blood is staining her crotch and legs. The boys behind her notice and make fun of her, continuing to laugh at and torment her as she runs from the room. While not scary, the scene may disturb some young children.
• After being attacked by Adam, Lily wakes up on the ground in a darkened forest where Adam threatens to kill her if she doesn’t give him her powers. She is very scared and worried about her mother whom Adam says, “is all tied up right now.” An intense battle of power ensues, ending with Adam being burned alive.

In addition to the above mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

• Lily experiences a number of flashback-style premonitions, featuring a rapid succession of faces, a slithering snake and a bloody knife. The scenes are always intense and Lily is terrified.
• Lily wakes up one evening hearing creaking noises in her room. She searches through the shadows, clearly alarmed, sensing that something is there. Each time she thinks she sees something it turns out to be nothing, but the music is suspenseful and the creaking continues. Suddenly as she peers into the darkness a creepy face looms up in front of her. It turns out to be one of her stepbrothers sleepwalking but Lily is very disturbed by the encounter.

It is possible that some children over the age of thirteen may also be disturbed by some of the above mentioned scenes.

Product placement

• None noted.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

• During a sex education class the topic of consent is discussed while two teens kiss in a video.
• A character talks about being a virgin.
• Timmy tells how he has “hooked up” with both girls and a guy. He said: “It felt good when I was with girls but I like both.”
• Lourdes is openly transgender.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

• Lily’s mum and Adam kiss and Adam keeps putting his arms around her.
• Lily and Timmy passionately kiss on a couple of occasions.
• Lily is seen naked from behind as she steps into a special bath.
• There are two separate scenes in which masturbation is implied.
• Lily’s stepbrother is seen in bed with his shirt off and it is implied that he is masturbating while watching porn.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

• There is a bong in a teen’s bedroom.
• At a party one teen references a special drink he has hidden away.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• Frequent profanity such as:
• “Shit”
• “Asshole”
• “Douche bag”
• “Dick bag”
• “Slut”
• “Damn”
• “Bitch”
• “Hell”.

In a nutshell

The Craft: Legacy is a supernatural drama that follows a similar, though far less violent, storyline as its 1996 predecessor. It showcases a very diverse cast and highlights messages such as the importance of friendship and the power of the female spirit. That being said, it is not a film for younger viewers and will be most enjoyed by an older teen and female audience.

The main message from this movie is that your differences are what make you powerful.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• Respect for others
• Self-Control
• Friendship
• Responsibility
• Honesty and Vulnerability.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

• The mentality that weakness is bad, that if one is weak then all are weak and that only the strong should survive.
• The belief than men and boys must always be strong and that if you are not you are nothing.
• Believing strongly in magic, the ability to cast spells on others and playing with Ouija boards.
• Strict, authoritarian parenting methods versus a more democratic style.
• Bullying and the lasting affect that this can have on people.