It’s been fun this evening watching a lot of my fellow Pagans flip out. In case you haven’t heard Sony Pictures is moving forward with a remake of the seminal “sort-of-like-Wicca-movie” The Craft. I know that for a lot of Pagan-Witches The Craft was an important moment, but it wasn’t Shakespeare.
In between the teeth-gnashing this evening there’s something a lot of people are forgetting: The Craft wasn’t high art. It was a fun, campy, horror-movie. It’s not sacred ground now and it wasn’t then. For those upset about a potential remake, are you worried that they might not get the god Manon right the second time around?
Oh NO! Say it ain’t so… no need to remake this one. #TheCraft https://t.co/7vsQopyNx3
— Julie Gonzalo (@julie_gonzalo) May 14, 2015
I know it feels like Hollywood has run out of ideas, and maybe they have, but sequels and reboots are a part of the movie business. How many times have new versions of Godzilla risen out of the Pacific Ocean? A remake of The Craft was probably inevitable, and a new one won’t erase the old one anyways. I’ve heard that they’ve remade The Wicker Man too, but I refuse to believe it (even after seeing it).
I bind you @Sony, I bind you from doing harm to the original movie and it's fans, I bind you #thecraft https://t.co/tMFg4uSm6E
— Daniel (@daniel_flores91) May 14, 2015
Here’s an idea, maybe this reboot of The Craft will be good?!? Director (and co-writer) Leigh Janiak got rave reviews* for her movie The Honeymoon, and I love the idea of a woman directing a film featuring young women. Isn’t that something to get excited about? Hollywood is still notorious for being a boys-only club. Who knows what a kick-ass movie with a kick-ass female director might lead to?
With the lack of female directors in Hollywood, you'd think people would be cheering for Leigh Janiak (not whining about remakes). #TheCraft
— Seth Metoyer (@MoreHorror) May 14, 2015
There’s also a part of me that wonders if Hollywood will get it right this time. Perhaps something resembling Modern Witchcraft will get used by the hero character and I’ll never have to hear about Manon again. Maybe Witches will get cast in a positive light this go round. I’m not hopeful, but it might happen. And if Witches aren’t shown in a positive way, maybe they won’t make parts of it look so similar to my own practice. I think that might be a win too.
Just As A Reminder: #TheCraft remake isn't and will not be religious doc on Paganism or Witchcraft #JustSaying
— Byron Tyler Coles (@TColes_92) May 14, 2015
Besides, doesn’t every new generation deserve their own version of The Craft to see what Witchcraft kind-of-sort-of looks like? And don’t worry, for those of you who grew up on The Craft and are lamenting its remake, you can look forward to answering questions about it for the next couple of years! You’ll love teaching binding-spells to the next generation.
Of all the remakes happening I think the one of #TheCraft is the worst idea by far. #IBindYouFromRuiningMyChildhood
— Micki (@mickified) May 14, 2015
The best news of all out of this? Maybe it means Silver Ravenwolf will reboot her book Teen Witch to go along with the new movie!
Woah, why are they rebooting #TheCraft? Is nothing sacred anymore? (I'm aware that the answer is no, having seen the #JemTheMovie trailer)
— Bri Lockhart (@bri_lockhart) May 14, 2015
(Why all the tweets? Why not!?! Thought it was fun!)
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*It was pointed out to me in the comments that Honeymoon only had a 70% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so maybe they weren’t all “rave” reviews, but that’s solid for a first time film-maker.
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