The Craft: Legacy's Sinister Cult... Isn't Ever Really Explained - CBR - Comic Book Resources

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Craft: Legacy, now available on VOD.

In 1996's The Craft, the threat came from within the witch coven itself with Nancy and the girls turning on Robin Tunney's Sarah as they craved the powers of Manon.

However, in the soft reboot/sequel, there's an actual army hunting the new breed of witches, led by the warlock Adam (David Duchovny). The only problem is, Adam's cult is never really explained, and they pop up and then disappear into thin air without any background or hint as to the future.

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It's a really weird creative angle because the cult isn't a bad idea, it's just so poorly executed. Adam has a creepy, misogynistic vibe throughout, and it turns out he hates women holding magical powers. As such, the mage is trying to get Lily (Cailee Spaeny), the show's protagonist and Nancy's daughter, to transfer her powers to him. He shapeshifts into her adoptive mom, Helen (Michelle Monaghan), but while he invokes Manon, at no point do we know what connection he has to the dark god.

We see Adam's eyes going black when he uses his powers, so we don't even know if he's inhuman or possessed by a demon. In the original, the witches harnessed Manon's energy through nature, but here Adam just has random telekinesis and grooms his sons and other likeminded males without any inkling of a real purpose. Lily spies on them in the basement, but they just come off as a fraternity, snapping fingers when Adam makes speeches about never being weak. Apart from a generic snake crest, there aren't any ancient symbols or magical rituals, so when Adam makes his play, it feels like a plot convenience inserted at the last minute for drama's sake.

In the final battle between Adam and Lily's coven, the cult fails to appear. Nor is the cult mentioned after the girls burn Adam. If they were set up as rivals, it'd have been cool to see them training earlier on, battling the coven in the climax, or plotting revenge after Adam's defeat.

Other sides stories also fail to fill in the gaps. Adam's reason for murdering Timmy, a bully Lily reformed via magic, is simply that Timmy was made in Lily's image. It's never confirmed if the murder was a sacrifice for the cult or vengeance for Timmy's sexual relationship with Adam's son, Isaiah. Earlier in the film, Lily meets with Abe, another of Adam's sons, who hints that he doesn't like his dad's parenting. But, here too, there's no follow up. We don't know what happened to Abe and his brothers after their father is defeated. Nor do we know what becomes of the cult.

Had the film included more about the cult, it would have informed Adam's sinister plans, as well as given the cult more depth. Instead, the villainous group is somewhat short-changed, having no background and given no future.

Starring Cailee Spaeny, Gideon Adlon, Lovie Simone, Zoey Luna, Nicholas Galitzine, Michelle Monaghan and David Duchovny, The Craft: Legacy is now available on VOD.

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Renaldo Matadeen (4633 Articles Published)

I'm a former Chemical Engineer. It was boring so I decided to write about things I love. On the geek side of things, I write about comics, cartoons, video games, television, movies and basically, all things nerdy. I also write about music in terms of punk, indie, hardcore and emo because well, they rock! If you're bored by now, then you also don't want to hear that I write for ESPN on the PR side of things. And yes, I've written sports for them too! Not bad for someone from the Caribbean, eh? To top all this off, I've scribed short films and documentaries, conceptualizing stories and scripts from a human interest and social justice perspective. Business-wise, I make big cheddar (not really) as a copywriter and digital strategist working with some of the top brands in the Latin America region. In closing, let me remind you that the geek shall inherit the Earth. Oh, FYI, I'd love to write the Gargoyles movie for Disney. YOLO.