I won’t waste your time reviewing the movie part of The Craft. The film is old enough that there is plenty of people out there who have already dissected the movie to pieces. If you want to know what I think, I can tell you that I enjoy the film quite a bit. Seeing a bunch of teenage witches gaining powers and using them to gain wealth, revenge and love is precisely the kind of movie I love (you have read my glowing review of Teen Witch right?). The Craft has also held up quite well and seems even more relevant today. I am also quite flabbergasted there was never a crappy sequel made. Oops, I should probably be quiet as Hollywood might hear me and either make a sequel or remake.
So, no, I won’t be discussing the movie. What we are here for is the Blu-ray, and I’m going to be completely blunt with this one. The Scream Factory Collector’s Edition release of The Craft is not worth it. Sure, you may be getting a slipcover featuring new artwork, and you’ll be happy to see four new interviews with the director, writer, producer, and special effects artist, but they only add up to approx 50-minutes of new material, and the people interviewed more than once repeated the same old nuggets of information. However, that’s where the new stuff stops. What you aren’t getting is a new transfer and no new interviews with any of the original cast. The transfer is the same old one from the initial Blu-ray release of 2009, and all the other extras minus the three new interviews were provided on the 2009 version.
In 2009, the Blu-ray of The Craft was praised by reviewers for its video and audio, but a lot has changed since then. In a time of 2K and 4K scans of original negatives, this transfer is starting to show its age. It appears soft at times, with compression issues popping up, and some nighttime scenes are very heavy in grain (I know film grain is a good thing, but this is pretty darn heavy) and have an overall uneven appearance. I should point out that after doing some minor research, it appears Sony does not allow Scream Factory to do a new transfer or any enhancements to the scan provided. Scream Factory has to use what Sony gives them, and that’s final. It’s unfortunate that Sony wouldn’t take the time to produce a new transfer, as this is one great film that deserves attention.
When you can easily buy the 2009 Blu-ray of The Craft for under $10, there is no reason to plop down your hard-earned money on this new Collector’s Edition from Scream Factory. The only ones who may be interested are the purists who want to collect them all.
For even more screenshots, please check out The Craft Blu-ray Gallery.
