Leigh Janiak’s The Craft is set 20 years after the original

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

If the reaction to last year's announcement that HONEYMOON'S Leigh Janiak would be directing and co-writing (with Phil Graziedi) a remake of THE CRAFT is any indication, that 1996 tale of teen witchery had a much more profound impact on a lot of horror fans than I would have expected.

Directed by Andrew Fleming from a script he wrote with Peter Filardi, THE CRAFT told the following story: 

Sarah has always been different. So as the newcomer at St. Benedict's Academy, she immediately falls in with the high school outsiders. But these girls won't settle for being a group of powerless misfits. They have discovered THE CRAFT, and they are going to use it.

I watched THE CRAFT a couple times in the mid-'90s and haven't revisited it since, but it is an enduring favorite for many. Fans who balked at the idea of the film receiving a remake may be very glad to hear what producer Douglas Wick, who also produced the original movie, had to say about this new CRAFT.

During a discussion with Hitfix, Wick said that those involved with Janiak's take on the concept aren't referring to it as a remake, because the story is actually set twenty years after the events of THE CRAFT.

There will be callbacks to the original movie, so you will see there is a connection between what happened in the days of The Craft, and how these young women come across this magic many years later.

"Here are some young women who once again discover the power of magic, and we explore their emotional lives, their wants, their fears, their longings, as they become empowered.

So it seems that what we're actually getting is a sequel to THE CRAFT, not a remake of it.