In The Craft (1996), a bus driver’s warning gives Nancy Downs a chance to speak for all 4 girls: “We are the weirdos, mister.” Fairuza Balk delivers the line with a slight smile, turning a word used to exclude girls like them into a declaration of belonging.
The driver has just told them, “You girls watch out for those weirdos.” They’re getting off the bus on their way to the woods for a group ritual. Nancy turns back and lowers her sunglasses before answering him.
She speaks in the plural. Her friends belong with her.
At their Catholic prep school in Los Angeles, each girl has a reason to feel isolated. Sarah (Robin Tunney) is the newcomer with natural supernatural abilities and a traumatic past. An accident in childhood left Bonnie (Neve Campbell) with burn scars.
Racist bullying targets Rochelle (Rachel True), who’s a Black student and athlete. Nancy lives with her mother and an abusive stepfather in a trailer.
Together, they have friendship and the power of a complete coven. That gives Nancy’s reply its appeal: a girl who has little control over her home life gets to decide how she’ll describe herself, with her friends beside her.
It’s a double-edged sword, and the film eventually makes that solidarity painful to revisit. Their spells bring obsession, cruelty and an escalating abuse of power, and Sarah ultimately turns against the others to stop them. The bus scene preserves an earlier moment, when belonging to this group still feels like freedom.
