20 best film witches of all time

Nancy Downs (The Craft)

In general, movies want us to root for the “good guy”. We’re supposed to at least cheer for them, if not totally identify with their moral code. Yeesh.

Now, I’m not advocating for total anarchy or for glorifying terrible decisions. However, audiences throughout the years have often found it easier to identify with the nominal “bad guy” of a movie. Maybe it’s something about the ambition that attracts attention, or the very real frustration, fear, and anger that creates a villain. Heck, sometimes it’s just a better getup. Scar does have a pretty cool scar, after all.

Anyway, while The Craft pretty clearly wants us to root for protagonist Sarah, sometimes her good girl innocence and naïveté falls a little flat. Even telekinetic powers don’t quite spice up the situation. But when newly transplanted high school student Sarah joins up with three other aspiring witches, things get interesting. After all, that’s when we meet Nancy Downs.

Nancy (played by Fairuza Balk) represents another face of fictional witches. She’s all rage. That’s not exactly role model material, but can you blame Nancy and the other girls for seeking power? Teenagers, in general, can easily feel powerless, between all the curfews and testing and social rules that attempt to govern their behavior.

Things are even more dramatic for these high schoolers. One coven member, Rochelle, has to deal with a racist bully. Another, Bonnie, has a back covered in scars. Even Sarah has a serious case of boy trouble. Nancy herself has an abusive stepfather that, thanks to the coven’s growing power, meets an unfortunate end.

But Nancy can’t leave it at that. She grows especially power hungry and starts to become a menacing presence. Eventually, she becomes so violent that Sarah must defeat her. Meanwhile, the earlier spells have some seriously negative consequences. For example, Bonnie becomes so obsessed with her beauty that she becomes clinically narcissistic.

This isn’t exactly an endorsement of Nancy. Most people, it’s safe to assume, would agree that murder is bad and that the consequences of the spells are less than desirable. Still, it’s hard not to have some sympathy for Nancy, and at least a little awe for her power.