In this poor man's THE CRAFT, director Jane Simpson's LITTLE WITCHES has Catholic school girls(unfortunately having to spend their spring break at the convent)dabbling with black magic when a secret baptistery is discovered while construction is underway on the old church, and a book of spells written entirely in Latin gives instructions on how to bring forth "He who comes". Sheeri Rappaport is a naughty sex kitten whose life at home is of an abusive nature. The book of spells provides her with something interesting to do(her motivation is that this spell will give her power to no longer have others in authority telling her what to do)while stuck at the convent and her Jamie has a great influence on the other girls. Mimi Rose is the virginal Faith Ferguson, a giggly and sweet girl on the road to Stanford and a potential foil to Jamie's plans(after reciting a spell, the "horned demon" takes over control of her body and this, in turn, enslaves the other girls, besides Faith, who carry on with a ceremony which will allow Lucifer access from his dimension into ours if they are successful)if she can keep the book from their grasp. There's a spiritual guardian the Lord uses to keep Lucifer from entering our world and the identity of the person is later revealed. Jennifer Rubin(NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET III; BAD DREAMS)is Sister Sherilyn, the authoritative figure(and their teacher, also)in charge of the girls. David Lynch regular Jack Nance(ERASERHEAD)is the priest over the parish where these girls attend. Zelda Rubinstein(POLTERGEIST)pops up as another weirdo, this time an odd nun with a fixation for crucifixes(the girls avoid her like the plague)who could be the guardian who keeps the horned demon at bay(and was responsible for it's defeat at the beginning of the movie). Tommy Stork is Mimi's hunky love interest, construction worker/architect student, Daniel(also a virgin saving himself for the right girl). Early role for Clea DuVall as one of the girls who gets all caught up in the witchcraft which costs them far more than they could possibly imagine. Showcase for Rappaport who gets naked a lot and has one hell of a tantalizing striptease from her Catholic school uniform for the construction workers outside..she's really the whole show besides the interesting supporting cast of familiar faces. The ceremony at the end results in the revelation of the ugly demon trying to make it's way into our world as Faith attempts to stop it. The soundtrack consists of echoing chants from a church choir which I found more than a bit annoying after a while. There's really nothing that particularly memorable other than when the girls strip and chant while holding hands and walking in a circle around a well. Good beach front location near the church provides some much needed eye candy besides Rappaport.
Review of Little Witches
