10 Recent Horror Reveals Nobody Was Ready For

6. Spiritual Sequel Is An Actual Sequel - The Craft: Legacy

Chucky Nica Fiona Dourif
Sony Pictures Releasing

The Craft: Legacy was unfortunately a misfire of a movie, but it did memorably shock horror hounds by being a little more than what was initially let on.

Prior to the film's release at the end of 2020, Legacy was billed as a spiritual sequel to Andrew Fleming's 1996 movie. By the time The Craft: Legacy rolls to a close, though, this "spiritual sequel" is very much a full-on, bona fide sequel to Fleming's The Craft.

Going into Legacy, the spotlight is on new girl Lily, who arrives in town and proves to be the perfect person to join witches Frankie, Lourdes and Tabby to form a proper coven. Of course, this absolutely follows a similar pattern to the '96 Craft picture, which led to some presuming Legacy would merely be a rehash of that initial concept. Instead, there were some mild differences, such as less scares, less distinct characterisations for our key foursome, and themes of toxic masculinity at the fore.

By the time The Craft: Legacy starts chugging along, we find out that Lily is actually the biological daughter of one of her 'mother' Helen's psychiatric patients. And as Legacy wraps up, it's closing moments reveal that Lily's real mother is in fact Fairuza Balk's Nancy Downs from The Craft. With that, it's revealed that, yes, The Craft: Legacy is 100% a direct sequel to the 1996 picture.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.