A coven of young witches find their 5th they had been waiting for in a new witch they did not realize the power of. Together they aim at bringing back a martyrized powerful witch named Ashura, unleashing more than they expected by doing so.
Written by Lizze Gordon and directed by Margaret Malandruccolo, Coven is a take on the college girls wanting power through magic and a sort of sorority building through this power and the communal need to belong. This need to belong is so strong for some of these ladies that they are ready to do or overlook some pretty awful things. Throw in some history of witches and a few supernatural bits and you have Coven. The film takes all of this and puts it into a story that is decently entertaining. The characters are okay in terms of development, with some of them being on the rather thin side, with some arcs to them. There is enough here for an okay film, but one ends up wishing that there would be more to them and to their arc. Granted, there is something there, but as the characters are a bit forgettable after just a little time after viewing. The ladies here are interesting enough, but they do not stick in your mind like other witches of movies past.
Playing these ladies are a group of actresses doing their best to give performances that will grab the viewers and that will pass the information and emotions through. Honestly though, there is something missing here and the girls are almost hard to differentiate after a little time post watching. It’s the kind of thing that had to be sat on for a bit. As a girl who grew up with The Craft, there was a hope of having that kind of magic again, the one where you can identify with the characters and connect with them. But here instead, there is something missing and it feels like it’s more about the girls doing their magic in lingerie than about the coven itself. Coven is something many have been using when talking about their girls, their groups, right or wrong it has a connotation to it of being there for your ladies and working together. This film feels like something is off about it. Of course, the coven here works toward the goal of one of the ladies and not necessarily for the good of the group, but still. The whole film feels a bit off and it shows in the performances which is unfortunate.
The film overall is not terrible or even bad, it’s just missing something so here and there while watching, the attention wanders elsewhere. The constant use of lingerie while doing their rituals feels more like a distraction than like something the story needed. The performances are okay, there film is okay, but it’s not something teen girls or college ladies are going to flock to in the future or want to have parties around in general. It’s kind of a seen it once, don’t need to see it again unfortunately.