- "Well excuse me, but I've spent a big chunk of my life being a monster and now that I'm not, I'm having a good time, I'm sorry that bothers you."
- — Bonnie
Bonnie is a main character in The Craft. She is a practicing witch. Bonnie is presented as a shy, insecure young girl who suffers from burn scars along her back and shoulders which she acquired from a fire incident when she was a child. Once Sarah Bailey joins her coven, she is able to cast a spell which relieves her of both her physical and emotional scarring, causing her to become both beautiful and conceited.
She is portrayed by Neve Campbell.
Biography
Background
Bonnie was born in 1980, presumably in Los Angeles, California. Sometime prior to the beginning of the film, Bonnie was involved in a fire accident, which left her back and shoulders horribly disfigured.
The Craft
Initially, Bonnie is presented as shy and insecure, mostly from her burn scars. She wears her hair over her face and dresses in dark clothing, covering most of her skin. It is implied that she cuts herself. She is best friends with Nancy Downs, a goth girl and Rochelle, the only African-American in her school. Together, the girls practice witchcraft. According to Bonnie, they need to find a fourth member so they can achieve full power.
Sarah Bailey, a suicidal teen with supernatural powers, befriends Bonnie, Nancy and Rochelle who reveal to Sarah that she is a witch, like them after she saw Sarah telekinetically drill a pencil into her desk in class. They slowly accept Sarah into their coven. Bonnie casts a spell to become beautiful, which magically heals her burn scars. Unfortunately, since her physical scars as well as her emotional scars are gone, this causes Bonnie to become gradually more conceited and self-absorbed, until she is basically a vain and shallow shell of her former self. Now at full power, the girls cast individual spells for personal gain.
Sarah believes that using magic inappropriately will invoke the Rule of Three, a Wiccan law which states "what you send out, you get back times three." At first, Bonnie and the girls blow Sarah off and begin to use the power of glamour to attack Sarah for wanting to leave the circle, but Sarah invokes the god Manon and uses her newfound power to trick Bonnie into believing her burn scars have returned - only this time, covering her face. Believing this to be the 'Rule of Three' at work, Bonnie ceases her attack on Sarah and flees with Rochelle, who had fallen for a similar trick. Sarah later binds Bonnie's powers, along with Nancy and Rochelle's power.
Bonnie goes with Rochelle to see Sarah at the end of the film, apologizing for what happened earlier and offering to let Sarah hang out with them. she also greets Sarah's father, who is oblivious to what has been going on. Bonnie does not seem very sincere, which Sarah clearly picks up on, and she tells Bonnie and Rochelle to "hold their breath" until she calls. As Bonnie leaves with Rochelle, she snickers and says that Sarah "probably doesn't have any powers anymore anyway", prompting Sarah to prove her wrong by using magic to break a tree branch, which nearly falls on Bonnie on Rochelle.
Personality
At the beginning of the film, Bonnie is shown to be kind and sweet-natured, though also very shy and weak-willed. This largely stemmed from her severe scarring, which Bonnie felt very self-conscious about, to the point where she even referred to herself as a "monster" and was willing to do just about anything to get rid of them. After seeing Sarah use magic in class, she was the first to believe Sarah should join their coven.
After using magic to heal her scars, Bonnie changes drastically, becoming far more confident and outspoken. She dresses in more revealing clothes, wears make-up, and carries herself with dignity. She also flirts with boys or states her opinion on things. Unfortunately, Bonnie also becomes increasingly self-absorbed and vain, with Sarah even saying she is "completely narcissistic". Bonnie dismisses this and turns on Sarah, using magic to attack and frighten her, demonstrating her darker and more malicious side.
However, Bonnie does express reluctance at actually causing serious harm to Sarah, feeling that Nancy has taken things too far. despite this, she dismisses it as a joke and even asks Sarah if she wants to hang out some time, though Sarah clearly does not see the funny side and lets Bonnie know exactly what she thinks of her and her so-called 'pranks'.
Powers and abilities
Bonnie is a witch, thus possessing magical talents. She is capable of focusing on an intent and outcome and willing it to happen. Once her coven was at full quota and full magical power, she was able to manipulate a car and cause it to hit a vagrant who was harassing Sarah. She later on cast a spell to make herself more beautiful, causing her horrific burn scars to heal. She is also capable of a wide variety of feats such as levitation, glamouring, telekinesis, etc. She embodies the element of fire, therefore she most likely is more adept in fire magic and pyrokinesis.
Quotes
"Excuse me, but I've spent a big part of my life being a monster and now that I'm not; I'm having a good time, I'm sorry that bothers you."
(To guy) "Nice ass!"
(To Sarah) "How have you been sleeping?"
(Talking about her scars) "You know every morning I wake up... and for a split second I think I'm normal... then I remember."
Trivia
- Neve Campbell (Bonnie) became best friends with Rachel True (Rochelle) during filming.
- Bonnie was portrayed by Neve Campbell, who also portrayed Sidney Prescott, a character from the Scream franchise. The Craft came out the same year as the movie Scream. It also starred Skeet Ulrich, who portrays Chris Hooker.
- Producers spotted Neve Campbell from her TV show Party of Five. Prior to The Craft, Neve had never done movie work. She was asked to read and the producers eventually decided that she'd "make a good Bonnie."
- According to the filmmakers, Bonnie's classical element is fire.