Women in Horror: Rachel True (The Craft)

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

One month a year isn't enough to recognize the talented women that make up the horror genre, so Arrow In The Head is starting a column dedicated to celebrating the female filmmakers, screenwriters, cinematographers, and stars that fill such irreplaceable roles within the cinematic realm. May their paths inspire others, and may we never forget their important contributions to the film world.

ACTRESS RACHEL TRUE

Born on November 15, 1966, Rachel True was born to play a witch. After her parents split up and left her in foster care for the first few years of her life, True developed an interest in otherworldly matters as a way to cope with her rough start. Once picked up by her parents at the age of four, she went to live with her father, an antiques dealer, and her stepmother, an actress. True spent most of her early days hanging out in her father's library, where she picked up copies of Carl Jung's 'Man and His Symbols' and Nietzsche's 'Beyond Good and Evil'. Despite being a tad too young to fully understand what exactly she was reading, her interest in the material was piqued, paving the way for her future intrigue into the world of the supernatural. Years later, True would receive her very first tarot card deck, long before she ever step foot on the set of THE CRAFT.

When she wasn't reading in her father's study, True was at the theater with her stepmother, an actress. Some of True's earliest memories were of watching her stepmother rehearse. It was then that she began to realize her path — she was meant to participate in the art world. The only black girl in her high school, True earned the highest score in the history of her high school on the SATs. However, instead of becoming welcomed with open arms into whichever college her little heart desired, she was instead preyed upon by her classmates, many of whom asked True to help them cheat. This was only the beginning of her unfair treatment as a young, talented black woman in a very Caucasian dominated world. 

From there, True went on to audition for 'The Miracle Worker' at her local theater. True wanted to play one of the blind girls, but was told she couldn't because those roles were reserved for the white girls. Fed up with the east coast scene, True headed west, moving to Los Angeles in the early '90s in order to pursue her dreams of being a full time actress. True landed gigs here and there on various television shows and TV movies ranging from THE COSBY SHOW to FAMILY MATTERS to THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL AIR to BEVERLY HILLS, 90210. After appearing alongside Chris Rock in CB4, True started to finally gain the notoriety she so deserved. She went on to appear in her very first horror movie, EMBRACE OF THE VAMPIRE in 1995. Eventually, her friend Jordan Ladd encouraged True to audition for the movie THE CRAFT in 1996, and the rest, as they say, is history.

In 2019 the documentary HORROR NOIRE shows True calling out filmmakers for continually giving her the black best friend role, in which she only plays a prop to her white friends and their self-centered problems. 

As has become tradition, I'd like to share one of my favorite quotes from this entry's women in horror. "There's a casual racism to not including the Black person, we're the afterthought quite often. But I was like, you know what I am? I'm not an afterthought. I'm Rachel-fucking-True".

BEST WORK: Flipping the usual high school story on its head, THE CRAFT follows four girls who aren't the most popular in school, but rather, 'the weirdos'. Although sisterhood brings them together, jealousy tears them apart, as the power they practice eventually divides them into camps as the magic they conjure takes on a life of its own.

The year before True earned her starring role in THE CRAFT, she had a bit of a slow year — or at least, slow in her eyes. She decided to spend her downtime diving headfirst into the world of the occult, upping her tarot skills and doing readings for her friends — a skill that would eventually come in handy in more ways than one. By the time her moment came to try out for THE CRAFT, True was already a real life witch — she even auditioned for the role with crystals in her pocket. If anyone deserved this role, it was her.

Years later, after playing a witch onscreen and arguably embodying a witch in real life, Rachel was asked in an interview how she would define the word 'magic'. True had this to say: "To me, it means using your personal power to manifest things for yourself or other people. It means using your powers for good. We've all had a lot of ups and downs in our lives, and it's so easy to be negative about things, but I think if you believe that you can manifest things, even though the mountain is insurmountable, that's magic to me".

CAREER DEFINING MOMENT: Starring Dave Chappelle as a down-on-his-luck stoner, HALF BAKED follows Thurgood Jenkins (Chappelle) as he hits a turning point in his life, a.k.a. meeting a girl, falling in love, and questioning whether or not it might be time to give up his pot smoking ways in order to attain a real life Mary Jane (True).

Although it's hard to go up against THE CRAFT, which is arguably both one of the best witch movies ever made as well as one of the best films from the 1990s, HALF BAKED made history in its own way. It's 2019 now, a year in which Jordan Peele's US gained notoriety as a film with a mainly black cast, and yet, back in 1998, HALF BAKED made headway as one of the country's top comedies, and it starred a black couple. It wasn't a stereotypical story either, about  the hardships people of color endure in marginalized neighborhoods, it was just a regular old comedy that happened to star two black people that also gave True a chance to show off her comedic chops.

Today, it's hard to find someone who hasn't seen HALF BAKED. Many would argue it's one of the greatest comedies of all time, and most would say it's endlessly quotable. With a budget of $8 million, the film went on to gross over $17 million domestic and gain all-timer status in the comedy world. Although these days, True is mainly known for THE CRAFT, it was HALF BAKED that brought her to the mainstream, solidifying her space as a full fledged actress in Hollywood.