| “ | And so much simpler than going to a salon. | „ |
| ~ Rochelle Zimmerman. |
Rochelle Zimmerman is a major antagonist of the 1996 supernatural horror film The Craft. She is the only African-American girl in her school, and is therefore targeted by Laura Lizzie, a racist Caucasian American bully. She also seems to be the only normal (with no familial, or psychological, or physical issues) one out of all the four witches. Later on, after she was able to access real magic due to Sarah Bailey joining the three girls' coven which fully activated their powers, she used it to exact revenge on Laura. However, the effects turned out to be more than she was comfortable with, and later she was tormented by a vision of it backfiring on her. Her misuse of witchcraft ultimately caused her to lose her powers. She wields the power of water and she represents west and intuition.
She was portrayed by Rachel True.
Biography[]
Very little is known about Rochelle's life In the film's deleted scene, it is revealed that Rochelle is the only Black student in her school and neighbourhood and that when she first arrived in school, no one would talk to her except Nancy Downs. Rochelle befriended Nancy and Bonnie and together they began practicing witchcraft. Rochelle is a skilled swimmer and is on the Swim team. However, she is frequently bullied by racist Queen Bee, Laura Lizzie, the Captain of the Swim team.
Once Rochelle achieves real magical powers with newcomer Sarah Bailey initiated into her coven, she cast a spell that made Laura's hair fall out every time she bullies her. She eventually sees how much pain and suffering she has put Laura through, and feels extreme regret. However, this regret is fleeting: as she, Bonnie, and Nancy grew more powerful in witchcraft everyday, she gradually began to abuse her magic. Sarah later punished her by tormenting her with a vision where all her hair fell out (similar to what she had inflicted upon Laura, only worse by three times in accordance to the Rule of Three), and stripped her of all her powers. Believing this to be the 'Rule of Three' at work, Bonnie and Rochelle ceases their attack on Sarah and flees together. 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. Neither of them seem very sincere, which Sarah clearly picks up on. They ask her if she’s had any signs of Magic, as they haven’t been able to cast Spells. Sarah doesn’t answer their question, realising all they want is to use her for Magic. Sarah tells Bonnie and Rochelle to "hold their breath" until she calls. As Bonnie leaves with Rochelle, Rochelle 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 and Rochelle.
Sarah warns her two best friends turned worst enemies with the words "Be careful, you don't wanna end up like Nancy", considering Nancy is in a Mental Asylum without sanity or any magic powers.
Personality[]
Rochelle was originally the most welcoming of the girls and is easily the one with the most redeeming qualities. Rochelle is not quick to judge and quite humble. She enjoys swimming and was a talented member of the Swim team. She was funny and closest to Bonnie within the group. Rochelle wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself or friends, she eventually just asked Laura why she disliked her, but was surprised by Laura’s response. Rochelle does feel slightly vulnerable due to the fact that the schools Queen Bee is a racist who can easily influence the student body. During her Freshman year, Nancy was the only person to talk to her, this was likely due to racism. Rochelle is overall very nice, only plotting revenge when she feels people deserve it. Unfortunately, as the movie goes on, Rochelle becomes meaner, she’s ruder and doesn’t care about Sarah’s feelings once Sarah becomes difficult to manipulate. She did have bad thoughts when Nancy led her and Bonnie in torturing Sarah. Despite this, she stopped torturing not because she thought it was wrong, but because she hallucinated that she’d gone bald, showing Rochelle is quite shallow. When Rochelle and Bonnie attend to reconcile with Sarah, it’s not out of kindness, they just want to use Sarah to try and get their powers back. When Sarah tells them to “hold their breath” Rochelle murmurs something about Sarah, showing she has become mean-spirited.
Physical Appearance[]
Rochelle was an attractive teen. She is the shortest of the four Witches, with a slender figure. Rochelle has a Blonde-Brown shoulder-length Afro. Rochelle is the only Black student at her school, and has experienced racist bullying because of it. Rochelle has Brown eyes.
Trivia[]
- Rachel True became good friends with Neve Campbell during filming of The Craft.
- Rachel True practices Tarot card reading and an authoress.
- Rachel True and Fairuza Balk became good friends despite warnings from the crew to stay away from the actress Fairuza Balk who was speculated to be a troublemaker.
- She was the oldest among the girls, being nearly 30 at the time of filming.