A TV movie by its original maker, the God of television shows and movies, Mr. Aaron Spelling. What better way to pay homage to one's own pulsating veins of creativity than by reincarnating the 1973 version of Satan's School for Girls into a stylish, eerie, and sexy modern version of witchcraft at its most evil.
Witchcraft and superstitions at a prestigious woman's college are rumored to be the extra curricular activities that an elite group of girls dabble into and who call themselves The Five.
As a child, Beth (Shannen Doherty) was able to see visions in her dreams and be able to identify if a card being held up was a face or number card without second guessing it. One night all that changed when Beth and her parents got into a fight over being able to stay home and watch her sister, Jenny (Irene Contogiorgis), without a baby sitter. That night Beth dreamt her parents were killed in a car crash and they were. Beth's guilt caused her gifts to be buried deep in her heart for the memories and the pain were too much to bare.

Years later, Beth receives an urgent call for her sister to meet her back home. Shockingly Beth's arrival ends in a horror scene when she finds Jenny in a puddle of blood, suicide the obvious cause of death. Beth doesn't buy this especially since Jenny told her she needed to talk to her about something very serious happening at the college she attended.
Beth, with the help of her friend, gets a fake ID and enrolls at Fallbridge Women's College as "Karen Oxford."
Karen meets Dean Olivia Burtis (Kate Jackson) and asks her about the recent suicide the school had to deal with. Olivia professes her great sadness and tells Karen that the girl was very troubled and no one could help her.
Karen gets befriended by a few of the college gals named Alison (Julie Benz,) Paige (Taraji P. Henson) and Hillary (Mandy Schaffer) who fill her in on some of the more colorful personalities that the school has to offer. Karen also starts to date Mark (Daniel Cosgrove), who's a real nice guy and someone that Karen can finally open up her past to and, at the same time, awaken her magical powers, but there seems to be some strings attached that Karen is unaware of with her girlfriends and boyfriend.
When Karen starts to question Lisa (Victoria Sanchez), the girl her sister was roommates with, there is a cold wall placed in front of Karen and Lisa doesn't want anything to do with Karen. In fact, she even threatens Karen so she will stay away, but Lisa seems to know something about Karen and Karen's new gal pals and her boyfriend Mark tell her to stay away from her because she is involved in the occult.
What happens when Karen has a dream that Lisa is murdered and wakes up to see her mangled body outside of her window?
Karen is getting deeper into finding out that the school may be up to something sinister and that The Five are looking to recruit a fifth member to complete their cycle.
Who are The Five and what do they have planned for Karen, and can Karen fight this evil without giving into temptation?
This dark, campy and pleasing movie will appeal to fans of Shannen Doherty and Mr. Spelling's work in general. There's good stuff in here and the performances and the theme should make for an engaging watch.

That Shannen Doherty would enjoy a career revival by playing a witch on series television might have seemed like the punch line to a bad joke a couple of years ago, but in the spirit of sticking with what works, the star of the WB's "Charmed" headlines the remake of the supernatural horror film "Satan's School for Girls," which first aired on the Alphabet web in 1973. This updated version, from director Christopher Leitch ("China Beach") confirms the old adage that as much as things change, they stay the same -- at least when it comes to TV movies. In fact, seen-it-all horror fans won't find anything new or particularly shocking here, but there is camp fun to be had, and therein lies the appeal.
Writer Michael Hitchcock's idea of a remake, based on the teleplay written by A.A. Ross, means "Scream"-like rip-offs, steamy sex scenes, lots of smoke-and-mirrors special effects and a few pop culture references to bring pic into the new millennium. Mostly, however, Hitchcock sticks to the basis premise of an underlying evil at an all-girl school.
"The Five," a secret society, is a controlling force behind the scenes of New England's Fallbridge Women's College. When the younger sister of Beth Hammersmith (Doherty) mysteriously dies in what is ruled a suicide, Beth enrolls at the college under an assumed name to try to uncover the truth. Of course, all is not what it seems at Fallbridge, and Beth must rely on her own telekinetic skills to protect her from the danger lurking behind the ivy-covered walls.
Even if viewers aren't familiar with the original, it doesn't take much to guess who is behind all of the deaths at the school. But what the pic lacks in mystery is made up for in catty stereotypes of college students. In most cases, Hitchcock and Leitch lay them on thick. The Goth girls make for the usual suspects, the Sorority girls are elitists and the comely coeds are very possessive of their boyfriends.
What really dates the film, however, is the underlying notion of "The Five." Perhaps in 1973 it seemed like the only way a woman could become successful was by making a pact with the devil, but the promise of attaining anything you want by such alternative means has lost some of its validity today. Women have come a long way, baby, and they didn't need Satan's help to get there.
Although some would argue that point in terms of the humorless Doherty, here the notorious star plays the role of the maudlin and confused Beth convincingly. If she had added scared to her repertoire, it would have been a near dead-on performance.
Victoria Sanchez does a nice turn as the scary Goth student Lisa, although Julie Benz in a Jekyll-and-Hyde role manages to drain all menace from the horror scenes by chanting "Hail Satan," in her Chipmunklike voice. Kate Jackson, who appeared in the original as a student, is commanding in her few scenes as Olivia Burtis, the dean of the school who may or may not be in on the shenanigans.
Very little blood is shed, and when it is, it's shown in black and white. Still, pic has enough gruesome images to warrant a TV-14 guideline. Leitch also makes use of negative images and spooky sets that more than anything add to the camp feel. Perri Garrara's production is appropriately spooky even though Sergei Kozlov's shots of a bright and arid landscape make for a poor replica of New England.

It's Shannen Doherty vs. Satan
By Beth Harris , March, 11, 2000

Shannen Doherty mixes it up with Satan worshippers in a remake of a 27-year-old movie that capitalizes on TV's current obsession with all things supernatural. That means plenty of blood, knives and signs of the devil, like the '666' scrawled in blood on the chest of a dead man. In "Satan's School for Girls," star Doherty, Daniel Cosgrove ("Beverly Hills, 90210") and Kate Jackson.
"Is that the worst title you've ever heard in your life?" Jackson asks. "It's stunning that anyone would want to remake this."
Jackson should know. She starred in the original 1973 version, also produced by Aaron Spelling, who gave Jackson and Doherty their big breaks on his TV shows. Jackson co-starred in Spelling's first series, the '70s police drama "The Rookies," while Doherty gained fame during a few tantrum-filled years on "90210."It was easy for Spelling to round up his go-to girls for what he calls a "popcorn" movie. All he had to do was call.
"My experience has been that when Aaron asks you to do something, you do it," said Doherty, who stars on Spelling's hit WB show "Charmed."
After "The Rookies," Jackson helped keep Spelling at the top of the ratings with "Charlie's Angels."
"I was lucky enough to have been called by him when I was in my early 20s, so when he calls me now I still say yes," she said.
Spelling says ABC approached him about a remake, and he freely admits, "This is not an Emmy Award-winning movie."
"Satan's School" isn't much of a stretch for Doherty, who plays a witch possessing magical powers on "Charmed." In the movie, she goes undercover as a college student to investigate the alleged suicide of her sister at a strange East Coast school for women.
Fallbridge College isn't for prudes. The students wear clingy halter tops and too-short dresses, sleep with professors, and in between classes, those up to no good gather 'round a dead tree for a satanic ceremony where one of them (yikes!) morphs into a vicious barking dog.
Method actors need not apply.
"I don't think I could have been this really dramatic, serious actress without it coming off really, really cheesy," concedes Doherty in between drags on a cigarette outside her trailer on the "Charmed" set.
During the kitschy romp through the dark side, Doherty's character, Beth, is harassed by her late sister's ex-roommate, a goth girl who looks like Marilyn Manson's best friend.
But Beth is a cool customer. She shatters lightbulbs with a mere stare. In the dorm bathroom, the lights flash and a faucet drips unusually loudly, even after she turns it off. Oooh, danger lurks! "It's probably one of the more interesting performances I've given," Doherty said. "I'm not saying good, I'm just saying interesting because my reactions are really bizarre. When horrifying stuff happens, my character sort of deadpans it and rolls her eyes."
The "horror" includes black crows and the snarling dog with glowing red eyes, which conveniently appear just before somebody winds up dead. The oversized birds get a workout.
"My job as an actor is for those 80 seconds that I'm on camera to actually believe it, but the minute they say, 'Cut!,' you're like, 'Ohh, that crow is so stupid,"' Doherty said. "It's like, come on, none of this is real."
The '73 version lacked the high-tech special effects sprinkled throughout this movie, including a fiery, chandelier-busting ending that is particularly gruesome for Jackson's character.
"Aaron is one of the masters and I love this, he puts his tongue firmly in his cheek and marches on," Jackson said.
Jackson makes a rare TV appearance as the college's headmistress, who's mixed up in the devilish goings-on. In recent years, she's stayed out of the limelight to raise a son.
Despite fond memories of filming the original, Jackson so despises the movie's title that she insists on calling it "The School."
"There's a certain amount of suspension of belief you have so you can pull it off for the audience," she said, "but you hope you're not going to be remembered for 'The School."'
Don't worry, Kate. "I barely remember the first one," Spelling said. "After 138 TV movies, they all kind of run together."