On All Hallow’s Eve, when the moon is round, a virgin will summon us from under the ground. We shall be back! And the lives of all the children of Salem shall be mine! – Winifred Sanderson, October 31, 1963
Happy Halloween, Witches! The Sanderson Sisters are back! Hocus Pocus is one of the most beloved Halloween movies around the world and this October, it marked the 25th anniversary since the movie came out in 1993.
Therefore, Freeform decided to through a party for the witches and include the Anniversary Bash as part of their 31 Nights of Halloween. Almost the entire cast came back together for the celebration (unfortunately two of the witches have not come even though it was confirmed they would) and look how the kids have all grown up! If you want to watch the show including stars like Vanessa Hudgens reprising the songs, you can go to Freeform and stream it.
So if you do not know what the movie is about, here is a quick overview!
In 1963, Thackery Binx’s sister Emily is lured out of bed and killed by three witches known as the Sanderson sisters – Winifred (Beth Middler), Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker), and Mary (Kathy Najimy). Binx, who followed his sister into the sisters’ cottage, is caught by the sisters and turned into a black cat, doomed to walk on earth for all eternity. The sibling’s father then wants to see the sisters dead and the citizens of the village hang them, but before they die the oldest sister, Winifred speaks a spell, that the sisters will be resurrected during a full moon on All Hallows Eve when a virgin lights the black flame candle. Cat Binx makes it his personal task to make sure that no one ever will bring the sisters back.
300 years later Max moves from L.A. to Salem with his parents. He wants to impress his crush Allison and does not believe in the legend of the Sanderson sisters so he lights the candle and then he has to protect his little sister and the town throughout the night and he only has time until sunrise to banish the sisters from earth again.
“Some inside and some without, One believes and one holds doubt. On All Hallow’s Eve were twelve is struck, trade three souls until sunup.”
This year Disney has published a sequel to the movie as a book. First, you have the story from the movie and around 200 pages later, you get to read continuation.
25 years on, Max and Allison are married and have a 17-year-old daughter, Poppy. Max is now a history teacher at the local high school and Allison works as an attorney. They wanted to have the Sanderson’s cottage removed, but due to the fact that it is a historical monument, they could not. Now, they own it and made sure that no one will be able to light the black flame candle ever again.
It is the night of All Hallows Eve and the night of a blood moon. To make sure that no child will be near the cottage, the Dennison’s are giving a Halloween party, but Poppy has other plans. She and her two friends, Travis and Isabella, are playing with a spirit board and the Sanderson’s spell book. Everything is fine, until Poppy reads an exchange spell which brings Winifred, Sarah, and Mary back and sent her parents and aunt to hell.
Now Poppy has to solve this problem, quickly. The faiths are in her favour, because Isabella tells her friends that she is a descendant from the youngest Sanderson sister, Elizabeth, who was a good witch and Poppy’s parents have sent Binx and Emily to watch out for her.
Can Poppy save her parents? Can she and her friends defeat the sisters who are planning to swap the whole town with fellow witches? Hint: it is a Disney story, after all.
This book is a nice quick read, but I for sure would have preferred a movie instead of a sequel. Plus seeing the cast back together reprise their iconic roles would have been nice to see and be a nice Halloween movie, which there are not many of these days. It does not have to be always bloody and scary, right? Especially, I would have loved to see little Dani grown up and being her usual sassy self.
Happy Halloween once more and no matter if you will enjoy your 25th rewatch or dive into the sequel, Hocus Pocus will always entertain you and bring you a good time.
