"Hocus Pocus" never gets old, even after almost two decades
Every October, there is a movie that is talked about all over Facebook and Twitter. It’s a favorite among Millenials that has been around for almost two decades.
When it came out in 1993, “Hocus Pocus” taught children that if you sneak out of the house and break into an old museum to show off for your crush, you will light a candle and bring back 300-year-old witches who want to literally suck the life out of all of the children in town, including your younger sister.
This is what happens to characters Max, Allison and Dani when they decide to stop trick-or-treating and ditch the party going on at Allison’s house to break into the haunted home of the Sanderson sisters.
Dani, the younger sister of Max, gets freaked out and wants to leave as soon as they arrive, but Max had to show off in front of Allison. He decides to light the Black Flame Candle, which will supposedly bring back the three witches when lit by a virgin.
A black cat tries to stop him by appearing out of nowhere and jumping on his head, but it doesn’t work. Max believes it’s all a bunch of hocus pocus.
Much to his surprise, the flame does in fact turn black, and the witches came back with one goal: suck the lives out of as many children as possible before sunrise.
If they don’t, they will be turned to dust. With enough time to look at the camera and say “uh, oh,” of course.
With the help of Binks, the black cat who can now talk, and a zombie named Billy, the three have to stop the Sanderson sisters from killing the children of Salem, Mass. however they can.
They steal their spell book, lock them in a giant walk-in oven in the high school (why does a high school even need one of those?), surround themselves with salt and otherwise make fools of themselves in front of the entire town in order to achieve their goal.
The family-friendly film is laced with jokes about new technologies that have been developed since the Salem Witch Trials of the 1600s, like paved roads and sprinkler systems, which are beyond the comprehension of the Sanderson sisters.
While we may not have realized it at the time, “Hocus Pocus” taught us valuable life lessons, like the importance of working as a team to reach a common goal.
Also, the zombie isn’t always the bad guy, and even if you put witches in a walk-in oven, it doesn’t mean they’re dead.
Rating: Five out of five stars.
