Hocus Pocus
Hocus Pocus 2
Hocus Pocus 2 is an American horror comedy film directed by Anne Fletcher, written by Jen D’Angelo and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. A sequel to the 1993 film Hocus Pocus, the film stars Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy, reprising their roles from the first film.
After the events of the first film, three young women accidentally bring back the Sanderson Sisters to modern day Salem and must figure out how to stop the child-hungry witches from wreaking havoc on the world.
Hocus Pocus 2 Movie Details
On DVD or streaming: September 30, 2022
Cast: Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, Doug Jones
Director: Anne Fletcher
Studio: Disney+
Genre: Family and Kids
Topics: Magic and Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Friendship, High School
Run time: 103 minutes
MPAA rating: PG
MPAA explanation: action, macabre/suggestive humor and some language
Hocus Pocus 2 Plot
In 1653 Salem, a young Winifred Sanderson is banished from Salem by Reverend Traske after she defied the authority of the church by refusing to marry John Pritchett. Rather than let her sisters, Mary and Sarah, be taken away from her, Winifred escapes with them to a nearby forbidden forest. There, they make the acquaintance of Mother Witch who gifts Winifred her magic book for her sixteenth birthday but explicitly warns the sisters against casting a spell known as the Magicae Maxima, which makes the user all powerful. Mother Witch also teaches the sisters to kill other children to keep their youthfulness.
In 2022, twenty-nine years after the Sanderson sisters were resurrected by the Black Flame Candle, Salem teenagers Becca and Izzy prepare to celebrate both Halloween and Becca’s sixteenth birthday but turn down a party invitation from their estranged friend Cassie Traske. Becca and Izzy visit a magic shop (formerly the Sanderson cottage) run by Gilbert, who gifts Becca a candle for their annual birthday ritual. Becca and Izzy light the candle and discover that it is another Black Flame Candle. As there is a full moon and the girls are both virgins, the candle resurrects the Sanderson sisters once again.
The girls manage to outwit the sisters in a local Walgreens and then escape to the magic shop where they discover that Gilbert tricked them into reviving the sisters, having seen them on Halloween back in 1993 and been taught how to make the candle by Book. The sisters catch up to the girls and see a campaign flyer belonging to Mayor Traske, Cassie’s father and Reverend Traske’s direct descendant. Winifred decides they will cast the Magicae Maxima spell to eliminate Traske and take revenge on Salem. The sisters trap Izzy and Becca in the basement and leave to hunt down Traske, whose blood is needed to complete the spell. They force Gilbert to collect the other ingredients.
The girls escape and head to the Traske house to warn the mayor while the sisters find their way to the town’s Halloween carnival and enchant the citizens to help them find the mayor. Meanwhile, Gilbert digs up Billy Butcherson, who has been awake but entombed since 1993. Gilbert needs Billy’s head for the spell but tricks Billy into helping him collect the other ingredients first.
The girls reunite with Cassie and manage to trap the sisters within a salt circle in Cassie’s garage before Mayor Traske returns home. The three teenagers make amends with one another but their reunion is interrupted when the sisters escape the circle and kidnap Cassie to use her blood instead. Becca and Izzy follow them to the forbidden forest where Gilbert has assembled the ingredients and soon discover that Becca is also a witch. The sisters partially cast the spell and increase their power, but Becca distracts them while Izzy rescues Cassie. Becca manages to convince Book that it does not have to answer to Winifred, and Becca and Book flee further into the forest. Book shows them a warning about the Magicae Maxima spell, stating that whoever casts it must give up what they cherish most.
The girls agree to warn Winifred of the price of the spell but are too late: Winifred becomes all powerful as Mary and Sarah fade to dust. Winifred grows despondent and begs the teenagers to use their newfound powers to save her sisters. While they cannot save the two, Becca, Cassie and Izzy join together in a coven and cast a reuniting spell and Winifred happily fades away to be reunited with her sisters.
The girls are joined by Gilbert and Billy while Billy starts to fade away, realizing that all of Winifred’s spells have been undone and relieved to finally be headed to his eternal rest. The girls decide to give Book a new home and continue practicing their magic as they walk off into the night in a similar manner as the Sanderson sisters. As they leave, a bird identical to the one that Mother Witch had shapeshifted into flies overhead.
Hocus Pocus 2 Cast
- Bette Midler as Winifred Sanderson, the leader of the Sanderson sisters and the main antagonist. She is the eldest and is highly sensitive to people calling her ugly and has a very short temper. Generally the most intelligent of the three sisters, however, she is prone to being melodramatic. She has the power of electrokinesis.
- Sarah Jessica Parker as Sarah Sanderson, the youngest sister and one of the secondary antagonists. She uses a siren-like ability to lure children to the Sanderson home. She sings a song called “Come Little Children” to lure the children to there so she can suck their lives to become younger. She is not particularly intelligent, and she is often prancing around and goofing off. She is the most beautiful of the three, which makes her have the tendency to attract men.
- Kathy Najimy as Mary Sanderson, the middle sister and second of the secondary antagonists. Often complimenting and comforting Winifred, she constantly seeks her approval. She has the ability to sniff out the presence of children and has a tendency to bark in a Curly Howard-like fashion. She is the most observant of the three.
- Whitney Peak as Becca, the main protagonist. Becca is an aspiring witch who manages to get her hands on a new Black Flame Candle at the town’s magic shop located in the Sanderson Sisters’ cottage.
- Belissa Escobedo as Izzy, a confident oddball and the classmate of Becca. Izzy, alongside with Becca, mistakenly summons the Sanderson Sisters on Halloween night, leading to chaos in the town.
- Lilia Buckingham as Cassie, a popular girl at Becca and Izzy’s school, daughter of the mayor, and an estranged friend of Becca and Izzy. However, when Becca accidentally brought back the Sanderson Sisters, she teamed up with the latter in order to stop the child-eating witches.
- Froy Gutierrez as Mike, Cassie’s inept boyfriend.
- Sam Richardson as Gilbert, the owner of the magic store who inadvertently reawakens the Sanderson Sisters.
- Jaylin Pryor as Teen Gilbert
- Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson, the ex-boyfriend of Winifred whom she poisoned, in 1693, after she caught him cheating on her with Sarah.
- Austin J. Ryan as Young Billy Butcherson
- Tony Hale as Mayor Traske, Cassie’s father and descendent of Rev. Traske.
