If you grew up watching the Disney Channel, the first movie you probably think of during the Halloween season is the classic, "Hocus Pocus."
The Sanderson sisters, three witches who terrorized Salem 300 years earlier, were hanged after they kidnapped a child and brewed a potion that allowed them to suck the life out of her so they can be resurrected in 300 years.
They prophesy was a virgin would light the Black Flame Candle on All Hollow's Eve, and then they would have until dawn to brew the potion and find more children to steal the lives of and live forever.
Max, the new kid from California, moves to Salem right before Halloween. He thinks all the talk of the Sanderson sisters is just a bunch of "hocus pocus."
Max, his little sister Dani, and his prospective love interest Allison end up lighting the Black Flame Candle and spend Halloween battling the Sanderson sisters.
Like so many movies we all watched as kids, "Hocus Pocus" is full of slightly inappropriate adult humor that makes the movie bearable for parents to watch as their kids scream in fright over Bette Midler's odd lipstick and the weird book with the eye.
The funniest and sketchiest line in the movie involves the bus driver and Mary, the Sanderson sister who can smell children (Bette Midler has the power, Sarah Jessica Parker has the prowess, and the fat chick no one has ever seen again smells kids... go figure).
The 300-year-old Sanderson sisters approach a bus, and after asking the driver what the strange contraption is for, he replies, "To convey such beautiful creatures such as yourselves to your most... forbidden desires." Mary replies, "We desire... children," and the bus driver says, "Hey, it may take me a couple of tries, but I don't think there will be a problem."
One line among many that would fit nicely into "The Office" character Dwight's script.
Sarah Jessica Parker's character, Sarah Sanderson, is the source of most of the sketchy moments. She constantly ooh's and ahh's over boys, and is found sitting on men's laps and kissing a mummy at a party. I think it was the preparation for her character in "Sex and the City."
The plot: the nerdy guy from out-of-town meets a hot girl he never thinks he will get to date, and the two of them survive an unthinkable adventure with the help of a personified character--in this case, a boy-turned-cat named Thackary Binks.
Sound familiar? How about "Transformers?" I think we all know where they got that plot.
One more thing: I wish I had the nerves of steel these characters have. After Max lights the Black Flame Candle and brings the Sanderson sisters back from the grave, the floor turns green, lights start blowing out, and then this black cat starts talking. The characters' responses? "So I guess the rumors are true!"
I would be passed out on the floor.
Oh well, I guess that's just "Disney magic" for you.
I enjoyed the movie as a child, and I won't lie: I enjoyed it as a 20-year-old.
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