Twas’ the night before Witchmas, when this HEXer thought.
Might as well make use of this Disney Plus I bought.
The gin was placed on the table with care.
The remote was cradled and Hocus Pocus was soon there…
That’s right… in a fit of nostalgia and aglow with the spookiness of a pre-Halloween eve, I took a notion to re-watch Hocus Pocus.
For those not familiar with this classic film, it’s a “fish out of water” situation for the Sanderson sister trio brought back to life in the 1990s after being hanged for their witchy crimes 300 years before in Salem.
How did they return? By the lighting of a “black-flame” candle by a virgin (note, this is mentioned a lot) teenage boy. But arriving in the 1990s, there still existed a whole lotta sexism and the film features some old-fashioned tropes that mightn’t fly in modern-day films.
But you know what, I love it 🥰. It’s funny, it’s cheesy, and there is lots to be celebrated. The three sisters arrived in 1990 like they were crashing their own concert. Bette Midler is f*cking awesome as Winnie Sanderson. The sisters lose their brooms and fly the contents of a janitor’s closet across the sky (the vacuum!). There’s a talking cat. Dani (the “hero’s” little sister) is fearless, gutsy and brave – and in my eyes the real hero. I could go on.
At the end of the day, I can put aside the offputtingly randy bus driver, the unsettling focus on a schoolboy’s virginity, and the fact that if someone had listened to two female leads a lot of attempted child eating could have been avoided entirely. Hocus Pocus is full of lighthearted fun and has a big dollop of nostalgia, and that’s more than fine by me. RF