​There are many great Halloween movies out there, but I personally think the best one is Hocus Pocus. Before I start, there will be spoilers, so if you haven’t seen either of the Hocus Pocus movies, I recommend that you don’t read this. And if you do, then you have been warned.

​Our story begins at the Salem Witch Trials, where Winifred (Winnie), Sarah, and Mary (a.k.a. the Sanderson Sisters) use their powers to lure children into their cottage in the woods. The unfortunate victim was Emily Binx. It was noticed that she was gone by her brother, Thackery. When he got to the cottage, it was too late: the Sanderson Sisters had already sucked the soul out of Emily and become younger, while she started to wither into the afterlife. Thackery tried to fight them off, but they ended up turning him into a black cat that lived forever and was immortal so that he could live with the guilt of losing his sister. At this time, Thackery’s parents and the rest of Salem came knocking on the witch’s door because they all knew that the sisters took their children. After this, they hung the Sanderson Sisters, but not before Winnie's spell book revealed a prophecy that on All Hallows Eve, a virgin would light the black flame candle and resurrect them.

300 years later, the Dennison family moves into town from California. They have a son named Max and a daughter named Dani. It is now Halloween and Max’s teacher is talking about the Sanderson Sisters and their legacy, but Max doesn’t believe it. At least until a girl named Alison convinces him that it’s real. During the night, Max takes Dani trick-or-treating, and they run into Alison. They all decide to go to the old Sanderson Sisters’ cottage and explore, but while they are there, Max decides to light a random candle that he finds. (It seems pretty obvious to not light a candle that you randomly find, but we have to remember that people in movies can be a little dumb.) After lighting the candle, it is revealed that the Sanderson Sisters are finally back after 300 years. The rest of the story is about how Max, Alison, and Dani have to work together with the help of Thackery the black cat (Binx) to put an end to the sisters before they suck the soul out of every child in Salem. In the end, they finally defeat them and Binx is reunited with his little sister.

Hocus Pocus 2 started off as something that I thought I would be interested in because it gave the backstory that I wanted for how the Sanderson Sisters came to be. But after this, I really feel like it went downhill. It seems like your average teenage movie: the childhood friend group breaks up and a big problem arises where they need to work together in order to solve it, and this ends up bringing them back together. There are a lot of things that I liked, but something in particular was that all three actresses were able to sing in this movie as they did in the first one. Even though their song was amazing, I felt like it lacked some potential. It seemed as though the movie was supposed to seem more modern, but to me, it seemed like something much more different.

Even though I feel like Hocus Pocus 2 didn’t live up to its potential, these two movies are some of my favorites because they follow an amazing storyline that draws you in and makes you want to try and learn more about the events of the movie or what it was actually based on. These are my favorite movies from the Halloween season. Even though you might not agree, I still respect any opinion that you might have (even if it’s the wrong one). 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Karla Lopez
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