People love to share hot takes about Hocus Pocus, the classic Disney film that was released in July of 1993 (oddly enough) to relatively no critical acclaim. Roger Ebert himself said, “Of the film’s many problems, the greatest may be that all three witches are thoroughly unpleasant. They don’t have personalities; they have behavior patterns and decibel levels. A good movie inspires the audience to subconsciously ask, ‘Give me more!’ The witches in this one inspired my silent cry, ‘Get me out of here!'”
“No personality?” I respectfully disagree, Mr. Ebert. (May he rest in peace.) You have to give the film credit — the ROI alone has served Disney well. Eventually, The Sanderson Sistahs won the hearts of children and adults alike — so much so that it’s become a staple on Freeform’s 31 Nights of Halloween programming, Spirit Halloween stores carry endless paraphernalia from the movie, like costumes, kitchenware, and decor, and in 2020 Disney announced they would be reviving Winifred, Sarah, and Mary from the dead (yet again) for a sequel. Hocus Pocus 2 aired on Disney+ on September 30 with two musical performances from The Sandersons, a trip to Walgreens to uncover the wonders of biocellulose masks and retinol, and a new plotline with hot zombie Billy Butcherson.
Yes, “hot zombie.” I didn’t realize until very recently that my personal affection for Mr. Butcherson was a nearly universal thing. Per Twitter, finding Billy hot is a guilty pleasure that plenty acknowledge. Given Billy had an affair with Sarah while allegedly dating Winifred, he was clearly a prize to be won. (Even though we learn in the sequel Winifred’s version of events isn’t the most accurate.)
