Hocus Pocus (film)/Nightmare Fuel

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
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You think this is going to be a fantasy comedy about a boy summoning real witches on Halloween. Ha Ha Ha No, there is comedy but this movie is pretty terrifying.

General

  • The Sandersons are pretty terrifying villains. They suck the lives out of children to stay young, and are perfectly willing to murder or torture anyone who gets in their way.
  • Call Winifred ugly, and you'll be lucky if all she does is lock you up in a cage. She'll gun for anyone that suggests she is not attractive.
  • Sarah will assault anyone that looks remotely attractive to her, including Thackery when he was human, and Max. They're underage boys! Fortunately, she never goes further than leering at them and making remarks loaded with innuendo.
  • Winifred can literally sniff out children. She does so and mistakes Ernie and Ice for Max because they took his shoes.

Specific Examples

  • The first ten minutes are dripping with Adult Fear. A child is lured from the safety of her home by strangers who proceed to murder her and laugh about it. Her brother then tries to rescue her, and gets taken as well. Take away the magic, and it is every parent's worst nightmare.
    • In Salem, Massachusetts, Thackery Binx is sleeping in the morning, hearing a mysterious whoosh by his window, revealed to be Sarah. The farm animals panic and scatter. He wakes up, is about to go back to bed, but realizes his little sister Emily is missing. Thackery runs outside, putting on pants and asking his friend Elijah if he's seen Emily. No, but he points to colored smoke in the woods. They run and see Sarah leading Emily away in the nearby clearing. Her big brother calls after her in alarm. Elijah goes Oh Crap and whispers, "She's done for" but Thackery insists it's not too late. Thackery orders Elijah to get his father and the other elder neighbors, right now! He then goes alone to rescue his sister, in bare feet.
    • Heck, Emily laughing and skipping to her doom while under Sarah's spell is creepy. Thackery keeps calling after her, but she can't hear him. In the cottage, she sits placidly in a chair while Sarah boasts about how she lured the child for her sisters. In case you need a reminder, Sarah is The Ditz but she is evil.
    • Thackery tries to save Emily. He fails because he's one teenage boy versus three witches, and is Forced to Watch them reduce his little sister to a withered husk after the witches make her drink a life-draining potion. Yes, that's right, Emily dies onscreen, and she slumps over in death with long white hair. And this is a kid's movie!
    • The rejuvenated witches then debate what to do with Thackery, who stands up knowing he's about to be drained like Emily and decides to go out calling Winifred a "hag". Winifred then vetoes the life-draining plan because she hates being called "ugly". Sarah wants to "play with him," showing she's a rare example of a female rapist, and as a reminder, Thackery is underage. Winifred has a better idea: turn him into an immortal cat, unable to talk unless the Black Candle is lit.
    • Mr. and Mrs. Binx confront the witches as they are strung on the gallows, with Mr. Binx demanding to know what they did to his eldest son. Facing death, the witches laugh in his face and start to sing, to compel their way out of this scenario. Mr. Binx has to yell at everyone to not listen, and gives the order to hang them. They use the Book to lay a Dying Curse on the town, that they will return when a virgin lights their candle.
  • Max tries to impress Alison by lighting the Black Candle in the old cottage with his witch's candle. He says it's just a "little hocus pocus" and not a real story. He finds out too late that the witches are real when they electrocute him for trying to protect Dani from them. The only thing he can do is bluff to get his little sister out of the cottage, and run for the graveyard when Binx reveals he can talk and witches can't stand on hallowed ground.