Hocus Pocus is centered on witch sisters Winifred, Mary, and Sarah Sanderson. Fans of the beloved hit may have overlooked these plot holes about them.
In the decades since its release in July of 1993, when the summer sun made autumnal frigidity seem a distant memory, Hocus Pocus has become an October institution. Fans singing "I Put A Spell On You" into their hairbrushes, throwing elaborate viewing parties under the glow of orange twinkle lights, and working tirelessly to recreate the screen accurate costumes of the iconic Sanderson Sisters have become as synonymous with Halloween as candy corn.
After so many repeat viewings, fans might find some inconsistencies surrounding the trio of Winifred, Sarah, and Mary Sanderson. Some of the details of their use of magic, their motivation for destroying the children of Salem, and even some pieces of their eyebrow-raising dialogue are tempting to deconstruct given the umpteenth watch party.
10) Escaping The Salem Witch Trials
The film opens in Salem, Massachusetts in 1693 on Halloween night. The Salem Witch Trials were over by September of 1692 when then-Governor William Phips (whose wife stood accused of witchcraft) dissolved the trials and made spectral evidence unusable.
How then were the Sanderson sisters still getting persecuted? Wouldn't they have been ignored? How did they manage to escape the Salem witch trials to begin with - by holding up in their ramshackle house until villagers found them illegally?
9) Their Curse Of Thackery Binx
The Sandersons curse Thackery Binx to assume the form of a black cat for all eternity after he interferes with their ritual early on in the film. At their hanging, this proves to be a particularly useful curse on their part because he can't get the attention of his parents, save for a few meows. No one in the town ever finds out what happened to Thackery, and he remains trapped in his feline form.
By the time he encounters Max and Dani some several hundred years later, he has the unexplained and sudden ability to speak English to the extent that he can be understood. What are the particulars of their curse then, to allow him to speak only when it's a convenient plot device?
8) Not Going After Allison's Family
When Max and Dani crash the Halloween party at Allison's parents' house, they realize that not only does she come from an affluent family, they're also more than likely descendants of the puritanical witch-hunting party responsible for killing the Sanderson sisters.
If that's the case, given all the more credence by the party's 17th-century dress code, then why don't the Sanderson sisters simply hold them accountable for their murder? Instead of razing the colonial mansion to the ground with every resplendent attendee still inside, they go to the much more plebeian party at the town hall where Max and Dani's parents are dresses like Dracula and Madonna.
7) Winifred Sanderson And Billy Butcherson
William Butcherson and Winifred Sanderson are mentioned by Thackery Binx to have been romantically involved until Billy cheated on her with her sister Sarah. Winnie killed him, cursed him, and buried him until his resurrection in the 20th century as an instrument of her wickedness.
The reason for his untimely demise notwithstanding, what exactly about Winnie drew Billy to her in the first place? Was she ever pleasant to be around? Sarah Sanderson is shown to be kinder -if a little dim-witted- whereas Winnie is clearly a bully. And how did Thackery come to know about Billy in the first place?
6) Winnie Knowing What A Driver's Permit Is
Despite the fact that the Sanderson sisters have been dead for hundreds of years, when they're resurrected they seem to know a thing or two about the ways of the modern world. For one thing, Winnie knows something about driver's permits.
How is this possible when she doesn't even know what a city bus is? Or a paved road? A driver's permit should be the last thing about the concept of automobiles that she's aware of, yet she asks Max for his.
5) Their Response To Sprinklers
In an attempt to distract them while running through the Sanderson Sisters' Museum, Max sets off the sprinklers onto the Sandersons. He refers to it as a "burning rain of death," which they take to mean H2O will kill them.
Despite Max shouting this, he's drenched by the water himself, and in their frenzied flight away from it, they don't seem to notice that he isn't succumbing to it. Is it really the spray of water out of something as novel as a sprinkler system that scared them, or did they actually think they would melt like the Wicked Witch of the West?
4) Fear Of Death
On their quest to track down Max and Dani, the Sanderson sisters make a little house call to who they perceive to be their "Master;" a man dressed as Satan. At one point, Winifred is even told to "go to Hell" and she responds, "Oh, I've been there, thank you. I found it quite lovely."
If they have no fear of the Afterlife or being sent somewhere to suffer for eternity, why are they so driven to become immortal and regain their beauty? Why even fear death? Why be concerned that Dani and Max could use their spellbook against them?
3) "I Put A Spell On You" Performance
After the Sandersons crash the party that Max and Dani's parents are at, Winnie takes to the stage and commands the room by singing, "I Put A Spell On You," a popular song from the '50s that she would never have heard given her death in 1693.
How is she able to call upon the lyrics? Did she somehow scan the minds of the performers and gain their knowledge? Is she tapping into the collective consciousness of the crowd? Since it's one of the most popular scenes in the film, fans probably never thought to question it too closely.
2) Revenge Against Dani
In a ghoulish climax, Sarah Sanderson summons all of Salem's children to the sisters' house to give them some of the potion intended to suck their lives from them. All the sisters have ever wanted is to use the children's life force to restore their youth and beauty, but Winifred makes a strange choice at this point.
Instead of everlasting life, she chooses vengeance against Dani with what remains of the potion. Surely getting revenge against one bratty child shouldn't usurp their only chance at succeeding in matters of immortality?
1) Their Spellbook
The Sanderson sisters are required to "wake" the spellbook up, but when Max and Dani defeat them at the end of the film, the end of their magic should have caused the book to be dormant once again. After they disappear, the eye on the cover pops open, implying they could return.
Regardless of the fact that a sequel to the popular film is in development, at the time no one knew the future of the franchise. How was the spellbook still "alive?" Does it have anything to do with Allison possibly being a witch as well?
