From the horrifying truth about how Gilbert made his black flame candles to hidden secrets
about the Witch Mother, there are some outrageously plausible Hocus Pocus 2 fan theories we need
to talk about!
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, I'm Jan and I've been reading all your comments to find the
very best theories about the Hocus Pocus sequel and what that ending might really mean!
In Hocus Pocus 2, Gilbert's ultimately responsible for bringing the Sanderson Sisters back as
he secretly gives Becca a Black Flame candle to light on her sixteenth birthday.
And one of our amazing movie lovers, "That_momster_life", has a particularly gruesome theory about how
Gilbert made the candle, based on what we know from the first movie about the grisly
way those candles are created.
Black Flame Candle.
Made from the fat of a hanged man.
Now, public hangings stopped long before Gilbert's time, but was he so obsessed with the Sanderson
sisters that he killed someone to make the black flame candle that would reanimate them?
They were ahead of their time and they were misunderstood.
In fact, it was Book that taught him the shocking method he needed to make the magic candle
on the night the sisters died in 1993.
He showed me how to make another candle.
I mean, it wasn't pretty.
Which means when young Gilbert went to the witches' cottage he would have discovered
Jay and Ice still locked in their cages as we saw in the original movie's mid-credits
scene.
Those two bullies who were literally hanging there could have been the source – the fat
of two hanged men – for the two black flame candles we know Gilbert made.
Terrible as they were though, that would be an especially brutal form of revenge for stealing
his Halloween candy.
So, perhaps Gilbert did his own horrifying, DIY version of 'liposuction' on the bullies
instead?!
The opening scene with the Witch Mother and the young Sanderson Sisters added some intriguing
mythology to the Hocus Pocus lore.
It also opened up lots of new questions, such as what happened to the Witch Mother's coven?
Where is thy coven?
Long gone I'm afraid.
The world is not too fond of witches.
At first sight, it seems like she lost her coven to witch hunters or trials.
However, there are some big clues that she could well have lost them after casting the
Magicae Maxima spell herself which is why she warned Winifred against using it, as fellow
movie lover David points out: Magicae Maxima makes a witch all-powerful.
It is most frowned upon.
Doomed is the witch that uses this spell.
And that theory's supported by "WolfyGirl" and "EJAM Music"'s observation that the Witch
Mother's eyes glow purple when she uses her powers, similar to how Winnie's eyes also
go purple as she casts the Magicae Maxima spell and takes on the extra powers.
All of which makes me wonder if the Witch Mother originally cast the spell to increase
her power in order to protect herself and her coven, but inadvertently lost her sisters
in the process.
Thou art lucky to have each other.
A witch is nothing without her coven.
Hocus Pocus 2 ends with Sarah and Mary first fading into sparkly dust, Winnie joining them,
and as they merge into a giant swirl of lights, they disappear with a sudden burst of energy,
seemingly for good this time.
But another of our marvellous movie lovers, Stephanie, thinks the very final scene of
Becca, Izzy and Cassie doing the iconic Sanderson witch walk might imply "the original sisters
have [now] possessed the bodies of the teenage girls".
And there is a nod towards that idea when Cassie and Becca say they don't understand
what's happening to them.
Guys, what are we doing?
I don't know.
This could suggest the girls are under the control or influence of some unknown force.
My feeling is this probably isn't the actual Sanderson sisters reincarnated, but instead
the mischievous spirit of the infamous trio has passed on to the new young witches.
It might also have something to do with the Witch Mother raven which is flying along and
watching them in that final shot.
After the young Sanderson sisters receive the book from the Witch Mother, the first
spell they talk about performing is one that turns a person into a cat.
That would be good to do to John Pritchett.
There is a black cat called Cobweb in the sequel, and movie lover "SaGeForReal" points
out that although we know it isn't Thackery Binx, the fact that the witches think it is
Binx...
I know 'tis really thee, Thackery. ...could suggest they sensed a human spirit
in the cat, which might be that of John Pritchett, the boy Reverend Traske tried to force young
Winnie to marry.
It wouldn't surprise me if young Winnie did punish him, especially given his mean comments
about her in front of the whole village.
It is only she is so ugly and unpleasant.
In the present day, Cobweb also helps Becca and Izzy find Book after they escape from
the basement, perhaps because if he is John Pritchett, he'd want revenge on Winnie and
her sisters for what they did to him.
That reminds me of how after Thackery Binx was turned into a cat, he helped Max, Allison
and Dani defeat the witches.
The main issue I can see with this theory is that we never see Cobweb talking, unlike
Binx who could speak in the first movie.
You can talk.
Yeah, no kidding.
Now, get the spell book.
Though that could be addressed in a second sequel.
Except for the OG witches, a good deal of the original cast weren't in the sequel, but
it hasn't stopped fans speculating about hidden references and possibilities.
Movie lover "Jessi" says that Cassie's house looks exactly like Allison's one from the
first film; and "anie" also adds that Allison is Cassie's
mother, because according to the actress who plays Cassie, her cardigan is a deliberate
call back to Allison's look.
Now, I've checked the houses from each film, and Cassie's home does have some similar features
to Allison's, such as stairs leading up to the front door, each house being five-windows
wide and having shutters.
However, Cassie's house is larger, with three floors below the roof rather than two, and
there's an additional balcony above the main entrance.
These differences could be explained by assuming that since 1993 the house has been remodelled
and extended.
The main issue with this theory is that Mayor Traske's campaign poster has both Cassie and
a woman I assume is her mum in the picture.
This clearly isn't the grown up Vinessa Shaw who played Allison, so for the theory to work
this would have to be Cassie's stepmother, say.
Of course, the theory also means Allison and Max broke up sometime after the end of the
first movie.
Regarding the OG gang of Max, Allison and Dani, a lot of our movie lovers including
"Veronica" and "thelco" have been speculating that they could return for a potential third
movie, perhaps teaming up with the new witch trio against the Mother Witch who would be
the new villain; which could be an awful lot of fun!
Additionally, a likely plot for a third movie would be a prequel story involving the three
young Sanderson sisters.
As Batman's alter ego points out, Bette Midler has said she was pleased that in Hocus Pocus
2 the filmmakers decided to let Winnie go at the end, after she realised her family
was the most important thing to her, and Midler thinks the three sisters should be laid to
rest now, rather that returning for another movie.
"Bruce Wayne" goes on to say that a prequel story could be very interesting if it follows
the young sisters after they're exiled from Salem, go to live in the Forbidden Forest,
and shows them interacting with the Mother Witch and their experiments with Book.
I think that sounds great.
The young actresses did a good job and I'm sure fans would love to see a lot more of
Hannah Waddingham's Mother Witch.
And as we already know from her work in the show Ted Lasso, Waddingham could also easily
do a musical number in the third movie, as another of our awesome movie lovers "Miranda"
points out.
They could even jump into the present day for some of the story by setting up a connection
between the young Sanderson Sisters and characters from the first or second movies.
For example, fellow movie lover "Roland" suggests they could have Allison be a descendant of
Winnie, through her relationship with Billy.
This overall idea of Winnie being Allison's ancestor could work, though I don't think
it would be with Billy as he insisted in the second movie that he only shared a single
kiss with Winifred.
By the way, Roland's theory about Winnie and Allison being related would also fit with
the popular fan theory about Allison being a secret witch!
So, what do you think about these Hocus Pocus 2 theories?
And what would you like to see in a potential third movie?
Next, tap left to discover all the easter eggs and little details I spotted in the sequel.
And if you enjoyed this video, do leave a thumbs-up, I really appreciate it.
Thanks for enjoying this movie with me and hope you have a marvellous movie-loving week!
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!