With the spooky season finally upon us, we decided that we had to tackle a fan favorite. Today,
we’ll be heading to Salem, Massachusetts, to talk about witchcraft and Halloween. The setting of the
Disney classic Hocus Pocus. But does morality change when you’re talking about witches?
I’m Caleb with WickedBinge, and this is Hocus Pocus: Good to Evil.
As usual, we'll be starting with the most pure and
noble character and working our way down. These characters are The Good.
First up, we have our gold medal of most good which goes to Dani Dennison. Dani may have been
young, but she was fearless and outspoken. She had no issue telling off Jay and Ernie
and even faced the Sisters on her own, claiming she had been the one to light the candle. Dani
may have enjoyed picking on her brother Max, but she was also very protective of him. She scolds
Max after their confrontation with Jay and Ernie, insisting that he learn to stand up for himself.
Not only had Dani lied about being a witch to try and get the Sandersons guards down, but
she tackled two of the sisters to save Max, armed with nothing more than her trick-or-treating bag.
She had even left the safety of Billy’s grave in order to help him get his head.
Taking our silver medal of most good we have Thackery Binx. Like Dani, Binx was incredibly
protective of his family. Though he had been unable to stop the sisters from hurting Emily,
Thackery knocked over their cauldron before they could lure any more children. After being cursed
to the life of an immortal cat, Binx devoted himself to making sure no one fulfilled the
Sanderson Sisters’ curse. After Max lit the candle and brought the witches back, Binx helped get the
children to hallowed ground and helped protect them. In the end, Thackery was able to finally
be at rest. But not before consoling Dani and letting her know he would be watching over her.
In third place, our bronze medal of most good goes to Dani’s older brother,
Max. In the beginning, Max was far more concerned with being cool rather than being a decent
brother. Just as he was starting to warm up to the idea of spending Halloween with his sister,
Max’s need to impress Allison led to him causing trouble. When Dani was grabbed by Winifred, Max
drank the potion himself. This gave Dani a chance to escape while his life force was being drained.
Max did a lot of growing in the movie. He was seen listening to Binx talk about his lost family,
which made Max realize how much he took his time with Dani for granted. And though Max didn’t get
to be as cool as he hoped in the first few scenes, his need to protect his sister did reveal his
heroism. But leaving Jay and Ice behind was pretty cruel, so we had to drop Max to third place.
Coming up, we have the love interest in the film, Allison. Unlike Max,
Allison grew up very invested in the tale of the Sanderson sisters. When we first see her,
she quickly corrects Max’s skepticism concerning the holiday, earning support
from their surrounding peers. After giving Max and Dani a tour of the old cottage,
Allison had tried to convince Max not to light the candle. After the sisters were revived,
Allison fled with Dani and Max, helping to find a way to defeat the Sandersons. When they hid out in
the cemetery, Allison took the extra precaution to place salt around Billy’s grave to keep Dani
safe. She earned the title of “white witch” from Winifred, showing Allison’s knack for spellwork.
Our next ranking goes to the friendliest zombie in cinema, Billy Butcherson. He had dated Winifred
only to be poisoned during his life when she found out Billy’s true affections were for Sarah.
After being revived to hunt down Max and Dani, Billy took the chance to break himself
from the hold Winifred had on him. He cut the stitching she placed on him to keep her secrets
and aided the children. Knowing the sisters could not actually step into the graveyard,
he offered Dani a safe place to hide by keeping her in his open grave.
Up next is Ms Olin. First of all, we appreciate the theatrics. Ms Olin clearly loved the Halloween
season and did her best to create an atmosphere of wonder, which isn’t easy to do in a room full of
jaded teenagers. She was clearly beloved by her students, with them cheering and applauding at
her efforts to frighten and entertain them. She wasn’t particularly delighted with Max’s
unimpressed attitude towards the holiday. However, Ms. Olin invited him to speak anyway. She was not
willing to just have anyone mutter under their breath when they could vent their annoyance.
Next on our list is Thackery’s friend Elijah. While a minor character who is
only seen at the beginning of the film, Elijah had been the first to notice the
witches’ magic forming in a cloud of purple smoke. After Thackery feared the worst,
thinking his sister was captured, he sent Elijah to summon help. Though Elijah had
been too late to save them, his actions resulted in the witches being punished.
Our next spot goes to another young girl: Emily. Unlike Dani,
Emily isn’t featured much in the movie, which is why we had to place her so low on our list.
Emily is the first child we see being lured by the witches. Her lifeforce was stolen from her
by the Sanderson Sisters. Her death resulted in Thackery confronting the
women and becoming cursed, unable to join Emily in death for three hundred years.
After the curse was broken, Emily appeared to help lead her older brother to the afterlife.
With that said, we've arrived at the neutral territory. These characters fall in The Grey Area.
Our next person on this list is Thackery’s father. We’re ranking him apart from the other parents
because he confronted the sisters. After Elijah rushed to get help, Thackery’s father tried to
reach his children before the Sandersons could do them any harm. Unfortunately, he lost his
daughter, and he never found out what happened to his son. Even asking the sisters while they
were waiting to be hung yielded no results, and he was left to grieve the loss of his children.
We’re placing the parents together with the rest of the Party-goers. The parents of this
film pretty much filled the standard role of “there but not there.” Even Jenny and Dave,
Max and Dani’s parents, didn’t have much influence over the story. The only time
they become important is when their continued dancing reveals that the Sanderson sisters
didn’t burn to death. We aren’t placing them lower because they didn’t openly mock the kids
for talking about witches or hinder them in any way. We also want to extend our condolences for
the party-goers being enchanted to dance for hours on end. Their exhaustion was understood.
Taking our next spot is the imposter “Devil” the sisters ran into. To this guy’s credit,
he was just a man trying to enjoy the spooky season. He believed the sisters to just be
women in costumes and just played along. We aren’t docking him points for just trying to play out the
character of a convincing and mischievous devil type. We placed him so low on our list because
he was openly flirting with other women when he was married. There was actually a confrontation
between him and his wife concerning his behavior. Whether it was an overreaction is up for debate,
but we had to place him low on the list because of this scene.
Next in order, we have yet another flirt, the Bus Driver.
There was an apparent misunderstanding between the driver and the sisters,
which was humorous. But we can’t shake how creepy this guy came off when the sisters mentioned being
on the hunt for children. And when he was shown later on still flirting with them, it looked as
though he made it clear what his intentions were and how exactly they could get children.
Our next person on this list is the Cop. While lazy doesn’t exactly equal evil,
we can’t help but place the officer far down on this list. We’re putting him in the grey
area for not actively doing anything to hinder Max, Dani and Allison. However,
we can’t justify placing him higher due to his flat out lack of interest in their pleas for help.
Next up, we have Jay Taylor and his lackey “Ice.” After dubbing Max as the typical ‘Hollywood’ type,
they decided to pick on Max and his younger sister. Bullies are
a regular occurrence in movies, but Jay and Ice didn’t have the redemption arc
that many bullies have in Disney features. The most memorable scene that featured them
involved the two teenagers trying to steal a little girl’s candy on Halloween. That being
said, we do think it was harsh to leave them behind in the Sanderson cottage.
Finally, we've reached the dark side. These characters are The Bad and The Evil.
Taking our bronze medal of most evil is Mary Sanderson. Of the three,
Mary had the sharpest sense of smell, which was handy when they were hunting down children.
Mary was seen through the movie using her gift to seek out Max after their spellbook was stolen.
Because of her ability to sniff out children, the sisters were able to gather their bearings
much faster. They quickly pieced together that the ghouls and monsters in the streets were kids
rather than real demons of the night. Mary was also portrayed as the sister that tried her best
to keep Winifred happy, paying her compliments throughout the movie. She often got the bottom
rung of the ladder, such as when she was stuck on a vacuum after they sought out brooms.
In the second place, we have the silver medal of most evil going to Sarah Sanderson.
Sarah was typically known as the more attractive and flirtatious of the sisters.
While Mary could sniff down children, Sarah’s gift fell under the category of enchantment.
She had been able to take to the skies and use her voice to lure the children to their cottage with
a simple song. Sarah also didn’t take the time to compliment Winifred the way that Mary did.
She was much more concerned with having fun while hunting down Max, Dani and Allison. She flirted
with the driver and the costumed devil openly, hinting at how much of a homewrecker she may
have been three hundred years before the events of the film. It was confirmed that Sarah had an
affair with Winifred’s past lover Billy, which was what caused his death. Sarah was aware of
the heartbreak she tended to cause, warning the bus driver that he would hate her in the morning.
Finally, taking the gold medal of most evil is the wicked Winifred Sanderson.
Winnie is known as the most intelligent and sadistic of the three Sanderson Sisters.
It’s honestly hard to say if Winifred keeps her sisters around because she’s fond of them
to some degree or just because they have skills she can use. After all, there had been a comment
about their beloved mother. This leads us to believe Winifred may only tolerate her sisters
for the sake of their deceased mother. This second theory was also further supported by
the fact that Winifred flat out murdered a man for sleeping with Sarah and yet decided to keep Sarah
alive. Winnie was the one to initiate the curse on the town, promising their return. When Thackery’s
father begged to know what happened to his son, Winifred simply laughed that a cat got her tongue,
showing no pity to the grieving couple. We see for ourselves what happened when
someone crosses Winifred when Billy is summoned from his grave. Even as daylight approached,
Winifred tried stealing Max’s lifeforce, more driven by revenge after being outsmarted.
Before we go, we wanted to hand out some extra medals to the characters that fit them the best.
First up is the Darwin Medal, which we’re giving to Ernie. Or “Ice”. A lackey to Jay,
Ernie just goes along with whatever is happening.
He simply agrees with whatever Jay is doing to appear cool or intimidating.
The Lust Medal we’re handing off to Sarah Sanderson.
Sarah was most well known for luring the men in the nearby village.
Though it would get her into trouble with both the women nearby and her sisters, Sarah
was fine with flaunting herself. Even hunting for children wouldn’t keep her from a little flirting.
Our next award is the Wrath Medal which goes to Winifred Sanderson.
Her sisters called her vicious, and we can’t help but agree.
Of all the sisters, Winifred was the most driven and ruthless when hunting the children down.
Not to mention killing her former lover in a fit of jealousy was a cruel thing to do.
The Greed Medal goes to Jay Taylor. As he was clearly the brains of the operation,
we have to place him as our greediest character for trying to steal some of Dani’s candy from her.
Not to mention he’s always desperate for everyone’s attention to be on him,
be it from doing something good or bad.
The Sloth Medal we’re awarding to the Cop. It’s not uncommon to see law enforcement
not do anything in these sorts of films. While we
get that hearing about revived witches and magic would make anyone a little skeptical,
the amount of apathy this guy had was both humorous and frustrating.
Next, we have the Pride Medal going to Max. Throughout the beginning of the movie,
Max is convinced he is far too cool for anything happening around him. He scoffed
at the tales shared in class. He pushed Dani away, claiming trick-or-treating
with her wasn’t worth his time. And he lit the black candle to try and look cool for Allison.
Finally, taking our Gluttony Medal, we’re placing all three Sanderson Sisters together. After all,
their main goal throughout the movie was to feed off the life energy of
all the children they could wrangle. Hard to top that level of gluttony.
But let us know in the comment section if you agree with our ranking. And tell us what
we should cover next. Remember to hit that notification bell and binge our Good to Evil
playlist. Where we break down the morality of the characters in your favorite cartoons,
shows and movies. But most importantly, stay wicked.