The following is a list of characters who appear throughout the Hocus Pocus franchise.
The Sanderson Sisters are a trio of witch sisters who were the most powerful coven that ever lived, thanks to Winifred Sanderson's book of spells. In the first film, they were accidentally revived by Max Dennison in modern-day Salem, Massachusetts and attempt to become immortal by consuming the life force of children using their life potion. In the sequel, they sought to cast a spell that would make them all-powerful so they could have their revenge on Salem. In Hocus Pocus 2, drag queens Ginger Minj, Kornbread Jeté, and Kahmora Hall impersonate Winifred, Mary, and Sarah, respectively, during a costume contest. [1] [2]
Winifred "Winnie" Sanderson (Bette Midler in the films [3] [4] and Taylor Paige Henderson as a younger version of the character in Hocus Pocus 2 ) [5] is the eldest and most intelligent witch who lived during the time of the Salem Witch Trials, along with her two sisters: Mary and Sarah Sanderson.
In the first film, in 1693, Winifred, now graying and stooped with age, decide to brew the life potion, which will steal the life force of a child to restore their own youth and vitality. As Winifred and Mary work on the potion, they send Sarah out to lure a child with her siren-like voice. She soon returns with a young girl named Emily Binx, whom they bewitch in no time to sit docilely in a chair as they finish up the potion. However, just after Emily obediently drinks the potion, the girl's elder brother Thackery Binx interrupts them and attempts to rescue her. Mary and Sarah gleefully chase him around the room, but he manages to knock them down by shoving their enormous cauldron at them, spilling the rest of the potion in the process. A furious Winifred easily subdues him with her powers before Mary points out that the potion is working: Emily's life force is visible. The sisters eagerly crowd around Emily and suck her life force away until their youth is restored and Emily dies of old age on Halloween night. Rejoicing at the success of their potion, the witches then turn their attention to Thackery. Winifred initially plans to simply kill him, but she changes her mind when he calls her a hag and decides that he deserves a harsher punishment. Together with her sisters, she curses him to live forever in the form of a black cat, doomed to live for all eternity with the guilt of his failure to save Emily. Just after they perform the spell, an angry mob arrives at their cottage, led by Emily and Thackery's parents. Winifred and Mary attempt to barricade the door and convince the crowd that they're merely spinsters spending a quiet evening at home, but an air-headed Sarah impulsively adds that they've been killing children before her sisters can stop her. Soon enough, the sisters are captured and hanged. But before they die, Winifred casts one final spell declaring that on Halloween night when the moon is full, a virgin will summon them back from the dead, allowing them to once again claim the lives of all the children in Salem. A full 300 years later, in 1993, the sisters are revived when someone lights the Black flame candle, whose mysterious powers can summon them back from the dead- but only for a single night. Nevertheless, the sisters are overjoyed at returning to their cottage, even more so when Mary announces that she smells children. Her powerful nose leads them straight to a young girl name Dani Dennison's hiding place, forcing her out into the open. They pick her up and almost succeed in throwing her into their cauldron when Dani's older brother, Max Dennison, - the one who lit the candle - jumps out of hiding, demanding that they release his sister. Amused, Winifred easily subdues him with her powers. Winifred practices her witchcraft on him delighted that she hasn't lost her touch at all. However, Dani and Max's friend, Allison manages to wallop Mary with a frying pan as Dani hits Winifred and Sarah with her trick-or-treat bag. Before Winnie can retaliate, a black cat attacks her out of nowhere, giving Dani enough time to wake up her dazed brother. Max triggers the sprinklers, which he convinces the witches is a "burning rain of death". The cat orders Max to grab the spellbook, batting at him impatiently when Max stares at the talking cat in shock. Nevertheless, he breaks into the glass case containing the book and makes his escape along with the cat. The sisters find them at the cemetery and Winifred summons her ex-boyfriend, Billy Butcherson, to get her book back. The sisters encounter a bus driver and ride on the bus until Mary smells the children. But they were confused when the children were wearing costumes. They encounter a man dressed as Satan and mistaking him for their true master and his wife to be Medusa (a woman with snake-like curlers in her hair), but were so chased out of the house by the man's wife but finds their brooms gone after they were taken by some children dressed like the sisters. When Winifred unmasks a kid in a costume, she realizes the truth of Halloween children wear costumes and run amok which Sarah finds funny and Winfred punches her in the stomach to get her to stop. The sisters went to a Halloween party where Max's parents and Max, Dani, and Allison tried to warn them, but they didn't believe them, so Max went to the stage and used a microphone to tell everyone about the Sanderson Sister and revealed them, but Winifred ridicules him before singing "I Put a Spell on You" therefore enchanting all the adults causing them to dance until they die. [6] After this, they went to Max and Allison's high school where Max spoke through the microphone at the office telling them that the spellbook was there. The sisters heard a voice talking about a book which the sisters think is about the spellbook, but it was actually a tape recording and were unwittingly led to a kiln where the children locked the door and burned them alive after Allison got an idea from a restaurant. However, they did not die due to the curse protecting them from death until sunrise. Mary used her smell to find Max, but they were led to two high school bullies, Jay and Ernie (better known as Ice) as Ernie was wearing Max's shoes that he stole them during their first encountering with Max and making fun of him. After Jay called the sisters ugly chicks, the sisters captured them and took them to their cottage locking them in small hanging cages. Knowing they didn't have much time left, Winifred tried to make the potion from memory, but she couldn't remember the ingredients and called out to her book and cried in despair. Allison and Max, despite the warnings that nothing good can come from the book, open it to find a cure for Thackery's immortality and the book sends out a signal after being opened. Winifred saw the signal and used a corn broom, while Sarah used a mop and Mary used a Hoover vacuum cleaner to fly to its location. They secretly invade the house and grab the book, but after accidentally breaking some glass and knowing that Max and Alison would come to get Dani and Thackery, they hide in the closet as Sarah hides under the blankets. Max and Alison arrived and the sisters revealed themselves. The sisters violently explode from the house, but not before Winifred reveals the nature of the spell that brought them back to Allison. Winifred and Mary made their way back to the cottage while Sarah sang her siren song to all the children of Salem so they would go to the house. When Dani calls her "the ugliest thing that ever lived", Winifred decides to kill her first. After brewing the potion again they try to get Dani to drink it, but are stopped by Max who tricks them into thinking the sun has risen by using the headlights of his parents' car and Max drains all the potion. However they realize they have been tricked and Winifred is upset that her potion is all gone, but there is still enough potion left for one child. Despite Sarah and Mary saying that they have Jay and Ernie and that more children are here, Winifred wants to use the life potion on Dani as revenge for calling her ugly. The sisters chase after them and Winifred orders Billy to kill Max, but he uses Max's knife to sever the stitches on his lips, he apparently breaks the control Winifred has over him and joins the kids against them. Dani is put in Billy's grave while Allison circles some salt around to prevent the witches from reaching her. The sisters arrived and fought the kids and Billy. When Winifred knocked down Billy's head, Dani came out to give Billy his head back giving Winifred the opportunity to grab her. Winifred takes out the vial of potion and tries to force Dani into opening her mouth to drink it to "teach" her a lesson about "calling people ugly", but Thackery saves Dani by knocking the last vial of the life-stealing potion out of Winifred's hand and Max catches it. Winifred grabs Thackery and throws him to a rock. Max threatens to smash the vial of potion, but Winifred threatens to kill Dani if he does. With no other choice, Max drinks the potion and Winifred lets Dani go and grabs Max trying to suck his life force, but Max tried to hold her off while Dani, Allison, and Billy hold back Sarah and Mary to prevent them from helping Winifred by grabbing the plug hanged from Mary's vacuum cleaner. They let go causing the two sisters to fly high up to the air out of control and letting Max and Winifred fall to the ground. Winifred recovers and tries to steal Max's life force, but because she is standing on hallowed ground, she turns to stone as the sun comes up. Sarah and Mary both explode, with Winifred's statue doing so afterward. At the end of the film, however, the book is seen and it blinks, therefore hinting the sisters are not entirely gone.
In the second film, set 29 years later in 2022, Winifred and her sisters are resurrected once again when two girls Becca and Izzy light a new Black flame candle. Gilbert, the owner of the Olde Salem Magic Shoppe that the Sanderson Sisters' cottage was turned into, reveals that he had witnessed the sisters in 1993 when he was a young boy. After finding Winifred's spellbook, Gilbert learned how to make a new Black flame candle and tricked Becca and Izzy into resurrecting the Sanderson Sisters. Winifred decides that this time, they will perform the Magicae Maxima, the Power Spell that the Witch Mother had warned them that they must never ever perform. However, the book resists Winifred's attempts to read the spell, causing her to force the spellbook to show her it. Winifred sends Gilbert to dig up Billy Butcherson, needing his head for the spell, and gives him a time limit or his life will be forfeit and traps the girls in the basement. Before leaving, Winifred hides her book on a bookshelf full of replicas of the spellbook and departs with her sisters in search of Mayor Jefry Traske, their old archenemy Reverend Traske's descendants, for his blood. At the town festival, the Sanderson Sisters bewitch the attendees by singing "One Way or Another" and send them out to help them find Mayor Traske. They're eventually led to his house by Cassie Traske's boyfriend Mike where Becca, having escaped, confronts them with a water bottle full of what she claims is the only Aralia berry juice in Salem, threatening to pour it out if they don't let her out alive. As Becca distracts the witches, Izzy and Cassie trap them in a salt circle, intending to leave them there until sunrise. However, the Mayor comes home, inadvertently revealing to the witches that Cassie is also a part of the Traske bloodline. The Roombas that Mary had been using to fly arrive and clean up the salt circle, freeing the Sanderson Sisters who kidnap Cassie and take her to the Forbidden Wood. There, Gilbert has gathered all of the other ingredients, including the severed head of Billy who has been stuck as a zombie ever since Winifred awakened him in 1993. Winifred magically restores Billy's stitches in order to shut him up, gathers Cassie's blood and summons the book to her in order to perform the spell. After blasting Gilbert away, the witches begin performing the spell, but they are interrupted by Becca who has just discovered that she is also a witch. However, Becca proves to be no match for the Sanderson Sisters whose powers have been increased by the interrupted spell. Izzy frees Cassie and they flee, chased by Mary and Sarah. Noticing the spellbook's reluctance regarding the spell, Becca manages to convince it to abandon Winifred. The witches attack Becca, Izzy and Cassie, but they manage to shield themselves by sharing their power and Winifred decides to finish the spell without her book's help. The witches manage to complete the Magicae Maxima and celebrate their new power, discovering that the Black Flame Candle has gone out, but they are still alive. Becca, Izzy and Cassie arrive and tell Winifred that she should've read the warning in the book about the spell: it takes what the caster values most as the price for the power. As this is her sisters for Winifred, Mary and Sarah turn to dust. Utterly devastated and heartbroken by her sisters' deaths, Winifred desperately tries to reverse the spell and begs her book for help. Sympathetic to its' old mistress, the book opens to a spell for the girls and Winifred tells Becca that she is a new witch and that only a witch and her coven can manifest what is written. Winifred begs the girls for help, willing to give up all of her power just to have her sisters back as her powers are nothing without them. Becca agrees to help Winifred and she, Izzy and Cassie perform the Spell for Reuniting. Mary and Sarah don't return, and Becca explains that the spell works by sending Winifred to her sisters, not the other way around. As Winifred begins to disintegrate into dust and delighted, she thanks the girls, telling them that they are lucky to have each other. Mary and Sarah's dust swirls around Winifred as she turns to dust and implodes, reuniting with her sisters in the afterlife. Watching the deaths of the Sanderson Sisters, the book cries. However, Gilbert's cat, Cobweb, watches over a box containing another Black Flame Candle, suggesting that the Sanderson sisters may not be gone for good.
Winifred makes an appearance in the video game Disney Emoji Blitz . She is a playable character who has the ability to resurrect the most recently used powerups from the grave. She and her sisters, Mary and Sarah, are currently the only playable Hocus Pocus characters.
Winifred, alongside her sisters: Sarah and Mary, appears in Disney Heroes: Battle Mode , originally for special events during the 2021 Halloween season. In the game, Winifred's abilities are referenced from her original film - including magic-green sparks from her hands, throwing the potion vial, and placing an enchantment upon enemies through song. When Winifred is defeated in the game, she will spark green and blast away.
Winifred and her sisters returned in a special Castle Show at the Magic Kingdom called the Hocus Pocus Villain Spectacular. During the show she and her sisters try to brew the perfect Halloween Potion, receiving assistance from various Disney Villains. She isn't respectful towards the first two characters but she treats Maleficent with respect. After completing the Potion, she celebrates by singing "I Put a Spell on You".
Winifred and her sisters appeared in a special Hocus Pocus reunion on October 30, 2020, titled In Search of the Sanderson Sisters: A Hocus Pocus Hulaween Takeover. The event was to raise money for the New York Restoration Project and had the return of all three main cast members who portrayed the witches in the 1993 film. [7] In the special, Mariah Carey answers the door for Winifred and says "Well if it isn't Winnie Sanderson, looking for a candy bar. I got news for you girl – Halloween's nearly over, so scat!" Immediately afterward, "All I Want For Christmas is You" plays in the background. [7]
Mary Sanderson (Kathy Najimy in the films [4] and Nina Kitchen as a younger version of the character in Hocus Pocus 2) is the middle witch, who lived during the time of Salem Witch Trials, along with her two sisters: Winifred and Sarah.
In the first film, in 1693, the Sanderson Sisters, now graying and stooped with age, decide to brew the life potion, which will steal the life force of a child to restore their own youth and vitality. As Winifred and Mary work on the potion, they send Sarah out to lure a child with her siren-like voice. She soon returns with a young girl named Emily Binx, whom they bewitch in no time to sit docilely in a chair as they finish up the potion. However, just after Emily obediently drinks the potion, the girl's elder brother Thackery Binx interrupts them and attempts to rescue her. Mary and Sarah gleefully chase him around the room, but he manages to knock them down by shoving their enormous cauldron at them, spilling the rest of the potion in the process. A furious Winifred easily subdues him with her powers before Mary points out that the potion is working: Emily's life force is visible. The sisters eagerly crowd around Emily and suck her life force away until their youth is restored and Emily dies of old age. Rejoicing at the success of their potion, the witches then turn their attention to Thackery. Winifred initially plans to simply kill him, but she changes her mind when he calls her a hag and decides that he deserves a harsher punishment. Mary suggests that they barbecue and fillet him. Together with her sisters, she curses him to live forever in the form of a black cat, doomed to live for all eternity with the guilt of his failure to save Emily. Just after they perform the spell, an angry mob arrives at their cottage, led by Emily and Thackery's parents. Winifred and Mary attempt to barricade the door and convince the crowd that they're merely spinsters spending a quiet evening at home, but air-headed Sarah impulsively adds that they've been killing children before her sisters can stop her. Soon enough, the sisters are captured and hanged. But before they die, Winifred casts one final spell declaring that on Halloween night when the moon is full, a virgin will summon them back from the dead, allowing them to once again claim the lives of all the children in Salem. 300 years later, on Halloween night in 1993, the sisters are brought back to life by Max Dennison, a teenage boy who does not believe in the curse. After Max, his sister, Dani, and his crush, Allison, steal Winifred's spellbook, the sisters are forced to follow them; they must suck the lives of children in order to live past dawn. Mary and the others track the kids to a cemetery, where they are forced to remain on their broomsticks. Thus, Winifred raises Billy Butcherson from the dead and commands him to capture them, though he is unsuccessful. Later, Mary and the others get a bus driver to take them to find children to be victims. Mary initially believes that she has lost her powers when she smells children though doesn't see any. At this point, they meet a man dressed as the devil and believe him to be their master. However, after being run out by the man's wife, they realize that Halloween is a time when people wear costumes. During this time, their broomsticks are stolen, forcing them to continue on foot. The sisters then follow the children to the party where Max's parents are and after being exposed to the room by Max, Winifred takes charge and ridicules him before singing "I Put a Spell on You" therefore enchanting all the adults causing them to dance until they die. After this, the children lead the sisters to the school after Allison gets an idea from a restaurant and after unwittingly walking into a kiln they are locked in and the children burn them alive. However, they did not die due to the curse protecting them from death until sunrise and they ended up capturing and locking up Jay and Ernie, two bullies who had made fun of Max after they called them ugly chicks. Winifred, desperate for her eternal youth decides to try and make the potion from memory. Sarah, surprisingly, shouts out the correct ingredient but is hushed by Mary who thinks Winifred has all the right answers. At Max's house, though, he and Allison open the book therefore allowing it to send out a signal to the witches who fly to the house, with Mary using a vacuum cleaner to replace her stolen broomstick. They take the book and kidnap Dani and Thackery. Mary accompanies Winifred to the cottage and assists in making the potion. After brewing the potion again they try to get Dani to drink it but are stopped by Max who tricks them into thinking the sun has risen by using the headlights of his parents' car. However, they realize they have been tricked and follow the children back to the cemetery and attempt to get Dani to drink the potion again though Winifred drops it whilst Sarah tries to help Mary escape the children. Max catches it and threatens to smash it though instead drinks it after Winifred says she'll kill Dani if he smashes it. After a struggle with him, they both fall to the ground and Winifred starts to take his life force but the sun comes up. Winifred transforms into stone and explodes while her two sisters implode in purple and orange light.At the end of the film, however, the book is seen and it blinks, therefore hinting the sisters may return once again.
Mary makes an appearance in the video game Disney Emoji Blitz. She is a playable character who has the ability to sniff out emojis and steal their souls for extra time. She and her sisters, Winifred and Sarah, are currently the only playable Hocus Pocus characters.
Mary, alongside her sisters Winifred and Sarah, appears in Disney Heroes: Battle Mode, originally for special events during the 2021 Halloween season. In the game, Mary's abilities are magic-orange sparks from her finger, using her vacuum to fly past the enemies, eating a snack, and sniffing with her enhanced smell of sense. When Mary is defeated in the game, she will spark orange and blast away. Coincidentally, or not, Mary was using the same sparks from her fingers in Hocus Pocus 2 as she does in the game.
Mary, along with her sisters, returned in a Halloween-themed Castle Show during Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party entitled the Hocus Pocus Villain Spectacular. She and her sisters try to brew a special Halloween potion and receive assistance from various Disney villains. After successfully completing the potion she joins Sarah in singing and dancing backup while Winifred sings "I Put a Spell on You".
Sarah Sanderson (Sarah Jessica Parker in the films [4] and Juju Brener as a younger version of the chartacter in Hocus Pocus 2) is the youngest and most beautiful but air-headed witch who lived during the time of Salem Witch Trials, along with her two sisters: Winifred and Mary.
In the first film, in the 1693 prologue, the Sanderson Sisters, now graying and stooped with age, send Sarah out to lure a child to their cottage so that they may steal their life force to restore their own youth and vitality via a special life potion. With the entrancing power of her voice, Sarah lures a young girl named Emily Binx into their cottage in the woods. However, she is unaware that they were spotted by Emily's older brother, Thackery Binx, and that he is following them. With a bewitched Emily sitting docilely in a chair, Sarah gleefully helps her two sisters, Winifred and Mary, with the potion. All three are downright giddy that their youth will be restored soon; Sarah even engages in a playful fight with Mary by throwing dead men's toes at each other. However, just after Emily obediently drinks the potion, Thackery interrupts them and attempts to rescue her. Sarah and Mary happily chase him around the room, but he manages to knock them down by shoving their enormous cauldron at them, spilling the rest of the potion in the process. A furious Winifred easily subdues him with her powers before Mary points out that the potion is working: Emily's life force is visible. The sisters eagerly crowd around Emily and suck her life force away until their youth is restored and Emily dies of old age. Rejoicing at the success of their potion, the witches then turn their attention to Thackery. Sarah suggests that they hang him on a hook and let her play with him, but Winifred sharply rejects the idea. Initially planning to simply kill him, Winifred changes her mind when he calls her a hag and decides that he deserves a harsher punishment. Together with her sisters, she curses him to live forever in the form of a black cat, doomed to live for all eternity with the guilt of his failure to save Emily. Just after they perform the spell, an angry mob arrives at their cottage, led by Emily and Thackery's parents. Winifred and Mary attempt to barricade the door and convince the crowd that they're merely spinsters spending a quiet evening at home, but Sarah impulsively adds that they've been killing children before her sisters can stop her. Soon enough, the sisters are captured off-screen and hanged. But before they die, Winifred casts one final spell declaring that on Halloween night when the moon is full, a virgin will summon them back from the dead, allowing them to once again claim the lives of all the children in Salem. 300 years later, on Halloween night in 1993, a boy named Max Dennison is begrudgingly taking his little sister, Dani, trick-or-treating, after much pleading. While out, they meet his crush, Allison, who accompanies them. Max wants to impress Allison, so he convinces the others to visit the Sanderson sisters' cottage, now converted into a museum. They break in and Max foolishly lights the candle, still trying to dazzle Allison. He ends up resurrecting the Sanderson Sisters. He steals Winifred's spellbook at the behest of Thackery so that the sisters cannot create the potion needed to steal the life force of children and they run. The children all ran to the cemetery as Thackery led them however the sisters all followed them on their broomsticks and nearly got the book back. However, before they can escape Winifred raises Billy Butcherson, her former lover, back from the dead and instructs him to get the book back before flying away to the outside of the cemetery as they cannot set foot on hallowed ground. According to Thackery, Billy was once Winifred's boyfriend, but when she found out that he was in love with Sarah, she poisoned him and sewed his mouth shut with a dull needle. There they employ the help of a bus driver and ask him to find the children and eventually come across a house owned by a man dressed as the devil who they mistake for their master. They subsequently get into a fight with his wife as Sarah is dancing with him but is scared away by the dog. Outside they find that their broomsticks have been stolen. The sisters then follow the children to the party where Max's parents are and after being exposed to the room by Max, Winifred takes charge and ridicules him before singing "I Put a Spell on You" therefore enchanting all the adults causing them to dance until they die. After this, the children lead the sisters to the school after Allison gets an idea from a restaurant and after unwittingly walking into a kiln they are locked in and the children burn them alive. They come out of the chimney in a puff of green smoke. However, they do not die due to the curse protecting them from death until sunrise and they end up capturing and locking up Jay and Ernie, the two bullies that make fun of Max after they call them ugly chicks. Winifred, desperate for her eternal youth decides to try and make the potion from memory. Sarah, surprisingly, shouts out the correct ingredient but is hushed by Mary who thinks Winifred has all the right answers. At Max's house though he and Allison open the book, therefore, allowing it to send out a signal to the sisters who fly to the house, using a modern cleaning broom, mop, and vacuum cleaner as improvisations for their stolen broomsticks and take the book and kidnap Dani and Thackery. Sarah is instructed to sing her siren song power to all the children of Salem so they will go to the house. After brewing the potion again they try to get Dani to drink it but are stopped by Max who tricks them into thinking the sun has risen by using the headlights of his parents' car. However, they realize they have been tricked and follow the children back to the cemetery and attempt to get Dani to drink the potion again though Winifred drops it whilst Sarah tries to help Mary escape the children. Max catches it and threatens to smash it though instead drinks it after Winifred says she'll kill Dani if he smashes it. After a struggle with him, they both fall to the ground and she starts to take his life force but the sun comes up. Winifred transforms into stone and explodes while her two sisters implode in purple and orange light. At the end of the film, however, the book is seen and it blinks, therefore hinting the sisters may return once again.
Sarah makes an appearance in the video game Disney Emoji Blitz. She is a playable character who has the ability to lure in emojis with her siren song. She and her sisters, Winifred and Mary, are currently the only playable Hocus Pocus characters.
Sarah, alongside her sisters Winifred and Mary, appears in Disney Heroes: Battle Mode, originally for special events during the 2021 Halloween season. In the game, Sarah has Billy as her backup and her abilities are magic-purple sparks from her left hand, using her siren-like voice, and directing Billy Butcherson to scare enemies. When Sarah is defeated in the game, she will spark purple and blast away, alongside Billy who lost his head upon Sarah's defeat.
Sarah and her sisters began appearing in a special Halloween-themed Castle Show at Disney's Magic Kingdom in 2015 as a part of Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party entitled the Hocus Pocus Villain Spectacular. Sarah kicks off the festivities by sending out the call to the dancers for assistance by singing "Come Little Children". She and her sisters also get help from fellow Disney villains to make their potion but like in the movie, she is flirtatious towards the male cast, especially when she interacts with Dr. Facilier. After completing their potion, she and Mary back up Winifred as she sings "I Put a Spell on You" and dances with various villains.
Book is the living spell book that the Sanderson Sisters use. It has an eye on his cover, with which it shows its emotions.
In the first film, the book is mentioned in official records pertaining Sanderson sisters, at some point in time, after being scorned by the infidelity of Winifred Sanderson's lover Billy Butcherson with her sister Sarah. Winifred allegedly decided to sell her soul, and possibly the souls of Sarah and their other sister Mary, to Satan himself and received the spellbook, which was said to be protected by magic, and bound in human skin. The spell book is seen to be Winifred's most prized possession. In 1693, in Salem, Massachusetts, the Sanderson sisters, graying and stooped with age, decided to use the spellbook to brew the life potion, which would steal the life force of a child to restore their own youth and vitality. As Winifred and Mary work on the potion, they send Sarah out to lure a child with her siren-like voice. She soon returns with a young girl named Emily Binx, whom they bewitch in no time to sit docilely in a chair as they finish up the potion. However, just after Emily obediently drinks the potion, the girl's elder brother Thackery Binx interrupts them and attempts to rescue her. Mary and Sarah gleefully chase him around the room, but he manages to knock them down by shoving their enormous cauldron at them, spilling the rest of the potion in the process. Furious, Winifred subdues him with her powers before Mary points out that the potion is working: Emily's life force is visible. The sisters eagerly crowd around Emily and suck her life force away until their youth is restored and Emily dies of old age.
Rejoicing at the success of their potion, the witches then turn their attention to Thackery. Winifred initially plans to simply kill him, but she changes her mind when he calls her a hag and decides that he deserves a harsher punishment. Winifred calls the spellbook to find a harsher punishment for Thackery. Finally, she finds one punishment spell perfectly. Together with her sisters, she curses him to live forever in the form of a black cat, doomed to live for all eternity with the guilt of his failure to save Emily. Just after they perform the spell, an angry mob arrives at their cottage, led by Emily and Thackery's parents. Winifred and Mary attempt to barricade the door and convince the crowd that they're merely spinsters spending a quiet evening at home, but air-headed Sarah impulsively adds that they've been killing children before her sisters can stop her. Soon enough, the sisters are captured and hanged. The book is seen at the hands of Elijah, the best friend of Thackery. But before they die, the spellbook opens the page of "Spells to Resurrect the Dead" and Winifred casts it declaring that on Halloween night when the moon is full, a virgin will summon them back from the dead, allowing them to once again claim the lives of all the children in Salem. A full 300 years later, the sisters are revived when someone lights the black flame candle, which mysterious powers can summon them back from the dead - but only for a single night. Nevertheless, the sisters are overjoyed at returning to their cottage. Winifred rejoices at reuniting with the spellbook, saying that she really miss it. Later, Max Dennison, the one who lit the candle, steals the spellbook at the behest of Thackery, cursed as a black cat and now able to talk, so that the sisters cannot create the potion needed to steal the life force of children and they run. The sisters find them at the cemetery and Winifred summons Billy back from the grave to get her book back. After this they went to Max and Allison's high school where Max spoke through the microphone at the office telling them that the spellbook is here. The sisters heard a voice taking about a book which the sisters think it know about the spellbook, but it was actually a tape recording and were unwittingly lead to a kiln where the children locked the door and burned them alive. However, they did not die due to the curse protecting them from death until sunrise. Knowing they don't have much time left, Winifred tried to make the potion from memory, but she can't remember the ingredients and called out to the spellbook, crying in despair. Allison and Max, despite the warnings that nothing good can come from the book, open it to find a cure Thackery's immortality and the book sends out a signal after being opened. Winifred saw the signal and used a corn broom, while Sarah used a mop and Mary used a Hoover vacuum cleaner to fly to its location. They secretly invade the house and grabbed the book, but after accidentally breaking some glass and knowing that Max and Alison would come to get Dani and Thackery, they hid in the closet as Sarah hid under the blankets. Max and Alison arrived and the sisters revealed themselves. Winifred opens the spellbook to fire a ball of energy at Max in the back that he is blasted into his drum set. The sisters violently exploding from the house, but not before Winifred reveals the nature of the spell that brought them back to Allison. Winifred and Mary made their way back to the cottage to brew the Life Potion with the spellbook while Sarah sang her siren song to all the children of Salem so they will go to the house. When Dani called her "the ugliest thing that ever lived", Winifred decides to kill her first. After brewing the potion again they try to force Dani to drink it, but are stopped by Max who tricks them into thinking the sun has risen by using the headlights of his parents' car and Max drained all the potion. After the sisters' deaths through the sunrise, it was last seen in the witches' cottage, opening its eye, and presumably remained there. While Jay and Ernie are still trapped in their cages, the eye on the book's cover opens, indicating the book is still alive, indicating a there's a chance the Sanderson sisters could return somehow.
The Spellbook once again returns in the second film, having fell into possession of Gilbert who became intrigued by the existence of Sanderson Sisters and sought to revive them, believing the three were more of misunderstood individuals rather than evil as within official records, only to later learn how much mistreatments they endured pushed them to the dark path. As expected from various witch hunts-related historical records whose certain details being twisted and romanticized, the background of the boom proved to be more complicated; Winifred inherited the spellbook from Mother Witch and that it was the pact between the Devil and either Mother Witch herself or their predecessor which brought it to the world instead. By bequeathing the Book to Winifred along with the warning of never performing Magicae Maxima for the price of such ritual won't bode well to her and her sisters, Mother Witch indirectly taught Sanderson sisters magical arts they eventually mastered leading the three becoming the witches known by everyone nowadays. It was through instructions provided by spellbook, along with occult ingredients he found within one of the Sanderson Sisters' secret stash that Gilbert managed to recreate cruder variants of the black flame candle devised to bring the sisters back to the land of the living. However, as he was no longer a virgin, he resorted to tricking Becca and Izzy into lighting the recreated Candle. The spellbook then returns to Sanderson sisters' service upon being retrieved by them only to eventually decide to serve Becca, who is a newly-discovered witch, later on in response of Winifred's abuse and indifferent to possible worse consequence of performing Magicae Maxima. Becca and co., with Spellbook in their hand, rushed to stop Winifred only to find her depressed from unwittingly sacrificed her siblings. Using the Spell of Reuniting with the spellbook's guidance, Becca, Izzy and Cassie reunite Winifred with her sisters by sending her soul to the afterlife where Mary and Sarah waited for her, turning her physical form into dust in the process. The spellbook then sheds a tear upon the death of its previous owner. By the end of the events of the film, the spellbook is currently in possession of Becca, Izzy and Cassie, who then use it to continue their own witchcraft.
William "Billy" Butcherson (Doug Jones in the films [8] [9] and Austin J. Ryan as a younger version of the character in Hocus Pocus 2) [10] is a supporting character in the film series. He was the obsession of Winifred Sanderson, whom she poisoned after she believed he cheated on her with her youngest sister, Sarah. In 1993, Butcherson was brought back to life as a zombie by Winifred as an act to retrieve her spell book.
In the first film, Winifred resurrected him and instructed him to get her spellbook back from Max Dennison, his sister Dani, his crush Allison, and Thackery Binx. They escaped through the sewers and Max knocked Billy's head off. As the witches take the stage at Max's parents' party and hold the entire room quite literally spellbound with their singing, Max and the others run from Billy, eventually managing to escape. Max, Dani, and his friends head straight to the hallowed ground of the graveyard, where Billy is waiting for them. Winifred, floating outside the gates, impatiently orders Billy to kill Max and be done with it, but he merely grabs Max's pocket knife and slices open the stitches that have bound his mouth for so long. His first words in three centuries are insults hurled at Winifred, who shrieked in rage and threatened that she'll kill him again. Thoroughly sick of his ex-girlfriend, he teams up with the kids. Billy offers to let Dani stay inside his open grave where she will be safe, but just in case, Allison sprinkles salt all around it — a substance that witches can't directly touch. When the witches arrive and begin to attack, Winifred manages to knock Billy's head off. Unable to bear the sight of Billy blindly stumbling around looking for his head, Dani dashes out of the protected grave and gives it back to him. Winifred takes advantage of this opportunity and snatches Dani into the air where she attempts to force the girl to drink what remains of the potion. Binx leaps onto the broom from a tree and scratches at Winifred, managing to make her drop the potion before he is flung to the rocky ground. Max catches the potion and threatens to smash it if Winifred doesn't let Dani go, but the witch promises that she'll kill her if he harms her potion. Taking the third option, Max drinks it himself, forcing Winifred to release Dani and take him instead. Calling him a fool for sacrificing himself for his sister, she drags him high into the air and attempts to inhale his life force despite his wild struggles. Dani, Allison, and Billy manage to hold back Mary and Sarah by yanking the cord of the vacuum cleaner Mary is using as a broomstick in order to prevent her from helping Winifred steal Max's life-force, releasing it once enough momentum has built up to slingshot the two sisters into the sky. After Winifred and her sisters were turned to dust, Billy returned to his grave. Dani wished him a nice sleep, Max thanked him for his help, and, with a big yawn, he flopped back into the ditch.
In the second film, after the Sanderson Sisters return, Gilbert is cursed with the task to collect the ingredients needed for a spell known as "Magicae Maxima", with one of them being the head of a lover. Gilbert, with his knowledge of the sisters, tries digging up Billy's grave in order to obtain said head. As Gilbert does so, Billy bursts from his tomb, revealing that he had been awake ever since 1993. Billy confronts Gilbert about digging up his grave, causing Gilbert to lie about his intentions and state that he's working on a spell to defeat the witches. Billy, falling for this lie, agrees to help gather the rest of the ingredients for the spell. As the story continues, the two gather most of the ingredients needed, the only one missing being the said head. Billy catches Gilbert taking a glance at the spellbook, and calls Gilbert out on this. Gilbert, still needing the head of a lover, decapitates Billy once again and takes off, with Billy's body unsuccessfully trying to follow. At the forbidden woods of Salem, Gilbert sets up the ingredients needed for "Magicae Maxima". Gilbert realizes that he can kill the witches to break the spell, but Billy advises against this. The witches arrive at the forest, flinging Gilbert away and sewing Billy's mouth shut once more. Billy's head can be seen throughout the remainder of the scene. After the spell is completed, and the sisters are gone for good, Gilbert and Billy's body arrive on scene. Billy, now that the Sanderson Sisters are truly dead and their spells are now undone, has started to fade away. Billy accepts his death with peace, finally able to attain his eternal rest.
Max Dennison (Omri Katz) is a teenage boy who is shown to have hatred against Halloween. However, when he accidentally resurrects the Sanderson sisters, Max and his friends forcibly halt their advances and stop them for good.
At the start of the film, Max is shown to be angry because he and his family just moved from Los Angeles, California to Salem, Massachusetts. [a] He misses his friends and doesn't quite fit in with his classmates who believe in the supernatural mythology. One particular classmate he has a crush on is Allison.
Max is shown to rather dislike Halloween and does not believe in magic or the supernatural, believing Halloween to simply be an invention for confectionery companies to make additional profit. Thus, he is rather displeased at having to take Dani trick-or-treating, thus taking his anger out on Dani, causing her to become upset with him, but Max apologizes and she forgives him soon after. When visiting the Sanderson sisters' cottage with Dani and Allison, he cynically lights the black flame candle, disbelieving it will resurrect the Sanderson sisters, against Dani and Allison's warnings. However, he is shocked when his lighting of the candle does indeed resurrect the sisters and thus is forced to fight and defeat them before sunrise with the help of Dani, Allison, and Thackery Binx. He is shown to be rather cunning when dealing with the sisters; he exploits their lack of understanding and knowledge of the 20th century and tricks them into believing he is a wizard who can summon "the burning rain of death" (in reality water from fire sprinkles) and that his parent's car headlights are in fact a sign of early sunrise. During the final battle in the graveyard with the sisters, in order to free Dani from Winifred's clutches, he consumes the life potion, making himself liable to life absorption. Just as Winifred attempts to consume his life force, she touches the hallowed ground of the graveyard and is thus petrified due to inherent unholiness, and is then reduced to green dust by sunrise, allowing Max to live. After the whole ordeal, he officially becomes Allison's boyfriend.
Dani Dennison (Thora Birch) is the younger sister of Max Dennison, who loved Halloween and always taunts him. In the film, she develops a strong bond with Thackery Binx, and is the primary target of Winifred Sanderson, whom she called ugly.
In the film, shortly after school ends on Halloween, Dani hides in Max's closet, intending to jump out and scare him when he gets home. She bursts out after he cuddles with a pillow he's pretending is his crush, Allison, triumphantly startling him. She smugly tells him that he has to take her trick-or-treating since their parents are going to a party, but he stubbornly refuses. Unable to get him to change his mind, she screams like a banshee for Jenny, who forces Max to take her trick-or-treating.
While out trick-or-treating, Dani is annoyed that Max is acting like a fool. When they come across the neighborhood bullies, Jay and Ernie, she ignores Max's warnings and boldly attempts to walk past them. However, they won't let her leave without giving them some of her candy, despite her eye-rolling. She calls Max for backup, but Jay and Ernie merely laugh at him. She attempts to stand up for Max, but she unknowingly makes things worse until Max gives Ernie his trick-or-treat bag and drags Dani away. She tells him that he should have been braver, but he loses his temper and yells at her for embarrassing him. Hurt, she dashes off and collapses into tears on someone's pumpkin-strewn haystack and Max realized he made a mistake.
Max sits down beside her and apologizes, explaining that he's frustrated because he doesn't like living in Salem. He misses his friends back in Los Angeles and wishes they could move back there. Dani states that Salem is their home now, and he'll just have to get used to it. After he pleads a bit, Dani decides to give him another chance. Turning to the house whose pumpkins Dani just cried on, they are amazed by its grandeur. It turns out to be the home of Allison, the "pillow" Max was pretending to cuddle. Dani deliberately embarrasses him in front of Allison, but she simply sidesteps the awkwardness and says that she likes Dani's witch costume, revealing that her mother used to run the Sanderson sisters' cottage, which used to be a museum until it closed down due to the "spooky things" that kept happening there. Max suggests that they visit it, but Dani has heard stories from her new friends at school and is very reluctant. Nevertheless, as Allison agrees to take them and goes upstairs to change out of her costume, Max convinces Dani to go along by promising to dress as Peter Pan, with tights, for next Halloween.
Dani is very uncomfortable when they enter the cottage, especially when Max decides to light the black flame candle, which legend says will summon the dead back to life when lit by a virgin. Before he can try, he's attacked by a black cat, frightening Dani so badly she starts to drag Allison out the door. Rolling his eyes at her discomfort, Max lights the candle anyway. When the flame instantly turns black, he knows he made a mistake.
The house rocks with power as the Sanderson sisters are revived. When the door is thrown open, Dani and Allison hide on either side, and Max ducks down below a table. The sisters are overjoyed at returning home, even more so when Mary declares that she smells children. Her powerful nose leads them straight to Dani's hiding place, forcing her out into the open. Dani thinks quickly and pretends that she's another witch and summoned them herself, but the bluff doesn't work. They pick her up and almost succeed in throwing her into their cauldron when Max jumps out of hiding, demanding that they release her. Amused, Winifred easily subdues him with her powers. Held fast by Mary, Dani can only watch as Winifred practices her witchcraft on him, delighted that she hasn't lost her touch at all.
When Allison attacks Mary, Dani runs to Winifred and wallops both her and Sarah with her trick-or-treat bag. The black cat that attacked Max leaps onto Winifred, giving Dani enough time to wake Max up. Dani flees outside with Allison as Max triggers the sprinklers, which he convinces the sisters is a "burning rain of death". He breaks into the glass case containing the spellbook and makes his escape along with the cat.
The cat leads them to a graveyard, telling them that since its hallowed ground, witches can't set foot there. Confronted with a talking cat, Dani and Allison stare at Max, who merely states that the cat talks as if it's the most normal thing in the world. It leads them straight to the grave of Billy Butcherson, and ex-lover of Winifred's. He explains that when Winifred found out that he was cheating on her with Sarah, she poisoned him and sewed his mouth shut so he couldn't reveal her secrets even in death, hoping that the trio will understand who they are dealing with. Allison realizes that the cat must be Thackery Binx, a young teenager who mysteriously disappeared the day the sisters were hung. He then leads them to his little sister Emily Binx's grave. He had failed to save her from the witches and was himself cursed to live forever as a cat, doomed to spend all eternity with his guilt. Determined to prevent anyone from resurrecting the sisters, Binx spent the last 300 years guarding the black flame candle against people like Max.
Suddenly, the sisters arrive. Although they can't set foot on hallowed ground, they can still fly above it on their broomsticks. Even so, they don't have much success capturing the children so Winifred calls in backup. She raises Billy back from the dead as a zombie and orders him to retrieve her spellbook. Binx helps them escape through the sewers. Allison comforts Dani by holding onto her shoulders and Max warns her to not look at the ceiling, not wanting her to see the skeleton nearly falling out of its casket. When they emerge, Dani is deeply upset when Binx is almost immediately run over by a bus. Crying at the sight of his flattened body, Dani's tears are stunned into stopping when he reinflates. Reminding them that he's immortal, Binx asks if Dani's okay before they continue.
They attempt to warn a police officer that the sisters are back, but he turns out to just be a guy in a costume. When he doesn't believe them, they decide to warn their parents instead. However, they're no easier to convince than the fake police officer. Suddenly, Dani catches sight of the sisters and Billy. As the sisters take the stage and hold the entire room quite literally spellbound with their singing, Dani and the others run from Billy, eventually managing to escape. A panicking Max tries to make Allison take Dani back to her house and keep her there for her own protection, but she refuses to leave him. Hiding from the sisters once again, Allison finds an old oven and has an idea to burn them to death in the school's pottery kiln. The plan seems to go perfectly as they watch them burn, and they soon celebrate their destruction. Although Binx is dismayed that the curse on him hasn't broken, he accepts Dani's offer to adopt him as her cat. Once home, she drowsily promises to take care of him always, and that her descendants will do the same before they fall asleep.
The sisters survive due to the curse protecting them from death. They successfully take back their book and kidnap Dani and Binx. Once at the cottage, Dani is tied firmly to a chair until the potion is ready. After Dani calls Winifred "the ugliest thing that ever lived", she decided to kill her first. They try to force her to drink it, but she's able to avoid it long enough for Max to arrive, trick the sisters into thinking the sun has risen, and rescue her and Binx. Before they escape to the graveyard, Dani tells Max that she wants to see Winifred turning to dust but realizes the trick and continues escaping. They head straight to the hallowed ground of the graveyard, where Billy is waiting for them. Cornered, Max tells Dani and Allison to run. By the time Max catches up to them, they have each found a large branch and prepare to hit Billy when Max stops them, explaining that Billy has actually turned out to be on their side. Tossing aside her stick, Dani greets the zombie with a smile.
Billy offers to let Dani stay inside his open grave where she will be safe, but just in case, Allison sprinkles salt all around it - a substance that witches can't directly touch. When the sisters arrive and begin to attack, Winifred manages to knock Billy's head off. Unable to bear the sight of Billy blindly stumbling around looking for his head, Dani dashes out of the protected grave and gives it back to him. Winifred takes advantage of this opportunity and snatches Dani into the air where she attempts to force her to drink what remains of the potion. Binx leaps onto the broom from a tree and scratches at Winifred, managing to make her drop the potion before he is flung to the rocky ground. Max catches it and threatens to smash it if Winifred doesn't let Dani go, but she promises that she'll kill her if it's smashed. Taking the third option, Max drinks it himself, forcing Winifred to release Dani and take him instead. Calling him a fool for sacrificing himself for Dani, she drags him high into the air and attempts to inhale his life-force despite his wild struggles. Dani, Allison, and Billy manage to hold back Mary and Sarah by yanking the cord of the vacuum cleaner Mary is using as a broomstick, releasing it once enough momentum has built up to slingshot the sisters into the sky. As they fly uncontrollably past Winifred and Max, they lose their balance and fall to the ground. Determined as ever, Winifred claws her way towards Max and once again tries to drain him, but she is standing on hallowed ground and turns to stone. Shortly after, the sun rises and causes the sisters to explode.
Dani hurries to Max's side and expresses her disbelief that he sacrificed himself for her. He replies that he had to because he's her brother. They embrace as they tell each other that they love each other. Reuniting with Allison and Billy, Dani tells the zombie to sleep well as he returns to his coffin. Suddenly realizing that Binx isn't there, Dani soon finds his body lying across Emily's grave. Sobbing, she begs him to wake up as he did before, but he doesn't stir. The curse is broken, and Thackery's soul is finally free. His spirit comforts Dani by assuring her that he will always be with her before joining the spirit of Emily. Tearful, but smiling, Max hugs Dani as they watch Thackery and Emily depart.
Allison Watts (Vinessa Shaw) [11] is the crush and later girlfriend of Max Dennison. [12]
Allison's first appearance in the film is giving the correct information about the main idea about Halloween in Miss Olin's classroom at Jacob Bailey High School when Max gives the wrong answer. She assists him and his sister, Dani Dennison, in visiting the Sanderson sisters' cottage on Halloween night, in which she unsuccessfully attempts to persuade Max not to light the black flame candle, which subsequently resurrects the sisters. She subsequently helps Max and Dani defeat them before sunrise to stop them from killing and consuming the life force of children, allowing them to become immortal. She demonstrates a good knowledge of the occult and supernatural when fighting them, such as when she applied rings of salt for protection against their dark magic, leading Winifred Sanderson to mockingly label her "a clever little white witch". Following the sisters' death and defeat at sunrise, she officially becomes Max's girlfriend.
Thackery Binx (Sean Murray in human form and Jason Marsden in cat form) [13] was transformed into an immortal black cat in the beginning of the film. During it, he finds himself growing attached to Dani Dennison.
In the first film, in the 1693 prologue, Thackery Binx notices his sister, Emily Binx, taken away far from the woods by the Sanderson sisters in fear. Arriving at the cottage, Thackery plans to rescue her from Winifred Sanderson and her sisters. As Thackery notices the Sandersons preparing a spell, he tips over the cauldron after noticing what the witches are doing. As the witches prepare an immortal spell, Binx is transformed into a black cat much to their devious plans. Afterwards, the Sanderson Sisters notice an angry mob outside the cottage just as Binx's father confronts the witches asking where his son is, unaware that they turned Binx into a black cat. Later as Binx approaches his family, his father doesn't recognize him thinking he is pestering him. In 1993, 300 years after, the Sanderson Sisters are revived due to a black flame candle being accidentally lit by Max Dennison, Binx (in his cat form) approaches Max and escorts him to escape from the Sanderson Sisters to which after the Dennisons escape, Binx explains about what Billy Butcherson's life was before his death. Later as it is found out that the cat talking to the two is revealed to be Thackery Binx, he explains to the Dennisons that he lost his sister Emily under the hands of Winifred, Mary, and Sarah Sanderson and survived three centuries and was brought back to life, thanks to Max's plan in modern time. Standing by the grave of Emily, Max tries to ignite the spell book in order to break the curse, but Binx warns him that the book is protected by magic, indicating that book is impervious to fire. As soon as the Sanderson Sisters arrive, Binx leads the Dennisons to hide into the old Salem crypt to avoid getting caught by Winifred, her sisters, and the undead zombie Billy Butcherson. Following Binx out of the crypt and escaping via manhole, Binx is suddenly run over by the bus the Sanderson Sisters boarded, but it is later found out that he is able to be brought back to life due to the immortality the Sanderson Sisters gave him via spell. With the Sanderson Sisters trapped, Binx tells Max about how precious his sister was before her death just as Max tells Binx to be part of the Dennison family to which Binx is welcomed to the family, much to the Dani's father and mother who are busy dancing during a Halloween party. Later while reading the spell book, Binx warns Allison and Max who are reading the book, warning that anyone who opens the book can result in bad things to happen. Furthermore, Binx is caught by the Sanderson Sisters to which Max, with help from Dani Dennison, manages to save him and escape from the witches. Later, the sunrise arrives, Winifred, Sarah, and Mary are destroyed with Binx's soul being released from his cat form after the curse is broken. Binx's ghost briefly talks with Dani just as Thackery happily reunites with Emily together.
Thackery Binx is mentioned in the second film, which takes place in 2022, 29 years later of the first film. Gilbert, owner of a shop which was formerly the home of the Sanderson sisters, owns a black cat named Cobweb which has a likeness to Binx from his cat form. When the Sanderson sisters are resurrected for a second time they believe that the cat is Binx and attempt to kill it, however are prevented by Gilbert who points out the animal is his pet.
Emily Binx (Amanda Shepherd) is a minor character in the first film. She is the younger sister of Thackery Binx.
One morning in Salem, Massachusetts on Halloween in 1693, Emily is lured out of her home by the beautiful singing of the witch, Sarah Sanderson. Entranced by her voice and deaf to Thackery Binx's frantic cries, she willingly follows Sarah into the woods all the way to the Sanderson Sisters' cottage. Bewitched, she sits docilely in a chair and obediently drinks their life potion, failing to recognize Thackery when he barges in to rescue her. The potion causes Emily's life force to become visible, allowing the sisters to steal it in order to restore their own youth and vitality. In seconds, they are once again youthful, and Emily is reduced to a withered husk. She stirs feebly for a few moments but soon dies of age. Three hundred years later, Emily's spirit finally welcomes Thackery to the afterlife, complaining that she's waited for him a long time. The sisters had cursed him to live forever in the form of a black cat, but with their deaths, the curse is broken, and he is at last allowed to reunite with Emily and they cross over into the afterlife.
Jay Taylor (Tobias Jelinek) is one of Max Dennison's bullies along with Ice.
Jay and Ice are first seen stealing Max's shoes when Max says he does not have cash or bud for them. Jay is later seen stealing candy from trick-or-treaters with Ice when they encounter Max once again. This time, they ask him about his costume which happens to be a "Little Leaguer" as referred by Max's sister, Dani Dennison. They then try to force her to pay a toll in order to pass them, but Max steps in by giving them his candy.
Later at 3:00 a.m., Ice and Jay are trying to think of some other activity to do (due to most of the Halloween activities having ended at this hour) when they encounter the Sanderson sisters, who abduct them and lock them up in cages hanging from the ceiling in their cottage in response to Jay referring them as "ugly chicks", which offends them, with Sarah Sanderson tormenting Jay by spinning his cage, causing him to get sick. Later, when Max and Allison arrive to rescue Dani, whom the sisters have abducted, Ice and Jay beg to be saved, to which Max responds by taking back his shoes from Ice and leaving them in their cages as payback for their bullying.
After the Sanderson sisters disappear off the face of the Earth at dawn, Jay and Ice, still in their cages, are singing songs including "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" to fill in time before any citizen of Salem will find and release them from their imprisonment. Their fates are left unknown by the end of the film; it can be presumed they were eventually rescued by another Salem resident.
Ernie (Larry Bagby), better known as Ice, [14] is the other of Max Dennison's bullies alongside Jay in the first film. Like Jay, he addresses Max as "Hollywood".
We first see Ice stealing Max's shoes when Max says he does not have cash or bud for either him or Jay.
Later, Ice is stealing candy from trick-or-treaters with Jay when they confront Max again. This time, they ask him about his costume which happens to be a "Little Leaguer" as referred by Max's sister, Dani Dennison. At that moment, Ice forces her to pay a toll in order for her to pass by him, but Max stops him by giving them his candy.
Later at 3:00 a.m., the bullies are trying to think of some other activity to do (due to most of the Halloween activities having ended) when they encounter the Sanderson sisters due to Mary Sanderson having smelled Max's scent on the shoes Ice took from him earlier. The sisters abduct Ice and Jay and lock them up in cages hanging from the ceiling of their cottage after Jay refers to them as "ugly chicks", which offends them. When Max and Allison later arrive to rescue Dani, whom the sisters have abducted, Ice and Jay beg to be saved, to which Max responds by stealing back his shoes from Ice and leaving them there as payback for their bullying.
After the Sanderson sisters disappear off the face of the Earth at dawn, Ice and Jay are still in their cages and singing songs including "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" to fill in the time before any citizen of Salem will find and release them from their imprisonment. Their fates are left unknown by the end of the film; it can be presumed they were eventually rescued by another Salem resident.
Becca (Whitney Peak) is a 16-year-old teenage girl from high school, alongside her friends, Izzy and Cassie Traske. By using the black flame candle, she accidentally resurrects the Sanderson sisters after 29 years, seeking a plan to defeat the sisters for good. Along the way, Becca discovers she is a witch herself. [15]
Izzy (Belissa Escobedo) [16] [17] is one of Becca's friends alongside Cassie Traske. She is a 15 year old teenage girl who, while performing a birthday ritual with her best friend Becca ends up resurrecting the Sanderson sisters after 29 years. [15]
In the film, Izzy and Becca visit a magic shop run by Gilbert, who gives Becca a candle for her sixteenth birthday. The girls light the candle and discover that it is another Black Flame Candle, which brings back the Sanderson Sisters once again. The girls outwit the sisters in a local Walgreens and escape to the magic shop. They learn here that Gilbert tricked them into reviving the witches, having seen them on Halloween in 1993 and been taught how to make the candle by Book, the sisters' magical grimoire.
Izzy and Becca team up with their estranged friend Cassie Traske, who is a descendant of Reverend Traske, the man who banished Winifred Sanderson in 1653. Together, they try to stop the sisters from casting the Magicae Maxima spell. This spell would make them all-powerful and immortal.
Izzy is a brave and loyal friend who is willing to risk her life to save Becca and Salem from the witches. She also has a witty sense of humor and a knack for the occult, as seen when she convinces Becca to try and use the Angelica leaves to break Winifred's curse.
Cassie Traske (Lilia Buckingham) is a teenager in high school in Salem, Massachusetts, alongside her friends, Becca, Izzy and her boyfriend Mike. [15]
Reverend Traske (Tony Hale) is a reverend of Salem, Massachussets in the mid-17th century. He is the ancestor of Jefry and Cassie Traske. His name is a nod to the fanatical witch hunter Reverend Trask from the classic gothic horror television serial, Dark Shadows , played in the show by Jerry Lacy.
He is a man who worked as the reverend of Salem, Massachussets back in the mid-17th century. By 1653, Traske had come across Winifred, Mary, and Sarah Sanderson, three young orphaned and outcast sisters who had been the daughters of the town's apothecary. One cloudy day, Traske decided to have Winifred married to a young man called John Pritchett, insisting that it was his duty since their father's death, but Winifred refused due to her disgust for Pritchett and her crush on William "Billy" Butcherson, angering Traske due to Winifred taking the Lord's name in vain twice.
That same day, which happened during Winifred's sixteenth birthday, Traske came to their house and offered Winifred to pardon her only if she accepted to marry John. Winifred asked him to let her reconsider, which Traske accepted, but Winifred refused again and insulted John after he "celebrated" not having to marry her before declaring that she would marry Billy if she were to marry, much to Billy's astonishment. Furious at Winifred not "respecting" the things Salem considered sacrosanct, Traske declared her banished from Salem forever and ordered one of his men to take Mary and Sarah away to avoid Winifred "corrupting" them, assuring Winifred that the Smith family had agreed to take in Mary and Sarah to "turn them right". To rescue her sisters, Winifred put a spider that her sisters had gifted her on Traske's arm, leading him to panic and distract everyone. As the three Sanderson sisters ran away into the Forbidden Wood, Traske claimed that the spider had been "Satan's work", giving the townspeople the impression that the Sandersons had attempted on the Reverend's life.
Hours later, during nighttime, Winifred, Mary and Sarah returned to Salem after becoming witches due to their encounter with the Mother Witch, using her spellbook to enact revenge on Reverend Traske through starting a fire on his house. Alerted, Traske exited his house and plead for the neighbors to help him put the fire out by bringing water as he denounced the fire as Satan's work and blamed Winifred's spider for it. Though they are mentioned to have tried to kill Traske and his family, they didn't do so because of their inexperienced with magic back then, yet Traske wrote some journals about the Sandersons. It's unknown what happened to Traske after this, but his actions led the Sandersons to become feared and evil witches who served Satan, making him responsible for their turn to villainy and the events of the original film.
Centuries later, the Sandersons are resurrected for a second time by Becca and Izzy, two Salemer girls, in 2022, leading them to resume their plans to take revenge on Salem. As they visit their old cottage, which is now Gilbert's magic shop, they discover through a flyer that Reverend Traske had descendants in the form of Mayor Jefry Traske and his daughter Cassie, who is friends with Becca and Izzy. Though Sarah initially assumes that Traske is alive, Winifred deduces that Jefry is Traske's descendant and resolves to get his blood for their Magicae Maxima spell, even bewitching many Salemers to hunt Jefry down by singing "One Way or Another". However, the Sandersons ultimately resort to kidnap Cassie when they realize that she is a Traske family member too.
The Mother Witch (Hannah Waddingham) [18] is an enigmatic Salem witch who came across Winifred Sanderson, alongside her younger sisters Mary and Sarah, around the 17th century.
We first see her scouring the sky in the form of a red-winged blackbird, as she watches over the town of Salem.
When the young Sanderson sisters enter the forbidden woods after being banished from Salem by Reverend Traske, she gazes them from afar. The young girls become fearful of their surroundings, and the Mother Witch tries to lure them with a song. When Winifred beckons Sarah, who is bewitched by the song, back to her, the Mother Witch transforms into her human form before them, and grabs hold of Sarah by the neck. Winifred and Mary attempt to rescue their sister, but the Mother Witch summons a gust of wind through her hand, to hold them back. The Mother Witch prepares to feed Sarah the life potion to steal her soul, but Winifred loosens her grip on Sarah. The Mother Witch grabs Winifred in retaliation, but fearfully let goes, upon sensing her. Upon taking a closer interrogation of Winifred, she comes to realize the young girl differs from the other children she has eaten, and is feared by the townspeople, due to her corruption. The Mother Witch takes note of young Winifred's temper, and on the raw power she holds. She informs the girls the woods they entered is feared upon, because it is a sacred space for witches such as herself, to charge their magic, and displays her powers before them. The Mother Witch declares Salem to be run by fools, and will one day be ruled by the likes of them. She gifts the girls a spellbook, and wishes Winifred a happy sixteenth birthday. As the girls explore the book's pages, they come across a spell, entitled "Magicae Maxima, the Power Spell", which makes a witch all-powerful, but the Mother Witch warns them against using such a spell, and has them promise not to do so. The Mother Witch comments on the luck they have in their relationship, as a witch needs her coven, for which she no longer has. Before Winifred can give her thanks, the Mother Witch disappears before them. This encounter led Winifred, Mary and Sarah to become fearsome witches, leading to the events of the first film.
In 2022, after Becca, Izzy and Cassie defeated the newly-risen Sanderson sisters, a bird identical to the one that the Mother Witch had shapeshifted into flies overhead them. This implies that the Mother Witch is still alive and active as of the present day, though it's currently unknown if she has become aware of the defeat of the Sandersons and what she is gonna do next.
Jefry Traske (Tony Hale) [18] is a supporting character in the second film. He is the mayor of Salem, Massachusetts, father of Cassie Traske, and descendant of Reverend Traske.
Gilbert (Sam Richardson as an adult [19] and Jaylin Pryor as a young boy) is a supporting character in the second film. He is the owner of the Olde Salem Magic Shoppe and the Gilbert the Great Ghost Trolley who inadvertently reawakens the Sanderson sisters.
When Becca and Izzy light the candle during their Halloween sleepover, they accidentally summon the Sanderson sisters, who are determined to suck the life force out of all the children in Salem before sunrise. The girls manage to escape from the witches with the help of Cassie Traske, their former friend who is also a descendant of Reverend Traske, the man who banished the Sanderson sisters in 1653. They also take the Book of Spells with them, hoping to find a way to stop the witches.
Gilbert realizes his mistake when he sees the news reports about the witch sightings and tries to contact Becca and Izzy. He meets up with them at Cassie's house and apologizes for his role in reviving the witches. He also reveals his knowledge of magic and offers to help them. When he consulted with the book however, it emitted a beacon of light which drew the attention of Sanderson Sisters. Upon arriving, Winifred, Sarah, and Mary Sanderson proceeded to imprison Becca and Izzy in their basement dungeon and disposed the stairs for a good measure before forcing Gilbert into gathering necessary ingredients for Magicae Maxima spell and bring them to the Forbidden Wood before their hourglass fills up lest his life would be forfeited.
He began his search at the grave of Billy as one of aforementioned ingredients happened to be the head of a former lover, remembering what he learned about Billy and Winifred's history together. Billy however, revealed to Gilbert that they had only kissed once, at which the latter promised to tell the truth about him after everything was done. The two then hanged out at the carnival a bit before heading back to the cottage at which Gilbert tried to reverse the hourglass to no avail, dismaying Billy that his friend had become unwanted accomplice of Sanderson Sisters. The remorseful Gilbert apologized to Billy before taking his head for the spell.
Soon after, Gilbert met up with Sanderson Sisters with all ingredients set for Magicae Maxima spell. By the time they began the ritual however, Becca and Izzy intervened by revealing the danger of such spell; it would take away what the caster cherished most. But Winifred proceeded with the spell anyway, becoming all-powerful like she wanted only to be devastated by seeing Sarah and Mary dying as the price. Seeing how despondent Winifred became, Becca, Izzy, and Cassie stepped in and performed reunion spell in an attempt to bring the two back, though that led to an unexpected miracle in which Winifred instead went to the afterlife to catch up with her beloved sisters.
With Sanderson Sisters gone once again, Gilbert returned Billy's head as the latter passed on to the afterlife as well. He assured Billy that he would tell the truth about his undead friend.
It's revealed that Gilbert had at least one more black flame candle in his possession. Unless he is cautious enough to prevent it from being lighted by anyone, Sanderson Sisters would return.
Mike (Froy Gutierrez) is a supporting character in the second film.
Mike is the boyfriend of Cassie Traske, and the main source of conflict between her and her two best friends Becca and Izzy. He is a popular student at Samuel Skelton High School, where he plays on the football team. He is also a fan of Halloween and likes to dress up in costumes; despite this he gets scared easily, as seen when he got freaked out when Becca whispered the names of vegan foods pretending it was an incantation and when he fainted upon seeing the headless Billy Butcherson.
Mike frequently offends others, mainly Becca and Izzy, by making fun of them without realizing this himself, thinking he's simply making conversation. When this was pointed out to him in the movie, he was visibly upset and said that he has so many people to apologize to.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)