Hocus Pocus

Hocus Pocus (1993)

42 corrected entries

(15 votes)

Corrected entry: When Max is informing the people of Salem at the town hall that the Sanderson sisters have come back to life, Winifred replies by saying "Thank you Max". She was never formally introduced to Max, therefore, she most likely would not have known his name.

Correction: Max introduces himself as the "great and powerful Max" before setting off the sprinkler system.

Corrected entry: When the Sanderson Sisters first return to the house, Sister Sarah reaches up and finds her lucky rat tail just where she left it. It's been 300 years; the rat tail would have decomposed in that amount of time. It has been suggested that since she is a witch, she could have put a resistant spell on it. But we did not see her do that in the movie, and if we do not see it, we cannot use it to explain away the mistake. That "logic" could be used to explain away many of the mistakes caught by the audience.

Robert Sullinger

Correction: You state, "if we do not see it, we cannot use it to explain away the mistake." That's rubbish. In *certain* circumstances that's precisely what we the viewers must do - not everything must be seen onscreen. Sarah says, "My lucky rat tail! Just where I left it!" The fact is, in this particular instance, it actually makes perfect sense that the witch would have used a protective charm/spell on what she claims to be her lucky rat tail, so no harm would come to it.

Super Grover

Correction: Super Grover is right. Just because we don't see them do it isn't an excuse. In fact, we never saw her put the rat tail there (nor did she even mention it), and by that logic it would be a movie mistake for her just to have reached up and taken it. Watching any movie requires viewers to use a bit of their imagination or suspend disbelief but even more so in fantasy based films like this one.

dewinela

Corrected entry: In the scene near the end when the zombie is holding Max, he takes the knife from him and cuts open his mouth which had been sewed shut 300 years ago. As he does, you see moths fly out of his mouth. How could they get in his mouth if his mouth had been tightly sewed?

Azureth

Correction: Same way real insects get into human corpses. Other openings in the body such as the nose or after years of the flesh being fed on it would be easy for there to be an opening in his old skin.

Corrected entry: The sisters were only supposed to be back on Halloween night. When Max, Allison and Dani woke up it was November 1st, so the Sanderson sisters shouldn't have been alive.

Correction: It wasn't sunrise yet - Winifred said as soon as the sun comes up they're dust.

Joey221995

Corrected entry: After the kids talk to the fake cop about the Sanderson sisters, and the fake cop sends them on their way, he gets on his bike with his girlfriend, you hear the bike start before he turns the key.

Correction: That model of motorcycle was a kick-start, it didn't have a key. He was turning on his headlight after he started the bike.

Corrected entry: After the game sunrise scene, as the Ford Explorer screeches to a stop outside of the cemetery gates you can see it has California license plates, not Massachusetts.

Correction: They moved from California to Massachusetts, it was probably because they didn't change their car's registration over yet. As you can see in Max's room there is still a moving box out.

Corrected entry: When the Sanderson Sisters first return to the house, Sister Sarah reaches up and finds her Lucky Rat tail just where she left it. It's been 300 years; the Rat Tail would have decomposed in that amount of time.

Robert Sullinger

Correction: She's a witch, remember? Maybe she put a resistant spell on it.

Movie_Freak 1

Corrected entry: Just after the towns-people have hung the three witches, you can see the executioner walking away. The outfit he is wearing is leather and has some sort of metal spikes on it. This outfit is too modern for that particular time.

Correction: The scene is set in 1693. Studded leather armour was perfectly common in those days.

Corrected entry: The zombie gets his fingers chopped off by the motorcycle but he is never shown missing fingers at any time in the movie.

Correction: He simply reattached them, just as he is shown doing with his head after it gets knocked off by the tree branch. Since it has been established that he can reattach lost limbs, he is simply not shown putting his fingers back, as it is not necessary to show this ability every time it's used. Not a mistake.

Jazetopher

Corrected entry: After Max has drunk the potion at the end of the movie, he and Winifred Sanderson are fighting in the air and then both fall into the cemetery. However, the cemetery is hallowed ground, and according to the beginning of the movie, the Sanderson Sisters should technically not be able to set foot on the grounds.

Correction: That is why she turns to stone before she explodes and the other two just explode. She turns to stone because she stepped on hallowed ground.

I have been trying to figure this one out for a few years now and never thought of her turning to stone 1st. Makes sense. Thanks.

This is correct. The other two sisters do not turn to stone because they did not break the Hallowed ground rules. They just exploded because the candle's magic ended at dawn.

Correction: They weren't; it's hinted at in the opening scene that Sarah's song can awaken a child and draw them to her, hence what happened to Emily Binx.

Corrected entry: Throughout the movie, Binx the talking cat speaks with a British accent. The movie is set in Salem, Massachusetts. I know he is supposed to be from 1693, but I don't think many Americans were speaking with British accents. Even if he was originally from England, I'm sure after 300 years he would lose his accent. But seeing his father at the beginning of the movie spoke with an American accent, I doubt he's from England. So where did the accent come from?

kxj918zz

Correction: Define American accent. There are many different accents in the States, not including regional dialects. In 1693 people were most definitely speaking with British, as well as Scottish, German, Italian, Irish and many other accents. As for losing an accent, that isn't always so. My father still speaks with a slight German accent at 83 years old, 78 years spent speaking English predominantly. Some people pick up accents from people they associate with. I spent some time in Russia, and came back with a bit of Russian accent just from speaking English with people whose native tongue was Russian.

rswarrior

Corrected entry: Thackery Binx switches between a British accent and an American accent throughout the movie.

Correction: It's conceivable that someone who's been in America for 300 years would experience the changes in accent, and therefore lapse back and forth.

Corrected entry: Max just moved to Salem and all throughout his house we are shown stacks of cardboard boxes, indicating that this is the case as well. One problem: Max's room has no boxes whatsoever, and is completely unpacked, yet he was attending school, and would have had the least amount of time to unpack of the whole family, not to mention he is the only member of the family who is against moving there.

Jazetopher

Correction: It's an assumption that he wouldn't unpack for himself, or that his mother wouldn't do his room first to try to get him to feel more comfortable. I've gotten my bedroom set up in a day for a place I was entirely against moving to, so that I had my familiar items around me.

CocoCami

Corrected entry: Just before The Sanderson Sisters put the two bullies in the cages, the blonde boy says, "why is it always the ugly girls out late?" In the background you can see a crew member run out and adjust something on the lawn.

Correction: You are seeing teenagers picking up and tossing toilet paper while TP-ing the house, none of them are crew members.

Super Grover

Corrected entry: When Sarah is singing to enchant all the children of Salem, Dani didn't fall under the spell. She was the closest one to her so she must have heard the song.

Correction: Dani was already captured. The song is meant to lure the children to the house so the witches CAN capture them. Perhaps it's useless on Dani since the witches already got her.

Correction: That correction doesn't make a lot of sense. Why would Sarah adjust a widespread spell to enchant all the children except for Dani? It would be more logical to enchant Dani as well to make her compliant.

Sarah is a witch with powers of a siren. In mythology, while a siren's beautiful singing was often too luring to resist; it wasn't unheard-of for there to be some who were able to resist their song if the individual psychologically knew they were in mortal peril before the siren began to lure them. As Dani is very aware that Sarah is dangerous and not really going to "a land of enchantment"; it makes sense she would be able to resist Sarah's siren powers. Not unheard of when it comes to sirens.

Corrected entry: Sarah eats the spider when the witches are hiding behind the sign, and we can see her hands are empty, but when the three women approach the house, she stuffs the spider in her mouth again.

Correction: I always thought she ate half the spider, held onto the other half, then ate the rest of it. With the angle and size of the spider; it doesn't appear to confirm she ate the entire spider initially.

Corrected entry: When Max and Dani go into Allison's house, and she goes to get cider, when she comes back she says "by the way Dani, I love your costume." But Max doesn't introduce her other than "my sister" so how did Allison know her name?

Correction: As Allison is coming down the stairs she says that she didn't think Max was into Halloween. Max responds "I'm not, I'm just taking my little sister Dani around."

Corrected entry: There is a scene when Max and his girlfriend are awakening from their slumber to a room filled with early morning sunlight, but when they open Winifred's magic book, and the beam of light shoots from the rooftop, it is clearly still before dawn.

Correction: This is incorrect because there is nothing that suggests that it is morning sunlight on Max and Allison. It is just merely regular lighting that you need to be able to see them and could easily come from the full moon outside. Also when Allison wakes up she grabs the clock and states that it is 5 in the morning and as we know later in the movie the sun rises at 6 a.m. so it is still dark outside.

Corrected entry: When the witches are about to suck the life force from the girl at the beginning, you can see strands of energy moving towards the witches before they actually start inhaling.

Knever

Correction: They're not really breathing it in, in the literal sense, they're just absorbing her life energy into their own. It can be done just by thinking about it really hard, as was the case noted here. But the act of drawing breath helps them to focus their thoughts more effectively, speeding the process up considerably.

Phixius

More mistakes in Hocus Pocus

Winifred: You know, I've always wanted a child. And now, I think I'll have one...[screaming] ON TOAST!

Movie Nut

More quotes from Hocus Pocus

Trivia: The film is produced by David Kirschner, who also came up with the original story idea. Despite "Hocus Pocus" being a family-favorite, it's not Kirschner's first foray into something creepy and supernatural... he's also the main producer on all the "Chucky" movies (and the TV show), and even designed the Chucky and Tiffany dolls. It's pretty ironic... he's responsible for both delighting and terrifying 80's and 90's kids all over the world.

TedStixon

More trivia for Hocus Pocus

Question: If the witches were being hung outside the house when Winifred's book showed her how to cast the life spell, where did the black flame candle and its instructions come from?

Answer: They were set up, beforehand, just in case. Winnifred knew about the spell, but she didn't memorize the incantation. So she needed the book to see how to cast it.

Phixius

If you pause the movie, you will see that the book opened up to the Black Flame Candle spell.

More questions & answers from Hocus Pocus

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