Director: Kenny Ortega
Writers: David Kirschner, Mick Garris
Stars: Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy
1 Hour, 36 Minutes
Get it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2AFW8NC
Synopsis
It’s 1693 and there are witches in the area. A boy named Binx follows his young sister toward the pink smoke, and he finds a house with three witches inside. The young girl is inside as well; she’s their prisoner. The three Sanderson sisters, all witches, are working on a spell. The boy makes a rescue attempt, but Winnie shoots him with electricity. The witches suck out the girl’s life force, and they all get younger.
The witches decide to punish the boy by making him immortal… and a cat. Just then, the angry villagers arrive. It turns out this is Salem, and they hang the three witches. They vow to return.
We move to the present day, on Halloween. Legend says a black cat still guards the old Sanderson house, now a defunct museum. Max tells Allison that he doesn’t particularly care for Halloween. On the way home from school, some bullies steal his shoes. His little sister, Dani, wants him to take her trick-or-treating. While getting their candy, they run into the bullies again.
Max runs into Allison, and the group decides to go visit the Sanderson house, where the “witches” supposedly lived. The go inside the huge, old, completely unlocked house. It’s a former gift shop and museum that’s been closed for a long time. They find the old spell book that Winnie Sanderson used. Max suggests lighting the black-flame candle that is said to bring back the dead, and a black cat attacks him. He lights it anyway.
All the candles in the house spark to life. The three witches arrive. There’s a brief battle, and the kids all get away. The cat tells Max to grab the spell book before he leaves.
The witches try to pursue, and they get into a few comical time-traveling fish-out-of-water situations. Winnie explains that they need to make more of the immortality potion before sunrise, or they’ll all turn to dust.
The kids try to burn the book, but it’s protected by magic. The witches appear on their brooms. The witches raise the dead to get their book back. The kids hide out in an underground crypt while the witches go after other children, which are easy to find on Halloween.
The witches visit some guy dressed like the devil, and some kids steal their brooms. The kids tell a cop and their parents about the real witches, but naturally, no one believes them. When called out, Winnie and her sisters breaks into song, “I Put a Spell on You,” making it all look like an act. Of course, she really does put a spell on all of them. “Dance till you die!” She commands.
They wind up in the high school, where the kids trap the witches in a kiln and burn them up. Of course, they don’t stay dead. The witches run into the bullies from earlier and put them in cages. They don’t remember the ingredients for their potion, so they still need the book.
Allison and Max decide to cure Binx the cat by turning him human again. Opening the book alerts the witches to where they are hiding. The witches take the book and Dani as well. They need her for the life force. They sing a song that attracts other children to them as well.
Max and Allison drive to the witches’ house and rescue Dani and Binx. They all converge on the local cemetery, and there’s another battle. Max ends up drinking the potion, and the witches no longer care about Dani. Winnie starts to suck the life out of Max just as the sun comes up, turning her to stone and then exploding. Binx dies, releasing his spirit from the curse. Eventually, all the parents leave the dance, exhausted and not understanding what happened to them.
Commentary
The effects all look good, the broom-riding looked especially good. The witches ham it up and overact in every scene, which is hilarious. Still, these have to be the most incompetent witches ever. They had the book, the potion, and dozens of kids right outside their window, but no, they wanted to catch Binx for no particular reason.
Overall, I was entertained from start to finish, but I don’t quite understand the cult-like following the movie has developed over the years. It’s good, but not that good.