Movies
Hocus Pocus 2: Teaser Trailer Breakdown and What We Know So Far

THE WITCHES ARE BACK!
It’s been almost thirty years since Hocus Pocus first premiered. The film starring Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker as the legendary Sanderson sister witches who are bent on stealing the lifeforce from children on All Hallow’s Eve is regarded as a Halloween classic.
Directed by Kenny Ortega, this movie still tops the charts for most-watched Halloween movies today. It has appeared on Eli Roth’s History of Horror, fourteen “Top 10” episodes of WatchMojo, and has dozens of lines that fans immediately recognize. After all, what Hocus Pocus fan doesn’t know the ending to the line, “Oh look, another glorious…”
While Max (Omri Katz), Dani (Thora Birch), and Allison (Vinessa Shaw) stole our hearts as the protagonists of the original film, we are ecstatic to see that Hocus Pocus 2 is finally on the horizon with new protagonists and a new story to tell, this time directed by Anne Fletcher.
While many details are still unknown, the recent release of a teaser trailer left us ecstatic and anxiously awaiting more. Let’s “form a calming circle” and break down the trailer moment by moment and see what it means for this highly anticipated sequel.
Will Hocus Pocus 2 Introduce a New Familiar?
The trailer opens with a scenic shot of a black bird with red and yellow plumage flying over the water. Immediately we are left to wonder if this peculiar bird will make more of an appearance in the sequel.
Remember, the first Hocus Pocus saw the assistance of Binx: the boy (Sean Murray), who was turned into an immortal, talking cat (Jason Marsden) by the witches. This cat served as the protagonists’ familiar. Given Thackery Binx’s transition into the spirit world at the end of Hocus Pocus, it begs the question of whether there will be a helpful animal friend for the adversaries of the Sanderson sisters once more.
Or could it be that Hocus Pocus would follow in the footsteps of other Disney counterparts such as Aladdin and Sleeping Beauty which see magical villains utilizing a bird as a companion? Will evil have a familiar of its own this time?
If that’s the case, the new protagonists undoubtedly have a difficult journey ahead.
Meeting New Characters
The next shot of the trailer sees the introduction of the sequel’s new protagonists. Pictured is Becca (Whitney Peak) and Izzy (Belissa Escobedo) standing by a bike rack in a schoolyard. In the background of the next shot, a partial name can be observed: “…Skelton High School”. Given that the original Hocus Pocus took place at Jacob Bailey High School, it seems our newcomers attend a different school. However, according to the synopsis, the story still takes place in Salem.
In the foreground of the shot, we are introduced to the third protagonist, Cassie (Lilia Buckingham), who wishes Becca a happy birthday.
“What are you guys going to do tonight?” she asks the girls.
Becca replies that they plan to binge scary movies, although the following scenes indicate otherwise.
The Next Generation of Salem Witches
The ensuing frames of the trailer follow Becca striking a match, bringing the flame to a candle nestled in the ground. She and Izzy are huddled around it, in the forest with a full moon glowing brightly in the background.
The shot cuts away, and shows the two girls in the daytime, walking their bikes to a Salem Magic Shoppe. Gilbert (Sam Richardson), who is presumably the shopkeeper, is on the screen, explaining:
“You know legend has it, on her sixteenth birthday is when a witch gets her powers.” A black cat is shown. (Are you my familiar?)
The spoken line at the magic shop reveals a huge plot point of this sequel: the emergence of another witch. Lest we forget that the original Hocus Pocus did not initially feature protagonists that had mystical forms of magick.
Old Magick vs New Magic
In the beginning, the protagonists of the original used the magic of technology to outsmart and confound the evil witches. Most notable examples of this came from:
- The scene where Max seemingly conjured fire in his hand via a lighter, which he then used to set off a sprinkler system he introduced as “the burning rain of death”.
- Then, who could forget the headlights that shone brightly as sunlight as Max proclaimed the witches forgot about Daylight Savings Time.
- Finally, the moment where a recording led the Sanderson sisters into a furnace, and they eventually emerged smoke-filled, saying “Hello, I want my book” in French:
“Bonjour. Je veux mon livre.”
For what it’s worth, these technological tricks only deterred the witches from their goal, they did not defeat them. The protagonist trio was not successful in stopping the witches until they began adapting facets of real magick. Examples of this were Allison utilizing a salt circle, the final fight taking place on hallowed ground, and Max using the witches’ life-force absorbing potion on himself.
It will be interesting to see if the characters of Hocus Pocus 2 will follow this same trend. As sci-fi writer and scientist Arthur C. Clarke famously once said: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” It was a combination of this technological “new magic” and tenets of old magick that defeated the Sanderson Sisters in the past.
If this is to be the case again, the new characters may have a leg up on the competition as technology has boomed significantly since the witches arose last, and the trailer already shows the protagonists’ propensity to practice old magick.
Witch Worlds Collide
In a voiceover, Becca and Izzy can be heard starting to chant:
“Another year begins anew…”
Then the eerie chants of the Sanderson sisters can be heard:
“Itch-it-a-cop-ita mel-a-ka-mystica”
If you can’t quite put your finger on how that’s familiar, the first time it was heard was during Binx’s curse in the first Hocus Pocus:
“Twist the bones and bend the back.
Itch-it-a-cop-ita mel-a-ka-mystica.
Trim him of his baby fat
itch-it-a-cop-ita mel-a-ka-mystica
Give him fur black as black
Just like…this.”
The girls’ chant continues: “Maiden, mother, and crone too”.
“Itch-it-a-cop-ita mel-a-ka-mystica”
What better an object to make an appearance during all this spellcasting than the Sanderson’s book of magic. While shown only briefly, its stunning resolution and lifelike quality clearly reflect this digital era. The book’s bright blue eye is open once more.
In the next shot, a book is seen shaking on a shelf, with the black cat from before eyeing it closely. Could it be that the Sanderson’s magic book made its way into the Salem Magic Shoppe?
“We call on thee with one request…” the girls’ spell continues. This time, the dialogue is no longer a voice-over. We are taken back to the shot of Becca and Izzy in the woods under a full moon as before, and it’s revealed that this is where they are as they are chanting their spell.
A zoomed-out shot of a church within a cemetery is followed by the close-up of a grave that Hocus Pocus fans will recognize immediately.
“Itch-it-a-cap-ita mel-a-ka-mystika”
“Here lies the body of William Butcherson”
According to the cast list, Doug Jones will be reprising his role as the former love, and victim of Winifred Sanderson: Billy, in Hocus Pocus 2.
The camera flashes back to the girls in the woods as they conclude their spell:
“Help our intentions manifest.”
Just then, the iconic black flame candle bursts to life as Becca’s match ignites it. The girls seem startled by the black of the candle flame and immediately jump back.
This Halloween season, a title card begins.
A shot of the girls staring off into the woods, looking confused or concerned. Followed by another shot, this time of a strong wind blowing the candle flame, and billowing leaves around it. Red smoke begins to emit from the earth near the candle, as the girls are left looking stricken.
Some legends….
The Earth splits, revealing a red glow emanating from within. The girls begin running, as the crack in the Earth outstretches in the opposite direction. It continues to spread until it finally forks into three, forming a pitchfork shape on the ground.
(Given the incorporation of real magickal practice (chanting on a full moon, manifestation, etc.) the pitchfork shape could very well represent the Algiz rune. It aligns with the potential theme of discovering oneself and awakening powers.)
….never die, the title cards continue.
Then the screen goes to black, and the unmistakable, immediately recognizable voice of the great Bette Midler in her role as Winifred Sanderson can be heard.
The Return of the Sanderson Sisters
“Lock up your children!” Winifred Sanderson commands. It is then, through the flashes of strobing light that we are finally given a glimpse of the Sanderson sisters, just as glorious as ever.
“Yes Salem, we’re back!” exclaims Winifred, as the screen fades into green smoke.
As viewers may be aware, Disney tends to use green when representing a villain. How perfect that this callback to villain themes would be immediately succeeded by the title card reading “Disney’s Hocus Pocus 2”.
The same frame also informs us that the film will be available for streaming on September 30th.
Though the trailer is almost over, there is one more morsel of information it offers before it ends.
Another Hocus Pocus song?
A man who seems to be speaking to a security guard appears on the screen, proclaiming, “Hey, it’s the Sanderson sisters! I bet you’re looking for a stage.”
“Always,” replies Winifred Sanderson, absolutely smoldering.
This moment immediately brings to mind the Sanderson sisters’ Halloween performance in Hocus Pocuswhere they hypnotized all the town’s adults to dance until they were dead via the fantastic performance of “I Put a Spell on You.”
(Dancing until death has historical roots, most notably in The Dancing Plague of 1518 where people of the ancient city of Strasbourg began dancing inexplicably for months. Hundreds joined in this dance against their will and danced until they finally dropped from exhaustion. Although the potential causes range from hysteria to mold, no one can definitively explain why this phenomenon has occurred in the past.)
Since Max, Dani, and Allison were able to break the curse by defeating the witches, the adults survived and were left only with the memory of the epic song cover, coupled with a “marvelous introduction” by Max.
The moment in the trailer hopefully means that Hocus Pocus 2 will have its own music numbers, as Sarah Jessica Parker’s “Come Little Children” from the original Hocus Pocus is also a stand-out hit from the film.
It’s worth noting that the cast list shows drag performers Ginger Minj, Kahmora Hall, and Kornbread Jete are slotted to play drag versions of Winifred, Sarah, and Mary, respectively. Therefore, it is a possibility that the man in the trailer could have been mistaking the real Winifred Sanderson for the drag version, hence explaining his comment.
No matter the case, it seems that Bette Midler is poised to take the stage in Hocus Pocus 2, and historically that means greatness is sure to follow.
What’s more, is that Hannah Waddingham is slotted to play a role in the film. However, mysteriously, she is neither featured in the trailer nor is her character name listed on the IMDb cast list.
With three months to go until this film’s release, this teaser trailer gave us so much and so little simultaneously. September 30th can’t come soon enough.
Movies
The Best Horror You Can Stream on Shudder in February 2025
The Shudder February lineup is after my heart. Obviously, the app is adding more 2024 titles like The Dead Thing and Little Bites. However, they are also adding so many cool movies I have been dying to make my friends watch these last few years. There are some films guaranteed to make some heads roll alongside some cute vampire rom-coms hitting the horror streamer this month, and I cannot wait to revisit each title. Check out the five movies I’m highlighting this year, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! So here are the best movies to stream on Shudder this February!

The Shudder February lineup is after my heart. Obviously, the app is adding more 2024 titles like The Dead Thing and Little Bites. However, they are also adding so many cool movies I have been dying to make my friends watch these last few years. There are some films guaranteed to make some heads roll alongside some cute vampire rom-coms hitting the horror streamer this month, and I cannot wait to revisit each title. Check out the five movies I’m highlighting this year, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
The Best Movies to Stream on Shudder This Month
The Coffee Table (2022)
A couple of new parents experiencing a rough patch decide to buy a coffee table, not knowing that the decision will alter their lives forever. The Coffee Table was one of my favorite movies of last year, and it is one of those titles you want to know as little as possible when you hit play. It is the bleakest and most stressful comedy I have seen in years, and I love it. This one goes out to my fellow sickos (complimentary). Please watch it the day it hits Shudder before the internet can ruin it for you.
You can watch The Coffee Table on February 24th.
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (2024)
A young vampire who is too sensitive to kill for her supper meets a young loner with suicidal tendencies. What starts as a transactional relationship soon blossoms into an unexpected friendship. This movie is much cuter than I like my vampire movies. However, it is still a nice time for those looking to fill the void left by What We Do in the Shadows ending. It’s also not the worst romantic horror movie we have ever seen. I had very few notes for it in my review, and I know it made it onto quite a few top 10 lists of last year.
You can watch Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person on February 10th.
My Animal (2023)
An outcast falls for a new girl in her small town, which makes it difficult to keep her darkest secret hidden. My Animal is a severely overlooked lesbian werewolf tale. It has been stuck in streamer purgatory for years, so finally finding a streaming home is a big deal. This moody story stars Bobbi Salvör Menuez and Amandla Stenberg and deserves your attention. It belongs somewhere between Ginger Snaps and Good Manners in the women werewolves we must celebrate. Make this feral love story a date night this winter, preferably during a full moon.
You can watch My Animal on February 1st.
Nightsiren (2022)
A woman returns to her birthplace, searching for answers to questions about her childhood. However, she is met with ancient superstitions and a community accusing her of witchcraft and murder. Nightsiren has been on my radar for a couple of years and is the only movie I have not seen. I love that Shudder is letting me find out if it’s as good as it looks this February. Worst-case scenario, I can say that I watched a Slovak-Czech feminist psychological horror this month, and that feels like a win.
You can watch Nightsiren on February 10th.
Tiger Stripes (2024)
An 11-year-old discovers the body horror of puberty as her body begins to change. Gothic horror is out, and menstruation is in because Tiger Stripes is the kind of period horror we need more of in the world. I fell for this cute little movie during a festival a couple of years ago and am so glad it has finally made its way to Shudder. It’s funny and very relatable. It is also a new genre entry destigmatizing the menses, and we need more movies in this subgenre. So, while you should watch it with as many people as possible, it’s also a delightful brunch body horror moment.
You can watch Tiger Stripes on February 24th.
It seems like Shudder has read my diary and added titles that I need the rest of you to see. I hope you check out these tales of lesbian werewolves, fun period horror, and everything between this February. You truly deserve cool new stories by cool new filmmakers, and that is exactly what the streamer is giving us almost weekly this month. What a time to be a subscriber!
Movies
Revisiting The Stepfather Films (And The Insane Real Crime Spree That Inspired Them)

We all have one person in our lives who carries everything on their backs. It could be a family member whose work ethic shocks everyone around them or a friend juggling dozens of projects at once and still managing to get everything done just right. Thankless individuals who go unrecognized, but sometimes, that person ends up getting the spotlight they deserve.
To me, the Stepfather series is the perfect example of that in cinematic terms.
The Stepfather, directed by Joseph Ruben in 1987, is the first in a small franchise of horror films that feels pretty forgotten in the grand scheme of 80s slashers and thrillers. But the film is a really interesting study of how one actor can take a role and make it their own, in a way that’s so compelling it makes you want to see more of that character even when the movies he’s in are kind of mediocre.
ODDLY MEMORABLE FOR A FORGOTTEN FRANCHISE
As the cultural conversation of the era has turned into a lot of circular discourse about how much better effects were back then and how unproven concepts made it to the screen more often, it should be easy to forget a psychological horror film with such a simple premise: what if your stepfather you hated was actually a freaky serial killer who was going to take your family out? From that premise sprung an unexpectedly great film, carried entirely by its lead actor.
I have a weird connection to The Stepfather because it was written by Richard Stark, who wrote one of my favorite crime stories of all time: The Hunter. I didn’t even know Richard Stark was only a pseudonym until I watched The Stepfatherand discovered it was writer Donald E. Westlake’s pen name. And Westlake’s proficiency with crime fiction translates here smoothly, because he took a horrifying real-life story of absolute evil (straight out of Westfield, New Jersey) and brought it to the screen with a true-to-life character.
THE CRIMINAL BEHIND THE STEPFATHER SERIES
The real-life killer behind The Stepfather films was John List. To most people, he was a family man, living the dream with his wife and three children. He was a banker, hard-working and clean living, on the outside at least. He had a close relationship with many of the people in the Lutheran church he attended every Sunday, and was well-liked. But in reality, List was about to become one of the most infamous mass murderers in American history.
Behind the scenes, List was struck with financial trouble after financial trouble that exacerbated his already worsening mental health problems. A number of layoffs and setbacks left him and his family teetering on the brink of poverty despite the fact they lived in a 19-room mansion (I couldn’t even begin to explain how that works, don’t ask). List’s relationship with his wife was damaged by her spending habits, alcoholism, and deteriorating mental state due to untreated syphilis.
He was left to “raise” three children, whom he was verbally and physically abusive to; his daughter Patricia even warned her drama coach that she was certain her father was going to kill her. Then her father actually sat all the kids down and told them they should prepare to die. And eventually, Patricia, her mother and grandmother, and both of her brothers became List’s victims in 1971.
List left his car in long-term parking at JFK International and disappeared with almost nothing in his name. Leaving a confession for his pastor behind in the form of a letter, it took weeks for neighbors to report the family’s disappearance, thanks to List’s meticulous planning. He had already slipped through the hands of the police by running from state to state, before eventually settling down into a new persona: Robert Clark. He eventually “fell in love” with a woman named Delores Miller, and the two moved to Virginia together soon after that.
Their relationship ended abruptly after an episode of America’s Most Wanted aired, in which famous forensic artist Frank Bender made an incredibly accurate sculpt of what List looked like at the time. After years of close calls and narrow captures, List was discovered. It took 17 and a half years for List to be caught. He was sentenced to five consecutive life sentences and died in jail in 2008.
THE ACTOR WHO GAVE LIFE TO THE STEPFATHER SERIES
Now, I mention all of this above to punctuate one thing: The Stepfather isn’t the only fictionalized retelling of List’s story, but it is the most effective. Its opening scene is a gruesome recounting of List’s disaffected disappearance, how he slipped off to freedom, to an alternate life of his own design for nearly two decades, with little emotion at all. It opens on a mystery—what kind of man is he, if he is human at all? How does one simply walk away from a crime scene so calm and collected?
Because at the heart of the List case is the intensely intriguing and horrifying persona that is John List. To adapt that kind of personality, that deeply unhinged and deceptive person, is the kind of acting challenge many actors would pounce on immediately. And for horror fans, an unlikely hero stepped up to the plate: Terry O’Quinn. He’s best known for playing John Locke on the show Lost, but he’s also a quintessential “that one guy” character actor; he’s been in so many films and television shows you can probably throw a dart in any direction and hit his filmography.
I don’t know if I’d go so far as to call the first two Stepfather movies iconic (entertaining, definitely). Still, our main man Terry O’Quinn is incredibly iconic in his performance of Jerry Blake. O’Quinn really does enthrall you, and he’s an actor to beat when it comes to depicting someone slowly unraveling and releasing bursts of madness along the way like solar flares on a star’s surface. And I don’t just say that because he bears a bizarre resemblance to an older Anthony Starr.
He even almost tricks you into thinking Jerry’s moments of manufactured sweetness and maudlin family-man aesthetic are genuine, but then you remember what you’re watching and go right back to hating him with a passion. He is a quintessential horror movie villain because you despise him, but you’re transfixed by him.
He’s an emotionally disturbed con man, a parasite who can worm his way into a new skin with sociopathic ease. And when it all comes crashing down, to the point where even he isn’t sure what role he’s supposed to play for his fake family, its fantastic. With a line as simple as, “Wait a minute, who am I here?”, O’Quinn cemented himself as the definitive depiction of the character.
WHY EACH OF THE STEPFATHER FILMS IS WORTH WATCHING
As I said, these films are far from perfect, but each one brings something a little new and different to the table. It’s fun to see O’Quinn return to the role in Stepfather 2, playing opposite of the legendary Caroline Williams and Meg Foster; a psycho-slasher finale at a wedding is just hard to beat. Stepfather 3 brings a surprisingly good changing of hands to the title role, though, since despite O’Quinn being replaced by Robert Wightman, Wightman brings just the right kind of energy to the role; he’s the perfect fit for the much campier and goofier tone of the 3rd film, and I was honestly very impressed with how he brought the role to life. But be warned: don’t bother with the remake. It is borderline bloodless, and incredibly boring. You can put a million Penn Badgley’s in that film, I’m not watching it again.
The Stepfather films aren’t anyone’s favorite of the many horror fans I’ve met and spoken with. But they are a capsule of how one artist can have enough staying power to keep them in your mind. So, for all my people out there who are going to check the trilogy out now thanks to this article: happy watching horror fans, and have fun!