Hocus Pocus 2 is officially out on Disney+ , joining a long list of popular ’90s shows and movies that have been revived or rebooted .
As might be expected, there’s some serious fan service in the long-awaited sequel to the 1993 original . But even dedicated fans of Hocus Pocus might have missed a few of the details and Easter eggs present in the sequel .
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If you care about spoilers, you’re going to find a few here.
Let’s start at the beginning.
Perhaps the most obvious throwback scene is the first one in the film. Hocus Pocus showed a lingering aerial shot of Salem, while Hocus Pocus 2 did approximately the same thing, showing a sweeping view of the town as something flies across the screen.
Remember Book?
Book is the, uh, book that belongs to the Sanderson sisters and contains all of their spells. While we got to see a bit of Book in the original, he comes to be a major, much bigger part of the sequel.
Madonna is still a popular Halloween costume.
The original film showed Dani and Max’s mom dressed up as 1993-era Madonna for Halloween. In the sequel, you can briefly see one of the townspeople in essentially the same costume that she wore in the original.
The songs change, but the spells remain the same.
When the Sandersons need to put a large number of people into a trance, they perform a spell. In the original, they did “I Put a Spell on You,” while the sequel had them performing “One Way or Another.” But in both cases, they recited the same spell: “Ah say into pi alpha mabi upendi.”
Is Hocus Pocus-ception a thing?
If you’re trying to figure out the boundaries of the Hocus Pocus universe, it might be tough. At one point in Hocus Pocus 2 , a TV in the background can be seen showing… Hocus Pocus . It seems the movie exists in the universe of the sequel.
The devil horns make another cameo.
In Hocus Pocus , veteran actors Garry and Penny Marshall made a brief cameo, with Garry wearing a devil outfit. In the sequel, you can see a couple just behind Mayor Traske wearing a similar getup.
The sisters remember where they are and aren’t allowed.
At one point in the sequel, Winnie reads a spell, causing Sarah to note that they aren’t allowed in sacred places as a general rule. This is a callback to Thackery Binx telling them to hide in a graveyard in the original.
They finally get around to doing a calming circle.
In the first movie, Mary suggests that the sisters try forming a calming circle. In the sequel, Gilbert suggests the same thing — something that unnerves the sisters as they remember Mary’s original suggestion.
Sarah lost her good luck charm.
In Hocus Pocus 2 , the sisters return to their old haunt, which has been converted into a magic shop by Gilbert. Sarah notes that she can’t find her rat tails — while in the original, she found her rat tails right away.
The Sanderson sisters adapt to new technology.
In the original, the sisters use a modern (for the time) vacuum and mop in place of a traditional witch’s broomstick. In the sequel, they do the same thing, but updated for modern times. Mary uses a Roomba while Sarah is on a Swiffer.
There’s another callback to the original.
Once the high schoolers successfully summon the witches, Mary tells them about “boys in cages” and a “fake sunrise.” Viewers of the original will probably note that this is a reference to the events of the first film.
Gilbert didn’t forget the bullies.
A small scene in the original shows neighborhood bullies Jay and Ice making Gilbert give them his Halloween candy. In the sequel, he talks about how “a bunch of bullies stole all [his] candy” on Halloween of 1993.
Gilbert saw everything.
If you’ll recall, the original Hocus Pocus ended with the sisters vanishing at sunrise. In a flashback scene in the sequel, you can see that young Gilbert was there at the cemetery when it all went down back in 1993.
They directly reference the original.
A scene in the sequel shows Gilbert, who runs a magic shop in the witches’ old home, telling people that on Halloween 29 years ago, people saw the Sanderson sisters. Do the math and you’ll find that 29 years is the length of time in between the first and second movies.
Both movies start with a story.
The movies themselves tell the bigger story, of course, but both of them start with a character reciting a story to a rapt audience. In the original, Max and Alison’s teacher tells the spooky story of the Sanderson sisters, while Gilbert does the same in the sequel.
Their old house got a slight makeover.
If you’re wondering what happened to the Sanderson Witch Museum — the home of the sisters — in between the events of the original and those in the sequel, the answer is simple: it was converted from a museum into the Olde Salem Magic Shop.
The conjuring of the sisters is hinted at.
In the sequel, the Sanderson sisters aren’t a factor until they’re conjured back into existence by high schoolers Becca, Izzy, and Cassie. Eagle-eyed viewers might notice that Becca, Izzy, and Cassie are wearing colors that mirror those worn by the witches.
There’s a callback to one of the spells from the original.
Hocus Pocus 2 shows the young sisters tentatively trying out their first spell from Book, the “cat transformation spell.” This is the exact same spell that Winnie uses on Thackery Binx in an early scene from the original.
Mother Witch fills in a few details.
One of the new additions to the cast is Hannah Waddingham, who plays the character of Mother Witch. She provides an origin story for the Sanderson sisters, with a flashback scene showing her first encountering them as children.
Her costume also bears a striking resemblance to Dani’s costume in the first movie.
We finally get to see Billy Butcherson.
Billy, of course, was poisoned by Winnie Sanderson and died before the events of the first movie even took place. We saw him in his zombie form in the original, but not his living self. The sequel shows Billy in his living, non-zombified form.
