Hocus Pocus
(Salem Village – 1693)
(A young boy, Thackary Binx is awakened in the morning for no reason. He looks around the room for his sister, Emily.)
Thackary: Emily? Emily?!
(From outside he can hear the sultry voice of Sarah Sanderson singing to the children of the village.)
Sarah: (singing) Come little children, I’ll take thee away, into a land of enchantment…
Thackary: (going outside) Emily?
Sarah: (singing) Come little children, the times come to play…
Thackary: Elijah! Elijah, has thou seen my sister, Emily?
Elijah: Nay, but look. (he points to the Sanderson cottage in the woods where smoke comes from the chimney.) They conjure.
(Thackary looks and sees Emily following Sarah into the woods.)
Thackary: Oh God, the woods! (he runs closer to the edge of the village) Emily!
Elijah: She’s done for.
Thackary: (grabs Elijah by the shirt) Not yet! You wake my father! Summon the others! Go!!
(Thackary follows Emily into the woods.)
Thackary: Emily!!
(Woods)
(Thackary manages to fall down several hills and wade through shallow creeks to get to the Sanderson home.)
(Sanderson Cottage)
Sarah: Come child.
(Emily follows Sarah into the house. Thackary looks in the window and sees Emily surrounded by the Sanderson Sisters, Sarah, Mary, and Winifred. Winifred is the leader of the sisters, she has red hair and dresses in shades of green. Mary is next, she’s a little on the plump side. She has black hair and dresses in shades of red. Sarah, is the final sister, and she seems a little ditzy. She has blonde hair and dresses in shades of purple. They are all slightly old. Emily spots him and sits up. The sisters turn to the window but Thackary ducks out of sight. Sarah and Mary go and look out the front door to look for Thackary, but he’s hiding and they can’t see him. Winifred throws open a window and looks around.)
Winifred: Oh look, another glorious morning. (pause) Makes me sick! Sisters!
Sarah: Yes Winnie?
Mary: Coming Winnie. Right away. Sorry.
Winifred: Must have been an imp. (goes over to her spell book and talks to it like a child) My darling, my little book. We must continue with our spell now that our guest of honor has arrived. Wake up. Wake up, darling. (the book wakes up) Yes, well come along. There you are. Mary!
Mary: Right here, Winnie. Right here. Sorry.
Winifred: (to book) Hello, hello.
Mary: I notice sister Sarah isn’t helping.
Sarah: I lured the child here.
Winifred: (grabs Mary’s ear) Leave her be, she has done her chore. (let’s go of Mary’s ear.)
Mary: You’re right, I’m wrong. (She and Sarah make faces at each other.)
Winifred: All right. ‘Tis time! (the book opens and flips itself to a certain page) There it is. (reading from book) 'Bring to a full rolling bubble. Add two drops oil of boil. (she moves to pick up the oil of boil but Mary is there before her)
Mary: I got it. It’s heavy. You do that, I’ll do this. (she adds the oil of boil to the cauldron)
Winifred: Six, but the hour with the herb that’s red. Turn three times, pluck a hair from my head.
(Thackary sneaks inside the cottage and watches the witches from the second floor landing.)
Winifred: Add a dash of fox and a dead man’s toe. Oh, a dead man’s toe and make it a fresh one.
Sarah: Dead man’s toe. (Begins singing about the dead man’s toe.)
Mary: (walks up with a bowl of toes and sniffs one) Fresh one. (she tosses it into the cauldron)
(Then Mary and Sarah begin tossing toes at each other. Finally Winifred has had enough and steps in to stop them.)
Winifred: Will you two stop that? I need to concentrate.
Mary: Sorry. (to Sarah) She needs to concentrate. (She pauses and takes a sniff of the air. She can smell Thackary.)
Winifred: (to herself) Newt saliva.
Mary: I smell a child.
Winifred: What doest thou call that? (points to Emily)
Mary: A child?
Winifred: Hah! Sisters, gather round. One thing more and all is done, add a bit of thine own tongue.
(They each take a bite of their tongues and spit them into the cauldron.)
Mary: Oh, Winnie, thou art divine.
Winifred: ‘Tis ready for tasting. (takes a spoon and dips it in the potion) One drop of this and her life will me mine. (pause) I mean, ours. (to Emily while walking towards her with the spoon) All right, girl. Open up your mouth.
Thackary: No!
(The sisters look up in surprise.)
Sarah: A boy!
Winifred: Get him you fools!
Mary: I got him! I knew I smelled a boy!
(Thackary manages to escape them and runs over to the cauldron.)
Winifred: Get away from my potion. (Thackary turns the cauldron over, and the potion spills out.) Ahhh! My potion!!
Thackary: Emily!!
(Thackary almost reaches his sister but Winifred hits him with blasts of electricity and he drops to the ground.)
Mary: Winnie? Winnie, look.
(Mary points at Emily who has somehow ingested some of the potion. Emily’s life force is glowing around her.)
Winifred: Sisters, prepare thyselves. ‘Tis her life force. The potion works. Take my hands, we will share her!
Mary: Oh Winnie, how generous of thee.
(The go over to Emily and begin to suck away her life force. When they are through Emily has grown very old and died. The sisters, however, are much younger now.)
Winifred: Sisters, behold!
Sarah: I am beautiful! Boys will love me!
Mary: We’re young! (claps her hands)
Winifred: Well, younger. But it’s a start! Sisters!
(The sisters begin to do a little dance.)
Mary: Winifred, thou art a mere spring of a girl.
Winifred: Liar. But I shall be a spring forever once I suck the lives out of all the children of Salem. (spots Thackary) Let’s view another batch.
Thackary: You hag! There are not enough children the world to make thee young and beautiful.
Winifred: Hag?
Mary: Uh oh.
Winifred: Sisters, did you hear what he called you? Whatever shall we do with him?
Mary: Let’s Bar-B-Q and filet him.
Sarah: Hang him on a hook, and let me play with him.
Winifred: No! Book. Darling, come to mommy. Yes. (the books floats over to her) His punishment must be more foolsome. More lingering. (to book) Dazzle me, my darling. (The book flips open to some pages) Amnesia, bunions, chill breaks, cholera. We can do better than that I think. (the books flips again.) Yes, let’s see what we have…oh! Perfect. (she shuts the book and hands it to Mary) As usual. His punishment shall not be to die, but to live forever with his guilt.
Sarah & Mary: As what, Winnie? As what?
Winifred: Jump back! (They do and she begins a spell. Sarah and Mary say some magick mumbo jumbo in the background.) Twist the bones the back. Trim him of his baby fat. Give him fur black as black. Just…
Mary: Like…
Sarah: This.
(They each hold their hands over Thackary and he begins to groan with pain. He shrinks down and we see that he has been turned into a black cat. Sarah goes to pet him and he swats at her. The others laugh. Suddenly there is a pounding at the front door. The other villagers have arrived.)
Man: Open! Witches! Daughters of Darkness!! Open this door.
Winifred: Hide the child.
(Mary covers Emily with a shawl.)
Mary: Witches? There be no witches here sir.
Winifred: Don’t get your knickers in a twist. We are just three kindly old spinster ladies.
Mary: Spending a quiet evening at home.
Sarah: Sucking the lives out of little children.
(Winifred grabs her and tries to choke her.)
(Time Lapse)
(The villagers now have the sisters out by a tree. The sisters have nooses around their necks, and are standing on barrels.)
Mr. Binx: Winifred Sanderson?
Winifred: Yes?
Mr. Binx: I will ask thee one final time.
Winifred: Yes?
Mr. Binx: What has thou done with my son, Thackary?
Winifred: Thackary? (thinks about it)
Mr. Binx: Answer me!
Winifred: Well, I don’t know. Cat’s got my tongue. (She and her sisters have a good laugh.)
Sarah: (in regards to the noose) This is terribly uncomfortable.
Winifred: Sisters, sing.
(The sisters begin to sing, but I can’t really make out what they’re saying.)
Mr. Binx: Cover your ears! Listen to them not!
(A man holding the ‘book’ throws it down to cover his ears and the book lands right at Winifred’s feet. It opens up and she sees the spell that it revealed to her.)
Winifred: Fools! All of you! My ungodly book speaks to you. On All Hallow’s Eve when the moon is around, a virgin shall summon us from under the ground. Oh, we shall be back. And the lives of all the children shall be mine.
(Mr. Binx gives the signal and the barrels that the sisters are standing on are kicked out from under them. Thackary, now a cat, goes over to his father and rubs against his leg.)
Mr. Binx: Away! Away beast!
(Thackary gives a mournful meow.)
Woman: (voice over) Poor Thackary Binx, neither his father, his mother, nor anyone else every knew what became of him, those 300 years ago.
(Salem, Massachusetts – 1993)
(Classroom)
(A room full of High School students sit listening to the teacher as she tells them about the Sanderson sisters.)
Teacher: And so the Sanderson sisters were hanged by the Salem town folk. Now there are those who say, that on Halloween night, a black cat still guards the old Sanderson House. Warning off any who might make the witches come back to life.
Max: Give me a break.
(Max is your average teenager. He’s got brown hair and brown eyes and wears a tie-dyed t-shirt.)
Teacher: Uh huh. We seem to have a skeptic in our midst. Mr. Dennison, would you care to give your California, laid back, tie-dyed point of view?
(The class laughs.)
Max: Okay. Granted that you guys here in Salem are all into these black cats and witches and stuff…
Teacher: Stuff?
Max: Fine. But everyone here knows that Halloween was invented by the candy companies. It’s a conspiracy.
Allison: It just so happens that Halloween is based on the ancient feast called All Hallow’s Eve. It’s the one night of the year where the spirits of the dead can return to Earth.
(The class cheers and claps, and so does the teacher.)
Teacher: Well said, Allison.
(Max gets up and goes over to Allison with a piece of paper in his hand.)
Max: (hands Allison the paper) Well in case Jimmy Hendrix shows up tonight, here’s my number.
(The class groans and whistles. The bell rings. Allison takes the paper, and then gets up and leaves.)
Boy: Max, fat chance.
(Max grabs his stuff and runs out of the room.)
(School Yard)
(Max is on his bike heading home and he spots Allison so he heads over to her.)
Max: Allison.
Allison: Hi.
Max: Hi. Look, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to embarrass you in class.
Allison: You didn’t.
Max: My name’s Max Dennison.
Allison: Yeah, I know. You just moved here, huh?
Max: Yeah, last week.
Allison: Must be a big change for you.
Max: Yeah, that’s for sure.
Allison: You don’t like it here?
Max: Oh, the leaves are great, but…I don’t know, it’s just all this Halloween stuff.
Allison: You don’t believe in it?
Max: What do you mean, like the Sanderson sisters? No way.
Allison: Not even on Halloween?
Max: (smiles) Especially not on Halloween!
Allison: (holds up a piece of paper) Trick or treat!
(She hands him the paper and walks off. He opens it only to see that she’s written down his phone number and given it back to him.)
(Shots of Max riding home.)
(Cemetery)
(Max rides through the graveyard and he runs into two other High School kids.)
Kid1: Halt! Who are you?
Max: Max. I just moved here.
Kid1: From where?
Max: Los Angeles. (They give him a blank look.) L.A.
Kid1: Oh, dude…
Kid2: Tubular.
Kid1: I’m Jay, this is Ernie.
Ernie: (grabs Jay) How many times I gotta tell you…my name ain’t Ernie no more, it’s Ice. Ice.
Jay: This is Ice.
(Ice turns around and we see that the word ‘ICE’ has been cut into the back of his hair.)
Jay: So, let’s have a butt.
Max: No thanks, I don’t smoke.
Ice: They’re very health conscious in Los Angeles.
(Both he and Jay laugh.)
Jay: You got any cash…Hollywood?
Max: No.
Ice: Gee, we don’t get any smokes from you, we don’t get any cash, what am I supposed to do with my afternoon.
Max: Maybe you could learn to breathe through your nose.
(Jay thinks this is hilariously funny and busts out laugh. He stops when Ice gives him a hard look.)
Jay: (looking at Max’s shoes) Whoa. Check out the new cross trainers.
Ice: Cool. Let me try ‘em on.
(Max goes to leave but Jay stops him.)
(Time Lapse)
(Max is now riding off but he’s not wearing his shoes anymore.)
Jay: Later, dude!
Ice: See you, Hollywood.
(Max’s House)
(Max arrives home and slams into the house. His parents are downstairs unpacking.)
Mom: Hey Max, how was school?
Max: It sucked.
Dad: Hey, hey watch your language.
Max: (storming upstairs) I can’t believe you made me move here!!
Mom: He wasn’t wearing any shoes.
Dad: Well, must be some form of protest.
(Max’s Room)
(Max goes in and feeds his fish. It appears that someone is watching him from the closet.)
Max: (to fish) Hey guys. (goes and lays down on the bed) Oh…(to himself while holding a pillow)…oh Allison. You’re so soft, I just wanna hug…
(Suddenly Max’s little sister, Dani, bursts out of the closet.)
Dani: Boo!
Max: Danny!
Dani: (laughs) I scared you. I scared you! Ha ha! (she jumps on the bed) I’m Allison. Allison. Kiss me, I’m Allison.
Max: Mom and Dad told you to stay out of my room!
Dani: Don’t be such a crab. (jumping on bed) Guess what?! You’re gonna take me trick-or-treating.
Max: Not this year, Dani.
Dani: Mom said you have to.
Max: Well she can take you.
Dani: She and Dad are going to the party at Town Hall.
Max: Well you’re eight, go by yourself. (he goes over to his drum kit and starts playing)
Dani: No way! This is my first time! I’ll get lost. Besides, it’s a full moon outside. The weirdo’s are out! (goes over and gives him a hug) Come on, Max. Couldn’t you forget about being a cool teenager for one night? Please! Come on, we used to have so much fun together trick-or-treating. Remember? It’ll be like old times.
Max: Dani, the old days are dead.
Dani: It doesn’t matter what you say, you’re taking me.
Max: Wanna bet?!
Dani: (screaming) MOM!!
(Time Lapse)
(Dani comes bounding down the stairs with Max following sulkily.)
Dad: Let’s go, hurry up. The bewitching hour’s about to begin. (to Dani) That’s very scary, wow! (to Max) What about you, Max, what are you supposed to be?
Max: (deadpan) A rap singer.
Dad: Oh, well your hat should be on sideways shouldn’t it. (turns Max’s hat)
Mom: (with camera) Say Halloween.
Dani & Dad: Halloween!
(Mom takes the picture.)
(Salem Common)
(Max is carting Dani around to different houses so she can go trick-or-treating. The people in Salem obviously love Halloween and it’s obvious in all the decorating that they do.)
Dani: Lighten’ up, Max.
Max: Can we go home now?
Dani: No.
(Max spots Jay and Ice and some of their friends harassing the kids passing by for candy.)
Max: Let’s just go this way. (Dani heads straight for Ice and Jay, ignoring Max.) Dani!
Ice: Ding ding. Ding ding. (hold up his leg so Dani can’t pass)
Jay: Stop and pay the toll, kid.
Ice: Ten chocolate bars, no licorice.
Jay: Dump our your sack!
Dani: Drop dead, moron.
Ice: Yo, twerp. How’d you like to be hung off hat telephone pole?
Dani: I’d just like to see you try it. Cause it just so happens I’ve got my big brother with me. Max!
(Jay and Ice are not impressed by this. Max walks up.)
Ice: Hollywood. Oh no.
Jay: So you’re doing a little trick-or-treating?
Max: I’m taking my little sister around.
Jay: That’s nice. Whoa, I love the costume. But what are you supposed to be? A New Kid on the Block?
Dani: For your information, he’s a little leaguer!
Jay: Whoa, little leaguer!
(He and Ice fake a baseball play. Dani tries to walk by again.)
Ice: Wait a minute. Everyone pays the toll.
Dani: Stuff it, zit face.
Ice: Why you little…(move to hit Dani but Max steps in the way)
Max: Hey, Ice…(shoves a bag of candy at him) Here. Pig out. Come on Dani, let’s go.
(Max and Dani walk off.)
Ice: And Hollywood…the shoes fit great.
(House)
(Max and Dani walk up the steps to another house for more candy.)
Dani: You should have punched them.
Max: They would have killed me.
Dani: At least you would have died like a man.
Max: Hey! You just humiliated me in front of half the guys at school! So collect your candy and get out of my life!
Dani: I wanna go home! Now! (she storms off)
(Max rushes off after her.)
(Another House)
(Dana has stopped and sat down on a hay pile in front of another house.)
Max: Dani, I’m sorry. It’s just that I hate this place. I miss all my friends. I wanna go home.
Dani: Well this is your home now, so get used to it.
Max: Yeah. Give me one more chance?
Dani: Why should I?
Max: Cause I’m your big brother. (Dani laughs and they hug. Max looks up at the sky.) Whoa, did check that out.
Dani: What?
Max: Something just flew across the moon.
(Dani looks up and Max jumps at her and scares her a bit. They both laugh.)
Dani: Let’s go, jerk face.
(They turn and look at the house, only it’s a mansion.)
Both: Whoa!
Max: Check out this house.
Dani: Ah, rich people. They’ll probably make us drink cider and bob for apples.
(They nod to each other and go into the house.)
(Foyer)
Dani & Max: Trick-or-treat?!
(They spot a huge cauldron full of candy and go over to it.)
Dani: Jackpot!
Allison: Max Dennison.
(Max looks up and spots Allison dressed in Victorian garb standing on the second floor landing.)
Max: Allison!
Dani: Oh, Allison, huh?
Allison: I thought you weren’t into Halloween.
Max: I’m not, I’m just taking my little sister, Dani, around.
Allison: Well that’s nice.
Max: I always do it.
Dani: My parents made him.
Allison: Do you guys want some cider?
Dani: No.
Max: Sure!
(Allison goes to get two cups of cider. One for her and one for Max. She comes back and hand the other cup to Max.)
Max: Thanks. So, um, how’s the party?
Allison: Boring. It’s just a bunch of my parent’s friends. They do this every year. I’ve got candy duty. By the way, Dani, I love your costume.
Dani: Thank you. I really like yours too. Of course, I couldn’t wear anything like that because I don’t have any…what do you call them Max…yaboos? (Max chokes on his cider, while Allison laughs.) Max likes your yaboos. In fact, he loves ‘em.
Allison: I’m really into witches.
Dani: Really? Me too. We just learned about those sisters in school.
Allison: Oh, you mean the Sanderson sisters? (Dani nods) I know all about them, my Mom used to run the museum.
Dani: There’s a museum about ‘em?
Allison: Yeah, but they shut it down because a lot of spooky things happened there.
Max: Well, why don’t we go to this old Sanderson house? (Dani shakes her head no, Allison looks at him.) Well come on, make a believer out of me.
Allison: Okay, let me change. They’ll never miss me. (she goes upstairs)
Dani: Max, I’m not going up there. My friends at school told me all about that place. It’s weird.
Max: Dani, this is the girl of my dreams.
Dani: So, take her to the movies like a normal person.
Max: Dani! Look, just do this one thing for me and I’ll do anything you say. Please? Please?!
Dani: Okay, okay. Next year we go trick-or-treating as Wendy and Peter Pan, with tights, or it’s no deal.
Max: Okay, okay, deal!
(Sanderson Cottage)
(Max, Allison, and Dani walk up outside.)
Allison: Legend has it that the bones of a hundred children are buried within these walls.
Dani: Oh, great.
(Allison unlocks the door and they go in. It’s pitch black.)
Dani: I can’t see a thing.
Allison: Well there’s a light switch around here somewhere.
(Max finds a display of lighters and picks one up and lights it.)
Max: I found a lighter. (He helps Allison find the light switch and the lights come on.) Whoa!
(Something watches them from outside the house.)
Allison: Here’s the original cauldron, and upstairs is where they slept.
(They move over to where the ‘book’ is in a display case.)
Allison: This is the spell book of Winifred Sanderson. It was given to her by the devil himself. The book is bound in human skin and contains the recipes for her most powerful and evil spells.
Dani: I get the picture.
Max: (points to a black candle) What’s that?
Allison: Oh, (whispers) that’s the black flame candle.
(Max goes over and reads the sign by the candle.)
Max: (reads) Black Flame Candle. Made from the fat of a hangman. Legend says that on a full moon it will raise the spirits of the dead when lit by a virgin on Halloween light. (pulls out his lighter) So let’s light the sucker and meet the old broads. (to Allison) Wanna do the honors?
Allison: No thanks.
(Max moves to light the candle, but is attacked by a black cat. He manages to throw the cat off and stand up.)
Max: Stupid cat!
Dani: Okay, Max, you’ve had your fun. It’s time to go. Come on, Allison.
Allison: Max, she’s right, let’s go.
Max: Oh, come on, it’s just a bunch of hocus pocus.
Dani: Max, I’m not kidding this time! It’s time to go! Max, no!!
(Max lights the candle and the flame turns black.)
Max: Uh oh.
(Suddenly the fake flames of the chandelier pop. The floor boards under their feet begin to move as a green light shines from below. Suddenly it stops.)
Max: What happened?
Dani: A virgin lit the candle.
(All the candles in the house light themselves. The fire under the cauldron comes up and knocks the kids back. The kids hide as voices can be heard from outside. Dani hides behind the counter. Suddenly the doors burst open and the Sanderson sisters enter.)
Winifred: We’re home. Oh, sweet revenge. Do you see, sisters, my curse worked perfectly.
Mary: Oh, that’s because thou art perfect, Winnie. Oh, I knew I left this cauldron on, didn’t I tell you? Oh, I knew it.
Sarah: (reaches up behind a piller and brings down a rat tail) My lucky rat tail! Right where I left it.
Winifred: But who lit the black flame candle? (spots her book) Wake up! Wake up, sleepy head. Oh, I’ve missed you. Did you miss me too? Come on now, we’ve got work to do.
Mary: Winnie?
Winifred: Yes?
Mary: I smell children.
(All the kids look alarmed.)
Winifred: Sick ‘em.
Mary: It’s a little girl. Seven, maybe eight and half.
Sarah: Oh, let’s play with her. (begins her singing but Winifred claps a hand over her mouth.)
(The move over to the counter, behind which, Dani is hiding.)
Winifred: Come out, my dear. We will not harm thee.
Mary: We love children!
(She slams her hand down on the counter and Dani pops up. The sisters are taken aback by her witch like appearance.)
Dani: I thought thou’d never come, sisters.
Winifred: Greetings, little one.
Dani: ‘Twas I who brought you back.
Winifred: Imagine, such a pretty little…(has trouble with the word)…child.
Mary: And she’s so well fed isn’t she. (pokes at Dani) Plump. Shish-k-baby.
Winifred: (taking Dani’s hand) Tell me, dumpling, what is the year.
Dani: 1993.
Winifred: (pushes Dani into a chair) Sisters, we have been gone 300 years.
Mary: Well, Winnie, how time flies…
Sarah: When you’re dead.
(The sisters all laugh and Dani joins them. But they stop after a minute and look at her.)
Dani: It’s been great fun, but I guess I better be going.
Winifred: Oh, stay for supper.
Dani: Oh, I’m not hungry.
Mary: But we are!
(They begin to struggle and Max jumps up to save his sister.)
Max: Hey! Let go of my little sister.
Mary: Roast him, Winnie.
Sarah: No, let me, let me play with him.
(Winnie hits Max with a jolt of electric energy that holds him against the wall and off the ground.)
Winnie: You, there! I haven’t lost my touch sisters!
Dani: Max!
Allison: Mary!
Mary: Well hello!
(Allison knocks Mary down.)
Dani: Don’t! You leave my brother alone!!
(She hits Winifred with her candy bag and Winifred goes down. Max is released from the wall. The cat attacks Winifred.)
Winifred: Sister Sarah, get this beast off of me!
Max: Go, get out!
(Allison and Dani run out of the house. Max climes up to the second floor and looks down at the sisters.)
Max: You have messed with the great and powerful, Max, and now must suffer the consequences. I summon the burning rain of death.
Sisters: Burning rain of death?
(Max flips open the lighter and lights it.)
Winifred: He makes fire in his hands.
(Max holds the flame under one of the sprinklers and suddenly the sprinklers go off. The sisters run for cover.)
Winifred: Oh, oh…the burning rain of death! Come on you idiots! Get to shelter! Come on, you fools!
(Max makes a run for it, but slips on some water. The black cat jumps on his chest.)
Binx: Nice going, Max.
Max: You can talk!
Binx: Yeah, no kidding. Now get the spell book! Come on! Move it!
Mary: Come on, do something.
Winifred: It’s the burning rain of death. Shut up.
(Max breaks the glass around the book and lifts it out.)
Winifred: My book. (She tries to get to it, but Mary and Sarah hold her back.) He took my book! The book!
(Outside)
Dani: Max! Max, over here! Come on! This way!
(Sanderson Cottage)
Winifred: Oh, confound it! (tastes the water)
Mary: Winnie!
Winifred: Shut up! It is but water.
Mary: (tastes it) Most refreshing.
Sarah: (tasting it) Ahh…it is.
Winifred: You idiots. The boy has tricked us, and he’s stolen the book. After them!
(The sisters hurry outside, but stop just by the side of the road. The road is black concrete and a little wet, so it kind of looks like a river…to someone who hasn’t been around for 300 years.)
Mary: ‘Tis a black river.
Sarah: Perhaps it is not to deep. (she puts her foot out to test it, and Winifred and Mary shove her onto the road.) Ahhhh!! (But she doesn’t sink, and she hops around a bit.) ‘Tis firm.
(Winifred makes to step out onto the road.)
Mary: Careful, Winnie.
Sarah: ‘Tis firm as stone
Winifred: Why, it’s a road. Sisters, my book!
(They head in the direction the kids went, but they stop and scream in horror as a fire truck comes towards them. They run and hide.)
(Salem Cemetery)
(Binx leads the kids to the cemetery.)
Max: Whoa, whoa. This is a graveyard.
Binx: It’s hallowed ground. Witches can’t set foot here.
Max: (to the girls who give him a shocked look) He talks.
Binx: Follow me. (They all enter the graveyard.) Over here, I want to show you something. Give you an idea of exactly what we’re dealing with.
(Binx stops on top of a gravestone that reads ‘William Butcherson’ Lost Soul.)
Max: William Butcherson? Lost Soul?
Binx: Billy Butcherson was Winifred’s lover, but she found him sporting with her sister Sarah, so she poisoned him and sewed his mouth shut with a dull needle. So he couldn’t tell her secrets, even in death. Winifred always was the jealous type.
Allison: You’re Thackary Binx.
Binx: Yes.
Allison: So the legends are true.
Binx: Well, come along. I want to show you something else.
(Sanderson Cottage)
(Two Firefighters leave the house muttering to themselves.)
Fireman1: Teenagers again. I hate Halloween.
Fireman2: Man, this is the worst night of the year.
Fireman1: Wanna give me a hand…
(The sisters are hiding in the bushes.)
Mary: Who are they?
Sarah: Boys!
Winifred: Witch hunters! Observe, they wear black robes, and carry axes to chop the wood to burn us.
Mary: Hold me!
Sarah: (spots a spider) What a pretty spider. (she eats it)
Winifred: Sisters! Let me make one thing perfectly clear. The magick that brought us back only works tonight on All Hallow’s Eve. When the sun comes up, we’re dust. Toast. (?) (Mary screams.) Fortunately, the potion I brewed the night we were hangs will keep us alive and young forever. (The sisters sigh in relief) Unfortunately the recipe for that potion is in my spell book, and the little wretches have stolen it. Therefore it stands to reason, does it not, sisters dear, that we must find the book, brew the potion, and suck the lives out of the children of Salem before sunrise? Otherwise it’s curtains, we have half (?), we cease to exist. Dost thou comprehend??
Mary: Oh, you explained it beautifully, Winnie. The way you started out with the adventure part, and then you slowed…
Sarah: Explained what?
Winifred: Come! We fly!
(Cemetery)
(Binx sits by the grave of his sister Emily.)
Binx: Because of me my little sister’s life was stolen. For years I waited for my life to end, so I could be reunited with my family. But Winifred’s curse of immortality kept me alive. Then one day I figured out what to do with my eternal life. Now, I’d failed Emily, but I wouldn’t fail again. When Winifred and her sister’s returned, I’d be there to stop them. So, for 300 centuries I guarded the house on All Hallow’s Night when I knew some airhead virgin might light that candle.
Dani: Nice going, airhead.
Max: Hey look, I’m sorry, okay? But we’re talking about three ancient hags versus the 20th century, how bad can it be?
Binx: Bad. (Allison goes to look inside the spell book) Stay out of there!
Allison: Why?
Binx: It holds Winifred’s most dangerous spells. She must not get it.
Max: (takes the book) Let’s torch the sucker. (He tries to burn it with the lighter, but the flames are repelled.)
Binx: It’s protected by magic.
(They hear laughter and suddenly the Sanderson sisters appear on their broomsticks.)
Winifred: It’s just a bunch of Hocus Pocus. Sarah. (points one way) Mary. (points the other way)
(The sisters fly and surround our little group of hero’s.)
Dani: Max!
Sarah: Brave little virgin who lit the candle. I’ll be thy friend.
Allison: Hey! Take a hike! (she swings a tree branch at Sarah.)
Sarah: Ouch! (flies higher)
Winifred: Book! Come to mommy.
(The book lifts off the ground but Binx jumps on top of it.)
Binx: ‘Fraid not.
Winifred: Thackary Binx, thou mangy feline. Still alive?
Binx: And waiting for you.
Winifred: Oh. Thou hast waited in vain. And thou will fail to save thy friends, just as thou failed to save thy sister.
(Binx hisses at her.)
Binx: Grab the book!
(There is a fight, sort of, as the sisters try to intimidate our group, without much success.)
Max: They can’t touch us here, right?
Binx: Well, they can’t.
Dani: I don’t like the way you said that.
Winifred: (casting a spell) Unfaithful lover, long since dead. Deep asleep in thy wormy bed. Wiggle thy toes, open thine eyes. Twist thy fingers towards the sky. Life is sleepy, not to shy, on thy feet so say ‘aye’.
(Suddenly the ground where Billy Butcherson is buried begins to move. Billy bursts forth from his grave. He’s a zombie. The kids scream and run. Billy turns and looks at his grave stone that says he’s a lost soul, and gives a grunt of annoyance. His mouth is sewed shut, so he can’t say anything.)
Sarah: Hi. Hello Billy.
Winifred: Catch those children! Get up! Get out of that ditch. Faster!
(Binx leads the kids over to a hole of sorts. It leads down underground.)
Binx: In here.
(Dani slides down, followed by Allison. Billy almost catches up with them, but Max pulls back on a tree branch and lets it lose and it hits Billy in the head, knocking his head completely off. Max follows after the girls while Billy tries to find his head.)
Max: Yes!
(Salem Crypt)
Allison: Are you okay?
Dani: Uh huh.
Max: What is this place, Binx?
Binx: It’s the old Salem Crypt.
Allison: Here, take the book.
Binx: It connects to the sewer and up to the street.
Allison: (looking around) Charming.
(Max looks up and spots some rats and other unpleasant things.)
Max: Oh, don’t look up Dani.
Dani: Don’t worry, I won’t.
Binx: Relax, I’ve hunted mice down here for years.
Dani: Mice? (sounds like she’s gonna be sick)
(Cemetery)
Winifred: Oh cheese and crusts, he’s lost his head. Ah! That Thackary Binx! Billy, which way did they go? (Gives a shriek of annoyance while Billy puts his head back on.) Billy, listen to me, follow those children you maggot museum and get my book, then come find us. We’ll be ready for them. (Billy just looks at her.) Quit staring at me! Get moving down that hole!
(Sewer’s)
Binx: This way!
(Cemetery Gate)
(The sisters land and stand just outside the gate.)
Winifred: They’re here. I know they’re here. But, where are they. Sniff them out, Mary.
Mary: They’re…they’re…oh, I can’t. They’ve gone too far. I’ve lost them.
Winifred: I’ll have your gusts for garters girl. Confound it! Very well, we must (?). When Billy the Butcher gets here with my book we shall be ready.
Mary: Ready.
Winifred: Sarah!
Mary: Sarah!
Winifred: We must start collecting children.
Mary: Why?
Winifred: Because, you great buffoon. We want to live forever, not just until tomorrow. The more children’s lives we snatch, the longer we shall live.
Sarah: Right! Let us fly!
Winifred: Fly.
(They move to fly but Mary stops them.)
Mary: Wait. Sisters, I have an idea. Since this promises to be a most dire and stressful evening I suggest we form a calming circle.
Winifred: (yelling) I am calm!
Mary: Oh, sister, thou art not being honest with thy self. Are we? Huh? Huh? Come on.
(They all turn so that they form a circle and then lower their heads.)
(Sewers)
Binx: Come along, not much further. (to himself) Which way, which way? Oh, down here.
(Cemetery Gate)
(The sisters are walking slowly in a circle with their arms around each other.)
Mary: Think soothing thoughts. Rabid bats. Black death. Mummy’s scorpion pie.
Sisters: (sad) Mother.
(Suddenly they are all shocked when a bus pulls up with a honk on the horn. All three yell in fright. The driver opens the door and looks at them.)
Driver: Bobo, bobo, I’m in trouble.
Winifred: Tell me friend, what is this contraption.
Driver: I call it a bus.
Winifred: A bus.
Mary: A bus.
Winifred: And it’s purpose?
Driver: To convey gorgeous creatures such as yourselves to your most forbidden desires.
Winifred: (laughs) Well, see, we desire children.
Driver: (laughs) Well that may take me a couple of tries, but I don’t think that’ll be a problem. Hop on up.
Winifred: Marvelous!
Mary: Thank you.
(Winifred and Mary quickly get their brooms while Sarah continues to look at the Driver. She then quickly goes to get her broom.)
Winifred: Thank you.
Driver: Oh, I need one of those instant ice packs. You girls are giving me a fever. Yow!
(Sewers)
(Billy is wandering around looking for the kids. We can hear them in the distance.)
(Another Sewer)
(The kids have reached a manhole that leads to the surface.)
Binx: Up the ladder. Come on. Careful.
(Max climes the ladder with Binx.)
(Bus)
(Sarah is now sitting in the Driver’s lap and steering the bus.)
Driver: Hey, buttercup, anyone ever tell you you’re very easy on the eyes.
(Street)
(The manhole cover moves and Max lifts it out of the way enough for Binx to hop out onto the road. But Max looks up in time to see the buss coming straight for them.)
Max: Binx, look out!
(Max ducks back under the manhole, but Binx can’t get out of the way fast enough and he gets run over.)
(Bus)
Driver: Whoa, speedbump!
(Sewer)
Dani: Binx!
(Bus)
Sarah: People! (honks horn)
(Street)
(Max, Dani, and Allison climb up and see that Binx has been squished flat.)
Max: Oh my god. (Dani turns to Allison and begins crying.) It’s all my fault. (he turns away)
Allison: Max, it’s not your fault. (As she and Dani watch, Binx inflates again until he’s back to normal.) Max!
(Max turns around and sees this.)
Binx: Oh, I hate it when that happens. What, I told you I can’t die. Dani, you all right?
Dani: (smiling) Yeah.
Binx: Okay then, let’s go.
(Bus) (The Driver and Sarah slam on the breaks and look to see what’s wrong with Mary.)
Mary: (to Winifred) I smell children.
Winifred: Marvelous.
(Sarah hops off the driver’s lap.)
Driver: Hey, cupcake, don’t I get your phone number? Your area code? You want my route schedule?
Sarah: Oh, thou wouldst hate me in the morning.
Driver: No I wouldnst.
Winifred: Oh believe me, thou wouldst.
Driver: Party pooper.
(Street)
(The sisters exit the bus and look around at all the kids running around in costumes. All the sisters see is hobgoblins. They don’t realize that they are just children dressed up.)
Winifred: What is this, sisters? Odd spodicans!
Sarah: Farewell mortal bus boy. (the bus leaves)
Mary: What are those? What’s that?
Winifred: Hobgoblins.
(As they stand there a little girl dressed as an angel comes up to them and gives a curtsy.)
Angel: Bless you.
(The sisters scream in terror.)
Winifred: Enough.
Mary: I’m very confused. I smell children, but I don’t see children. I’ve…I’ve lost my powers. (screams)
Winifred: Enough, enough.
Mary: Sorry.
Winifred: We are witches. We are evil.
Mary: Evil.
Winifred: What would mother say if she could see us like this?
Sisters: Mother.
(Suddenly there is a wicked laugh from behind them and we turn to see a middle-aged man dressed as Satan.)
Sisters: Master!
(The sisters hurry over to him and bow.)
Satan: What kind of costumes are these? It’s the Sanderson sisters, right?
Winifred: At your service.
Satan: Haven’t seen you for centuries, but what the heck, why don’t you come in? Come in to the non-smoking section. (he laughs and goes inside the house) Come on!
Mary: I can’t believe it’s him!
Satan: Don’t step on my tail
(Winifred turns and scares off some trick-or-treaters before going into the house after the others.)
(Salem Common)
(A police officer is sitting on a bike. The kids spot him and run over.)
Dani: Officer! Officer!
Allison: Officer, we need your help.
Cop: What’s the problem?
Dani: (to Max) Tell him. Go ahead.
Max: Well, um, well you see…I just moved here. Well you see…it’s like this…I…I um…I broke into the old Sanderson house and I brought the witches back from the dead. See I even have the book. (holds up the spell book)
Cop: You lit the black flame candle?
Max: Yeah.
(The cop gets off his bike.)
Cop: Okay, let’s get on the sidewalk.
Dani: And he’s a virgin.
Cop: (to Max) Come here. (quietly) Are you a virgin?
Max: Yeah.
Cop: (surprised) Really?!
Max: Look, I’ll get it tattooed on my forehead, okay?
Allison: Officer, this is not a prank.
Dani: Really.
Cop: Hey! I put my life on the line to protect this community and you punks pull this? Get outta here.
Allison: Come on, Dani.
Cop: Take that cat with you.
(The kids and Binx run off. The cop gets back on his bike, laughing. A blond, dressed like a hooker, comes out of the liquor store.)
Blond: What’s so funny Eddie?
Eddie: Ah, just a bunch of kids yanking my chain. (they both get on the bike) They thought I was a real cop.
(Now they both laugh.)
(Street)
(Billy has now made it to the manhole, but as he tries to climb out Eddie rides over the hole cover severing Billy’s fingers from his hand. Billy gives a muffled scream of pain.)
(Satan’s House) Winifred: He has a little woman?
Mary: Sounds tasty.
Satan: (to woman) Hey, petunia face.
Wife: What? (flips channels on the TV)
Satan: Will you stop clicking. We have company.
(The woman leans forward and she and Satan get into a quiet argument. The sisters take note of the fact that she has curlers in her hair.)
Mary: Sisters, Satan has married Medusa. See the snakes in her hair.
Wife: I don’t wanna play in this, I don’t wanna play.
(Satan turns her head so that she looks at the sisters. The sisters draw back in fright.)
Satan: My three favorite witches.
Wife: Aren’t you broads a little old to be trick-or-treating?
Winifred: We’ll be younger in the morning.
Wife: Yeah, sure, me too. (gets up) Excuse me. (she goes upstairs)
(Outside Satan’s House)
(Three little girls dressed as the Sanderson sisters run up to where the real sisters have left their brooms.)
Little Winnie: Wow! Neat brooms!
(She hands a broom to each of her ‘sisters’ and they all fly off.)
(Satan’s House)
Satan: Forget the kids, I’m serving you from my cauldron. Winnie?
Winifred: Yes?
Satan: For you. (hands her a Clark Bar)
Winifred: Master, I thank thee. What about the book?
Satan: We’ll get to the book later. (Winifred looks dejected.) Mary? Go long. (He tosses Mary a candy bar and she catches it.) Hey, you could be a tight end.
(Sarah comes over and takes his robe off.)
Sarah: Master, would thou dance with me?
(Kitchen)
(Winifred is wandering around the kitchen looking at all the different kitchen items.)
Winifred: Behold, a torture chamber.
(Living Room)
(Mary is flipping channels on the TV and eating cheese puffs. Satan’s wife comes down the stairs.)
Wife: Honey, I lost five pounds according to the bathroom…
(She stops halfway down the stairs when she sees Satan dancing with Sarah. And Sarah’s dress is pulled way up.)
Sarah: Master…
Wife: Okay, that’s it! Party’s over! Get out of my house! Get out of here! Get out of my house!
Mary: Sorry.
(The wife turns off the TV.)
Satan: Calm down, puddin’ face.
Wife: Shove it, Satan.
Sarah: Oh, thou should not speak to Master in such a manner.
Satan: They call me Master.
Wife: What till you see what I’m gonna call you. (to Mary) Now tart face, take your Clark Bars and get out of my house.
Winifred: Make us!
Wife: (without blinking) Ralph, sit ‘em.
(A little dog called Ralph hops up off his doggie pillow and takes after the sisters. Ralph manages to run them out of the house.)
(Outside Satan’s House)
(The sisters go over to where they left their brooms only to discover that the brooms are gone.)
Sarah: My broom!
Winifred: My broom!
Mary: My broom!
Winifred: Curses!
Mary: (holding up the Candy Bar) Sisters, look. It’s the chocolate covered finger of a man named Clark. (takes a bite) Eww…it’s candy. Why would the Master give us candy?
Winifred: Because he is not our Master.
Mary: He isn’t?
Winifred: (motions to the kids running around) And these are not hobgoblins. See!
(Winifred pulls the mask off of a nearby child.)
Boy: Cool it, man!
Mary: A child.
(May reaches for the kid, but he slams her with his bag of candy and runs off.)
Boy: Weirdos!
Sarah: Weirdos.
Winifred: Sisters, All Hallow’s Eve has become a night of frolic. Where children wear costumes and run amok.
Sarah: (thinks this is funny) Amok? Amok, amok, amok, amok.
(Winifred elbows her in the stomach and she stops.)
Mary: Oh, Winnie, just one child?
Winifred: No!
(Town Hall)
(The kids, and Binx walk up. As they do we see that the place is packed with people.)
Max: Oh great. How’re we ever gonna find Mom and Dan in this place?
(They manage to get past the doorman and go inside to hunt for their parents. There are a ton of people at this party.)
Dani: I’m gonna look for Mom. (she walks off with Binx)
(A hang grabs Max from behind, and he jumps. But it’s only his Dad, dressed as a vampire.)
Max: Oh, Dad.
Dad: It’s not Dad, it’s Daduala. (spots Allison) Oh my goodness, who must this charming young blood-donna be? (kisses her hand)
Max: Dad! Something terrible’s happened!
Dad: (serious) Dani? What’s wrong?
Max: No, Dani’s fine.
Dad: Good. (to Allison) Excuse me. (to Max) Come here. (pulls Max off to the side)
(Dani is still looking around for her mother. She walks up to a person dancing low in an alligator costume.)
Dani: (to alligator) Mom? (The alligator shakes it’s head and walks away. She finally spots her mother, dressed up like Madonna.) Mom? What are you supposed to be?
Mom: Madonna. Well…you know…well, obviously. Don’t you think?
(Switch back to Max and Dad.)
Dad: Shoot, Max. Look, whatever it is, just tell me.
(Switch to Dani and Mom.)
Dani: Come here.
Mom: (leans in) What?
Dani: This cat here, Binx, right? He can talk. My brother’s a virgin, he lit the black flame candle, the witches are back from the dead and they’re after us. We need help.
Mom: How much candy have you had, honey?
Dani: Mom, I haven’t O.D. I haven’t even had a piece. They’re really witches, they’re gonna fly, and they’re gonna eat all the kids in Salem. They’re real.
Mom: (looks around) All right, let’s just find your father.
(The Sanderson sisters enter the party. Winifred keeps her eye on the singer who is singing ‘I’ve put a spell on you’. Mary is bobbing to the beat.)
Winifred: Slither about. Find them!
(Sarah wanders off, while Mary stands there bobbing to the music until Winifred elbows her in the side. Then she too goes off to look for the kids. By this time Max and Dani have gotten their parents together and they are trying to convince them that the witches are real. Dani spots the witches in the crowd.)
Dani: Max!! Max! They’re here! They’re here!
(The kids look over and see Mary walk back up to Winifred.)
Winifred: Did you find them?
Mary: Sorry.
Winifred: Get out there and find them!
Mom: Nobody’s here, sweetie.
Max: (gives the spell book to Allison) Here. Hold this.
Allison: Where are you going?
Dad: Max!
(Max disappears into the crowd.)
Winifred: Sarah! (she whistles)
(Sarah, who has been making out with a guy dressed as a mummy quickly snaps to.)
Sarah: (to guy) Bye! (she runs back over to Winnie.)
Winifred: Get over here. Did you find them?
Sarah: Find who?
(Max hops up on stage and motions for them to cut the music.)
Max: Hey man, cut the music. Cut the music!
Singer: Hey man, I’m in the middle of a song.
Max: It’s an emergency, only for a minute. (the music stops) Will everybody listen up please?
(In the crowd)
Dad: No, he’s just getting everybody worked up.
Dani: (to her parents) Listen to him, he’s fine!
(On Stage)
Max: Your kids are in danger.
Cowgirl: What do you mean?
Max: 300 years ago the Sanderson sisters bewitched people, and now they’ve returned from their grave. (the crowd laughs) Hey man, I’m serious! It’s not a joke!
(In the crowd)
Dad: All right, this has gone far enough.
(On Stage)
Max: I know this sounds dumb. But they’re here tonight. They’re right over there!
(He points and a spotlight hits the sisters. The crowd draws back a bit in shock.)
Dad: Whoa!
Winifred: Thank you, Max, for that marvelous introduction. (the crowd relaxes) (singing) I put a spell on you, and now your mine. You can’t stop the things I do…I like.
Dani: No! No! Don’t listen to them!
Winifred: (singing) …in 300 years, right down to the day. Now the witch is back, and there’s hell to pay. (Mary and Sarah go up onstage and become the back-up singers.) I put a spell on you…
Singer: (to Max) Good joke. Happy Halloween!
Max: No, man, I’m serious.
Singer: Yeah right. (Winifred hits a high note and the band starts playing again.) All right. Let’s go guys!
Winifred: Hello Salem! My name’s Winifred, what’s yours? (singing) I put a spell on you…
(Winifred continues the song.)
Dani: Binx, where are you?
(Binx heads for the kids. Billy shows up and the kids run for their parents.)
Max: Mom, Dad, thank god.
Dad: Hey, Max, great show.
Max & Dani: Cover your ears!
(Billy comes up and the kids run for it again.)
Mom: Oh, I wish we had the camera.
(Winifred finishes her ‘song’ by saying a few magick words, which the crowd repeats. But it’s really a magick spell, and all the people in the room, with the exception of the kids who are running for their lives, will have to dance until they die. The kids manage to get out one of the doors with Billy in hot pursuit.)
Winifred: Dance! Dance until you die! (she and her sisters laugh)
(Everyone in the crowd begins to dance as the sisters leave.)
(Alley)
(The kids run down the alley with the witches in pursuit.)
Dani: Binx, come on!
(Max kicks over some trash cans in frustration.)
Max: That’s really bad.
Allison: Max, come on! Calm down.
Max: Look, I want you to take Dani back to your house and don’t let her out of your sight!
Dani: Max, I’m not leaving you.
(They duck for cover when a back door of a restaurant opens and one of the cooks comes out looking for a lobster.)
Cook: (to lobsters in tank) Okay guys, who’s going for the jacuzzi. (picks up one) Yeah, Angelo, you’re bad. (goes back inside)
Binx: (spots the sisters) Uh oh!
Max: Get down!
(The all hide out of sight as the sisters enter the alley.)
Mary: I smell…
Winifred: Yes?
Mary: Winnie, I smell…
Winifred: Yes?
Mary: I smell…scrud. (Winifred gives her a look) Scrud. You know, it’s a bottom dweller. You cook it sometimes with a little bit of bread crumbs, little bit of margarine, or oil, olive oil’s….
(Winifred grabs her and drags her out of the alley. Sarah stays and looks around at all the boxes and stuff.)
Winifred: Sarah!
(Sarah quickly follows after her sisters. As soon as they’re gone the kids come out of hiding. Allison uses an oven to get her balance and the oven door swings open. She looks at it and then smiles at the others.)
Allison: I have an idea.
(High School)
(The Sisters walk up to the deserted school.)
Sarah: What is this place?
Mary: It reeks of children.
Winifred: It is a prison for children.
(Inside the school they walk down one of the hallways. Max is in the principals office talking on the microphone.)
Max: (howls) Welcome to High School Hell. I’m your host Boris Karloff, Jr. (laughs)
(In the hallway, the Sisters can hear him talking over the PA system.)
Max: (over PA) It’s time to meet our 3 contestants. Sarah, Mary, and Winifred Sanderson. Read any good spell books lately?
(The sisters spot Binx sitting in the middle of the hall.)
Winifred: Get him!
(They move towards Binx, but they stop when they hear a female’s voice.)
Woman: (os) Hello, welcome to the Library. Bon jour…(the rest in french)
(The sisters head in the direction of the voice. They pause just outside of one of the big ovens that the art students use to harden their molds. The woman continues to talk from inside the oven . Winifred gives the signal and the sisters all rush into the oven. They stop and look around and we realize that the woman’s voice is coming from a boom box. The sisters all walk over to it, not realizing that the voice isn’t connected to a real person.)
Mary: Hello?
Winifred: Yes?
(Suddenly the door to the oven is slammed closed by Allison. The witches scream in frustration. Allison hits the button and the over turns on.)
Winifred: Hot, hot!
(Outside the School)
(The kids rejoice in their victory, not noticing the green smoke that hovers above the chimney to the furnace.)
Max: Farewell Winifred Sanderson! Burn! Burn! (They all laugh and yell.) We did it Binx, we stopped them.
Binx: I’ve wanted to do that for 300 years. (They watch Allison and Dani play a little further off.) Since they took Emily.
Max: You really miss her, don’t you? Man, you can’t keep blaming yourself for that. That happened so long ago.
Binx: Take good care of Dani, Max. You’ll never know how precious she is, until you lose her. (he hops down and heads away)
Max: Hey Binx, where do you think you’re going? (Binx looks at him) You’re a Dennison now, buddy. One of us.
Dani: Come on Binx, let’s go home.
Binx: Home!
Max: Home.
(Max’s House)
(Max, Allison, Dani, and Binx enter.)
Max: (calling out) Mom? Dad?
Dani: (calling out) We got a new cat! Mom?
Max: (to Allison) Well I guess they’re still partying. Come on in.
(Town Hall)
(Max’s parents are indeed still partying, along with the rest of the town.)
(Max’s House)
(The gang are all in Max’s room. Dani lays on Max’s bed and watches Binx drink some milk. Max and Allison are curled up in the corner.)
Dani: You’re my kittie now. You’ll have milk and tuna fish every day, and you’ll only hunt mice for fun.
Binx: You’re gonna turn me into one of those fat, useless, contented house cats.
Dani: You betcha! (Binx hops up onto the bed.) You know Binx, I’ll always take care of you. And my children will take care of you too. And their children after than, and theirs’ after that. Forever and ever, and ever…(dozes off)
(High School)
(The green smoke that hovered over the chimney goes back down into the over. The door to the oven opens and the Sisters walk out, smudged with soot and grime.)
Winifred: Hello, I want my book. Bonjour, je veu mon livre.
(Street)
(Jay and Ice are sitting on a car. The trees around them have been toilet papered, and it’s late at night.)
Jay: You wanna smash some pumpkins?
Ice: Nah.
Jay: Well then you wanna look in windows and watch babes undress?
Ice: It’s 3:00, they’re undressed already.
Jay: Well then you think of something!
Ice: I don’t feel so good!
Jay: That’s cause you’re eating too much candy, you oinker!
(The Sisters come up as Mary sniffs out Max’s shoe, only Max’s shoes are worn by Ice. Mary comes up and sniffs the shoe.)
Ice: Yo, witch, get your face off my shoe.
Mary: Oh, wrong boy. Sorry, Winnie.
Winifred: Why…why…why was I cursed with such idiot sisters?
Sarah: Just lucky I guess.
(Mary laughs at that.)
Jay: Ah, man, how come it’s always the ugly chicks that stay out late?
(The sisters turn back to the guys with menace.)
Winifred: Chicks?
(Sanderson Cottage)
(Jay and Ice are now hanging in cages from the ceiling.)
Winifred: We haven’t much time left. We shall have to make the potion from memory.
Jay: Hey, let us out of here!
Ice: We’re really sorry!
Jay: We think you’re really cute!
Winifred: Hush! I’ve got to think.
Sarah & Mary: Remember, remember, remember, Winnie, remember. Remember, Winnie, remember.
Winifred: Now I remember! I was here, the book was there, you, Mary, you were here. (points to her right) Sarah, you were in the back, dancing idiotically. (Sarah moves to the back of the house and dances idiotically.) And the book said, I remember it like it was yesterday…oil of boil, and a dead man’s nose.
Sarah: Dead man’s toes!
Mary: Shhh!! She’s trying to concentrate! Go, go!
Winifred: Or was it his thumbs…
Mary: Thumbs? Could be…
Winifred: Or his gums?
Mary: I don’t know…
Winifred: A dead man’s buns…
Mary: Dead man’s buns…sounds like…
Winifred: Mums?
Mary: Mums…
Winifred: Fungs?
Mary: Fungs…
Winifred: Chungs?
Mary: Chungs.
Winifred: Chungs!
Jay: Chungs?
Ice: Dead man’s chungs! (Makes a ‘we’re dead’ motion to Jay.)
Mary: There’s no such things as chungs.
Winifred: You’re right.
Mary: (surprised) I am?
Winifred: It’s no use…I don’t remember the ingredients. I…I…I’ve got to have my book. (runs over to the window and throws it open and calls out the book) Book! Come home…or make thyself known!! (weeps)
(Max’s House)
(The book opens it’s eye. At that moment Allison wakes up and the book shuts it’s eye. Max wakes up a moment later. Allison smiles at him.)
Max: Hi.
Allison: Hi. (she stretches and then grabs the clock on the nearby shelf) Oh my God. It’s 5:00! My parents are gonna kill me. (she starts to put her shoes on.) I should go.
Max: I wish you could stay.
Allison: (looks at Binx) Poor Binx.
Max: Yeah, poor Binx. We owe him a lot.
Allison: Yeah.
Max: Look, could we find some way to help him?
Allison: The book? The witches used it to put the spell on him, maybe there’s a way in here to take it off.
Max: I don’t know, Binx told us not to open it.
Allison: Well the witches are dead, what harm could it do?
Max: Okay, just be careful.
Allison: I will. Hold my hand.
(They hold hands and open the book. They don’t see anything, but we see a magical light shoot up from the book and go straight up.)
Allison: Nothing weird so far.
(Sanderson Cottage)
(Winifred is weeping on the bed. Mary is distraught and doesn’t know what to do.)
Mary: Do you wanna hit me, would that help? (Winnie weakly hits her.) All right.
Winifred: This is the end.
Mary: No…
Winifred: I feel it.
Mary: Okay.
Winifred: We are doomed. I feel the icy breath of death upon my neck. Mary?
Mary: Huh?
Winifred: Take me to the window. I wish to say good-bye. Good-bye.
(Mary helps her up and they both slowly make their way over to the window.)
Mary: Bye-bye.
Winifred: Good-bye cruel world.
Mary: Bye-bye cruel world.
Winifred: Good-bye to life.
Mary: Bye-bye life.
Winifred: Good-bye to all that.
Mary:…all that.
(They reach the window and Winifred looks out. With delight, she spots the signal from the spellbook.)
Winifred: Sister! Observe…they opened it!! Just when our time was running out! Come, we fly!
Mary: We fly! On what? We fly?
(A few moments later Winifred steps out onto the porch with an old broom in her hand.)
Winifred: Into the night! (she flies off)
(Sarah comes out with a mop in her hand. She says nothing and simply takes off flying. Mary comes out onto the porch with a vacuum cleaner.)
Mary: (unsure) Winnie? (With no other option she places her foot on the vacuum and prepares to take flight.) Broomhold! (She flies off.)
(Max’s House)
(Max and Allison are still looking in the book.)
Allison: Oh, listen to this. (reading) Only a circle of salt can protect thy victims from my power.
(Suddenly Binx jumps on the book and slams it shut. All the while the Sisters draw closer.)
Allison: We were just trying to help you.
Binx: Well don’t! Nothing good can come from this book. Got it?!
(The Sisters arrive outside.)
Max: Maybe we should go now.
Allison: Okay.
(They walk out of the room and into the hallway. Max goes over to his parent’s room and looks in.)
Max: Mom? Dad?
(Outside Winifred cuts open one of the window screens with her fingernail.)
Max: They’re still not home. That’s weird. They must be having a great time.
Allison: I don’t know, something’s not right. I’d feel a lot safer walking home if we had some salt.
(Kitchen)
(Max looks around in the cupboard for some salt. He finds some and drops it down to Allison.)
Max: Salt. (Allison reads the side of the container.) Well, what’s it say?
Allison: Oh, it says to form a circle of salt to protect from zombies, witches, and old boyfriends.
Max: (grinning) And what about new boyfriends?
(They move to kiss but they pull back as they hear a sound from upstairs.)
Max: Dani!
(They both run upstairs.)
(Max’s Room)
(They burst into the room. It appears that Dani is asleep under the covers.)
Allison: Max, the book is gone! I’m telling you, something’s weird.
Max: (pulling the covers back) Dani, wake up!
Sarah: Trick or treat!
(Allison screams as Max jumps back. Winifred,Mary, and Dani come out of the closet. Mary is holding Dani captive and Winifred has the book.)
Winifred: Looking for this.
(The book opens it’s eye and looks at Max. Max jumps back with a yell. Winifred opens the book and a ball of energy hits Max in the back and he goes down.)
Sarah: (laughing) Boy down.
(Allison quickly forms a circle of salt around herself.)
Winifred: Salt! What a clever little white witch. But it will not save thy friends. No. Come sisters, the candles magic is almost spent, a dawn approaches.
Dani: Max!! Let me go!! Put me down!!
(The sisters burst from Max’s room, and Allison is knocked back by the power.)
Allison: Dani? Dani!! Max! Are you okay? Come on, get up!
Max: Where’s Dani?
(The Sky)
(The sisters are flying back to their cottage.)
Winifred: Use thy voice Sarah, fill the sky. Bring the little brats to die.
(Sarah flies off from them and begins singing.)
Sarah: Come little children, I’ll take thee away, into a land of enchantment. Come little children, the time’s come to play, here in my garden of magic.
(Max’s House)
(Max and Allison listen as Sarah sings. All the children in the town begin to head towards the sisters cottage.)
Both: Dani!
Max: (to children) Hey! Hey you guys! Don’t listen to her!
(But the children are under a spell and do not hear him.)
Allison: Max, I figured it out.
Max: What?
Allison: Winifred said “The candle’s magic will soon be spent, a dawn approaches.” The black flame candle only brought them back for this one Halloween night. And unless they can steal the lives of children, when the sun comes up, they’re dust.
Max: Yeah, but how can we make the sun come up? They’ve got Dani. We need a miracle.
(Sanderson Cottage)
(Sarah lands outside and then runs into the cottage.)
Sarah: The children…are coming!
Winifred: (happy) Well done, sister Sarah.
(Dani is still struggling to escape, while Binx is in a burlap sack that hangs near the fireplace.)
Binx: Let me out of here!
(Max’s House)
(Max pulls his parent’s car out of the garage and tries to make his way around the children that are walking very slowly in the street.)
Allison: Hurry, okay. Oh, watch out!
Max: Come on! Get out of the way! Move it!
(Sanderson Cottage)
(Sarah and Mary are picking on Jay and Ice. Sarah is spinning Jay’s cage around and around and Mary is force feeding Ice candy.)
Ice: I’m gonna ralph.
Mary: Open up!
Jay: No more candy, please!!
Winifred: (to Dani) Soon the lives off all thy little friends will be mine. And I shall be young and beautiful again forever.
Dani: It doesn’t matter how young or old you are! You sold your soul! You’re the ugliest thing that’s every lived, and you know it!
Winifred: Ah…you die first!
(Dani sits back with a huff. Winifred takes a bite of her tongue and spits it into the cauldron. Max and Allison pull up outside.)
Winifred: ‘Tis ready. Pry open her mouth!
Mary: Gladly!
Binx: Dani, don’t drink it!
Winifred: Shut up you!
Binx: Don’t drink it!
Mary: Come on, open your mouth! Open up. Ow, she bit me!
(Suddenly Max bursts in the front door.)
Max: Prepare to die! Again.
Winifred: You, you have no powers here, you fool.
Jay: Hollywood!
Max: Maybe not, but there’s a power greater than your magic, and that’s knowledge.
Jay: Come on, man.
Max: And there’s one thing that I know that you don’t.
Winifred: (sarcastic) And what is that, dude?
(Mary and Sarah laughs at that.)
Max: Daylight savings time.
Mary: (sarcastic) Daylight savings time.
(Suddenly a pink light begins to shine behind Max. It looks like the rising sun and so the sisters react in a panic, they all try to run from the light while Max unties Dani.)
Dani: Max! Get me out of here!
Winifred: The sun!
Sarah: It hurts!
(The sisters all collapse to the floor and lay there in a heap.)
Dani: Get Binx.
(Max grabs the bag that Binx is in and they head for the door. Max pauses and dumps the cauldron over spilling the potion.)
Binx: Hot! Hot cat! Hot cat!
Jay: Hey, let me outta here.
Ice: Help! Hey, Hollywood. Help us out here.
(Max reaches up and takes his shoes off of Ice’s feet.)
Max: Tubular.
(Ice bursts into tears.)
(Outside)
(Dani and Max run outside, but Dani pauses just outside the door.)
Dani: Max, I wanna see her turn to dust.
(Both she and Max turn when they hear Allison whistling.)
Dani: Pump it! (Both she and Max run over to the car.) Allison! (She and Allison hug.)
(They all get in the car.)
(Inside)
(Winifred, Mary, and Sarah all lay in a heap on the floor. We can hear the doors of the car shut and the car driving off. They all open their eyes.)
Sarah: I am alive!
Winifred: That boy! He tricked us again!
Mary: You’re right! You’re always right.
Winifred: It’s my curse. That, and you two. (to Sarah) Get off me you thundering oaf!!
Sarah: Sorry.
Winifred: (standing up) Look, the candle’s magic is almost out. (looks down at the spilled potion) And my potion, my beautiful potion. Look, there’s just enough left for one child. Get the vial.
(The Car)
Max: Come on! Move it!
(Sanderson Cottage)
Winifred: (holds up the vial) Oh joy, what luck, this is perfect for that little toe headed brat!
Sarah: We have a child. (motions to Ice and Jay)
Ice & Jay: (point to the other) Him!
Mary: (looking out the window) And look, Winnie, more children are arriving. Come on in.
Sarah: Winnie…Winnie, we’ll make more potion, because, we…we have the book!
Winifred: We haven’t the time! Besides, I want to get that little rat faced kid that called me…
Mary: Don’t say it. Just don’t say it.
Sarah: Ugly?
Winifred: (bursts into tears) She really hurt my feelings.
Mary: She’s jealous.
Winifred: She doesn’t even know me. You know, I always wanted a child, and now I think I’ll have one…on toast!!
(Sarah and Mary bust out laughing.)
(The Car)
Dani: Step on it Max!
Max: (looking behind them) Are they following us?
Allison: (takes a look) No!
Max: Good.
(Suddenly Winifred pulls up next to the drivers side window.)
Winifred: Pull over! Let me see your driver’s permit. (She laughs and then tries to pull Max out of the car, but the girls hold onto him.) Resisting arrest?
(Max is able to disentangle himself from her. He flings out his hand to fend of another attack and Winifred is knocked into some bushes. The kids cheer.)
(Cemetery)
(The car pulls up to the gate and the kids hop out.)
Binx: Hurry! Hurry!
(They quickly head for the gate so that they can get on hallowed ground.)
Max: Go go go! Run!
(They get inside the gate, but Billy has finally caught up with them. He grabs ahold of Max.)
Dani: Max!
Binx: No, wait Dani!
(Max pulls out a switch blade and he and Billy fight.)
Max: Run, Dani, run!!
(The girls and Binx run off. Winifred, Sarah, and Mary finally arrive. They hover over the cemetery. Billy has managed to get Max into a head-lock of sorts.)
Winifred: Billy! Kill him if you must, just bring me that child! That Dani! And put some wiggle in it you putrid festering sore.
(Billy takes Max’s knife and cuts the strings that hold his mouth shut.)
Winifred: Don’t dawdle, come along now!
(Billy takes a very deep breath through his mouth.)
Winifred: Come along now! Kill him! Do it now!
Billy: Wench! (Winifred looks surprised) Trollop! You buck tooth, mouth rind, firefly from Hell!!
(Winifred shrieks in outrage.) (to Max) I’ve waited centuries to say that.
Max: Say what you want, just don’t breath on me.
Winifred: Billy! I killed you once. I shall kill you again you maggotly mouth peasant. Hang on to your head!
(She and her sisters fly off.)
(A little bit later Max has caught up with the girls. Billy walks right behind him.)
Dani: Max, come on!
Allison: Max, come on, move out of the way!
(Both Allison and Dani move as though to attack Billy.)
Max: No, no wait! Wait! No! No. He’s a good zombie.
Binx: Come on. We’ll have to hold them off until dawn. It’s our only hope.
Dani: Hi, Billy.
(Billy’s Grave)
(This is where they plan to stage their defense. Allison pours a circle of salt around the open grave. Max takes a few practice swings with a tree branch.)
Billy: You’ll be safe in here.
Dani: Thank you.
Max: You okay Dani?
Dani: Yeah. Fine.
Billy: (helping Dani into the grave) All right then. In we go.
Binx: Here they come! Billy, guard Dani! Max, Allison, spread out!
Winifred: For the last time, prepare to meet thy doom! (Max swings at her and she laughs.) You little pest, I’ve had enough of you.
(She grabs ahold of his stick and tosses it and Max aside. Sarah and Mary have gone off to fight Allison. She faces off with Billy, who is still guarding Dani.)
Billy: Go to hell!
Winifred: Oh, I’ve been there, thank you. I found it quite lovely.
(Winifred takes a nose dive and aims right for Billy, but at the last moment she curves her broom upward and knocks off Billy’s head. Dani gives a shriek and then crawls out of her safe haven to get his head.)
Dani: Billy, I think you dropped this.
(Max and Allison reach the grave only to find it empty.)
Allison: Oh God.
(Winifred spots Dani out of the grave and she heads right for her.
Dani: Max!
(Winifred catches Dani and takes off with her.)
Max: Dani!
Winifred: Bye bye, big brother. (laughs) (to Dani) All right, you little trollymall. (whips out the vial)
Binx: Hold on, Dani!
Winifred: This’ll teach you to call people ugly. Open your mouth. Open your mouth, I say!
(Binx takes a running leap up a tree and lands right on Winifred. He knocks the vial out of her hand. She then tosses him to the ground. Max manages to catch the vial before it hits the ground.)
Winifred: Give me that vial!
Max: Put her down or I’ll smash it.
Winifred: Smash it and she dies!
Allison: Max!
Billy: No!
(Max makes a quick decision and downs the potion.)
Dani: Max no!
Max: (tosses the empty vial away) Now you have no choice. You have to take me.
(Winifred lowers herself to hover only about a foot off the ground.)
Winifred: You are a fool to give up thy life for thy sisters. (She tosses Dani down and grabs Max by the front of his shirt.)
Dani: MAX!!
Allison: Dani!
Dani: Billy!
Sarah: Boy!
(Winifred and Max struggle.)
Winifred: Sisters! Sisters!
Mary: Winnie, I’m coming!
(Mary flies right by Allison, Billy, and Dani and they grab the extension cord from the vacuum and hang onto it.)
Allison: Hold! Harder! Come on!
Winifred: I’m going to teach you a lesson you’ll never forget!
Mary: Sarah!
(Sarah flies over and tries to help Mary get free. Meanwhile, Winifred is trying to suck Max’s life force.)
Allison: Let go, now!
(They let go and Sarah and Mary fly high up into the air. Max knocks Winifred’s hands from him and they both fall to the ground. Winifred landing face first into some grass. She gets up and crawls over to Max. She picks him up off the ground and still tries to suck away his life force. He continues to struggle with her. Meanwhile, the sun begins to rise. Winifred looks down and realizes that she’s on hallowed ground and she begins to turn to stone.)
Winifred: Book!!
(She turns completely to stone. Max finally manages to free himself and he falls away from the statue.)
(Up In The Air)
(Both the sisters are hit with the sunlight.)
Sarah: Winnie! Good-bye!
(With a flash of purple, Sarah is no more.)
Mary: Uh-oh. Bye-bye!
(With a flash of red, Mary is no more.)
(Cemetery)
(Winifred’s statue explodes in a flash of green and the kids all quickly turn away and shield their eyes. Binx, very quietly dies. His mission is over. The kids, not realizing that Binx is gone, look at the sunrise with a newfound respect.)
Dani: Max! Max, are you okay?
Max: Yeah, I think so.
Dani: You saved my life.
Max: Well, I had to, I’m your big brother.
Dani: I love you, jerk face.
Max: I love you too.
(They both hug, then Dani helps him up.)
Dani: Come on.
(Billy crawls into his grave with a sigh.)
Dani: Bye Billy, have a nice sleep.
Max: Hey, Billy. (Billy turns to him.) Thanks.
(Billy nods, then gives a huge yawn and collapses into his grave.)
Dani: (looking around) Where’s Binx? Binx? Binx? (she spots him on the ground) Binx.
Allison: He’s gone. He’s gone, Dani.
Dani: But he can’t die remember. Wake up, Binx. Binx, wake up. It’s like last time.
Thackary: Dani, come on, please don’t be sad for me.
(They all look up and see Thackary Binx standing there as a ghost. He’s been freed by the witches death.)
Dani: Binx, is that you?
Thackary: Yeah. The witches are dead, my soul’s finally free. (Dani continues to cry.) You freed me Dani, thank you. Hey Max, thanks for lighting the candle.
(Max smiles and nods.)
Emily: Thackary, Thackary Binx.
(They all turn and see the ghost of Emily Binx looking for her brother.)
Thackary: (thrilled) It’s Emily! (He leans in close to Dani.) I shall always be with you. (She nods and he kisses her cheek.)
(Thackary turns and walks towards his sister, but he pauses for one last look at his new friends. Max gives him a wave.)
Emily: Thackary Binx, what took thee so long?
Thackary: I’m sorry, Emily. I had to wait 300 years for a virgin to light the candle.
(Emily and Thackary walk through the gates into heaven. Max and Dani watch with a smile.)
(Town Hall)
(The town members are finally free of Winifred’s spell and are stumbling out of the Hall. Max’s mom is still singing a little bit.)
Dad: Boy, and I thought New York was a party town.
Mom: Yeah. Huh?
(Sanderson Cottage)
(Jay and Ice are still hanging in the cages. They begin singing ‘Row, Row, Row Your Boat’.)
(THE END)
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