Hocus Pocus 2 | 2022 | PG | – 2.3.3

Why is “Hocus Pocus 2” rated PG? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “action, macabre/suggestive humor and some language.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes discussions of kisses and relationships, the release and beheading of a zombie, several spells with one leading to a house fire, discussions of three sisters being banished from a town, discussions of Salem witches and witch trials, a shape-shifting witch, magic spells that trap witches in a force field, a few arguments, and some moderate language and name-calling. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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In this sequel to 1993’s Hocus Pocus a teenage wannabe witch (Whitney Peak) lights a black candle and invokes three Salem witches (Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy and Sarah Jessica Parker). Hijinks, danger, and the unexpected follow. Also with Doug Jones, Sam Richardson, Belissa Escobedo, Tony Hale and Hannah Waddingham. Directed by Anne Fletcher. [Running Time: 1:43]

Hocus Pocus 2 SEX/NUDITY 2

 – A teen girl in 1653 announces that a teen boy kissed her and a crowd of onlookers gasps. Two teen girls in 2022 are told that a magical candle will work only if they are virgins (we see it work; please see the Violence/Gore category for more details). Two women argue and both claim that a dead man was once their lover.
► Three women wear long dresses that reveal one woman’s cleavage. A woman wears a deeply cut gown that reveals cleavage. A Halloween cosplay contest features several men dressed as female witches and wearing makeup and dresses, and one trio of young women dressed as witches, wearing miniskirts.

Hocus Pocus 2 VIOLENCE/GORE 3

 – In 1653, a teen girl stomps through a village, knocking people out of her way, she enters her house followed by a man that pounds on the door, enters, and shouts that she’s banished from Salem for refusing to marry a man chosen by the church; a large spider walks on the man’s arm and he screams, he grabs the girl and onlookers shout, “She tried to kill him!” as the girl and her two sisters speak a nonsense-syllable spell and the house catches on fire; he screams that it’s the work of the spider as the three sisters run into dark woods, walk in a circle, meet a black bird that becomes a witch that sniffs one of the girls, and then gives them a magic book that has a human eye that floats in many scenes.
► Two teen girls in 2022 go to a magic shop to get a candle, they light the candle in dark woods at night and it reignites when they blow it out, the ground rumbles, a chasm opens, and wind blows, magically producing three witches; the girls scream as we see colorful sparks and clouds of light; the witches threaten several times to eat the girls and the girls claim they are adults and eat children themselves, but that children’s souls can be bought at a drugstore.
► A witch warns three teen girls against using a dangerous super-spell and tells them to kill and eat children to keep themselves young looking (no children are harmed). A witch shape-shifts into a black bird and later into a bunch of floating leaves.
► Three witches chase two teen girls through a drug store, stopping to drink from lotion and perfume bottles and eat a facial masque; the girls escape by pouring a salt circle around themselves that creates a force field, they ride on a broom, a mop, and two self-propelled vacuum cleaners, chasing the girls and a teen boy that looks panicked as he runs. Several teens go to a magic shop, where teens and children gasp several times when told about magic candles and witches from 1653, and one young boy runs out shouting in fear. A jumping black cat startles people three times. A teen girl receives a magic book that floats and opens to emit a strong beam of light up to the sky. A witch shoots electric bolts from her fingers to open a cellar door and push three teen girls down the stairs without injury, and then sends a man to get ingredients for the spell, including the blood of a man (never collected) and the head of a corpse; the girls develop glowing blue hands, and there are light angelica leaves on the floor; they ask the burning leaves to help them escape and the cellar door opens and the girls run away.
► Three teen girls trap three witches inside a circle made of salt around a garage, and one witch slams another into the resulting force field twice without injury until two enchanted vacuum cleaners release the witches by sucking up the salt; they kidnap one teen girl and flee to a forest where they find ingredients for a super-spell; two teen girls save the captive girl, but the spell is halfway cast, making the witches stronger and we see clouds of swirling colored lights around them and they can all shoot electric bolts from their fingers, but the girls can as well, and the bolts neutralize each other as a girl talks to a talking book that tells her that casting the whole spell means the spell caster must give up the thing they love most, and when the witches finish the spell two of them disappear in glowing dust clouds and the third witch cries, but she and two teen girls form a coven and chant until the witch laughs and disappears in a cloud of dust and swirling colors. A shock wave spreads and rises into the sky, a man places a decapitated zombie’s head back on its body with a pop and a crack and the zombie disappears in sparkly dust, saying he is going to his eternal rest. A man drives a shovel into a grave and a zombie bursts out of it, saying he has been buried alive for 29 years; he is covered in dirt, grime, and cobwebs and has a stark white face lined in black; his hand comes off without blood and he pops it back on. A man puts a zombie in a headlock and his head pops off with a crack and a pop as the body limps away and the head still talks; a witch shoots electric bolts from her fingers to sew its lips together and releases the stitches in a later scene.
► Three witches hypnotize about 100 townspeople with a pop song and have them march and dance to a man’s house during a big Halloween carnival and school party where we see numerous costumes of angels, a ladybug, a banana, witches, ghosts, zombies and animals. A few witches take a magic book to cast a super-spell on a man, in order to kill him and use his blood in a spell to take revenge on their banishment from Salem in 1653. Three teen girls throw rocks and hit three witches in the head, but no one is hurt. Three women argue among themselves several times and one of them slaps the other two of them half a dozen times. Three women argue with three teen girls. A witch levitates a teen girl and drops her to the ground (she is unhurt). Three women look into a fish-eye mirror in a store and scream; later, they scream the first time they hear a virtual assistant and the first time they see a car. A woman grabs a teen girl by the throat for a few seconds and then lets her go. After the end credits, a cat jumps onto a shelf containing a magic candle, suggesting a reappearance of three witches. A woman holds the heads of two teen boys underwater in tubs of floating apples.
► We hear that a teen girl’s parents are dead and that a magic book killed a teen girl in her village. A teen girl whispers nonsense syllables to a teen boy in a classroom and he is startled, expecting the effects of a curse that never comes; they are sent to the principal’s office and the boy gets detention. A man shouts angrily at a teen girl and another man shouts at two teen girls. A teen girl angrily tells a teen boy to stop mocking people who are different and he says he did not know he was mocking them. Three teen girls walk away with a talking book as a black bird (suggesting a shape-shifting witch) flies after them.

Hocus Pocus 2 LANGUAGE 3

 – 1 mild scatological term, 1 anatomical term, 2 mild obscenities, name-calling (fools, stupid, dolt, twit, ninny, nitwit, liar, pest, lout, unpleasant, evil, witch, driveling hag, disgusting, weird, ugly, amateur, whore-glass, dust-head, pious pompous dunderhead, undirected skeleton bag, Golden Girls), exclamations (shut-up, alas, eew, uh-oh, oh my gosh, oh my goodness, cowabunga), 8 religious exclamations (e.g. oh my God, thank God, praise God). | profanity glossary |

Hocus Pocus 2 SUBSTANCE USE

 – A witch pours an unidentified golden liquid down the throat of a teen girl and we see no reaction.

Hocus Pocus 2 DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Old Salem church and witch trials, magic, casting spells, killing children to eat as magic, beheading, being buried alive, resurrection, plotting murder, sacrifice, death, revenge, making fun of people who are different, anger, frustration, approval seeking, immaturity, siblings, love, friendship, hope, belief.

Hocus Pocus 2 MESSAGE

 – Family and friends are more important than anything else.