'Hocus Pocus' Turns 25 – Watch Young Sarah Jessica Parker Spill On Set Secrets From 1993! (Exclusive)
Can you believe it's been 25 years since a virgin lit the black flame candle?
Prepare to feel as old as Winifred Sanderson herself because the cult Halloween classic, Hocus Pocus, premiered on July 16, 1993.
And here's another spellbinding fact: the witch flick starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy was originally a summer box office flop, but it has since transformed into one of the most beloved movies of the fall season.
To celebrate this magical milestone, only ET is giving you a blast into the past with the stars on set, so grab your lucky rats tail and your fastest vacuum because it's time to run "Amok! Amok! Amok!" with the Sanderson sisters!
"Our mission is to suck the life out of children, but it's intended for children," Parker dished exclusively to our cameras on the set of Hocus Pocus in 1993. "I don’t know how they're going to market this movie."
"It seems scarier on paper," Najimy concurred in a separate interview. "But when you get me and Sarah and Bette in our characters and in our costumes, with the jokes everywhere and running around and bumping into each other, the sucking the lives out of kids becomes so secondary that it's not scary anymore."
"We're sort of like the three stooges – Bette, me and Kathy," Parker added. "I think Bette is nothing short of a genius. I really do."
Najimy was also quick to praise the brilliance of Midler's now-iconic role as the zombie-creating, book-adoring head witch, Winifred "Winnie" Sanderson. "The reason I said yes to the movie and I was really grateful that they asked me was because Bette Midler has been my idol for over 15 years," she gushed.
While Najimy played Mary Sanderson, the unwaveringly loyal sister with the gift of smelling when children are near, Parker played Sarah Sanderson, the ditsy-yet-deadly sister with the powers of luring little children through her siren song.
"I had this beautiful song that I get to sing that [Hocus Pocus composer] James Horner wrote. It's this beautiful, seductive, luring ballad but it's just minor enough to be scary and awful when you know who the person is," Parker explained with a coy smile. "I'm covertly scary. The rest of the witches – Kathy and Bette – they're very overt and there's no pretense at all. They're just evil, but I'm fundamentally evil. Their evil is calculated. Mine is just who I am, so that's why it's really, I think, more scary.
"I mean she's awful," Parker concluded of her character. "I don’t respect her, but I love her."
What are your favorite Hocus Pocus moments? Share your most wickedly wonderful GIFs with @ETnow on Twitter!
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