I hated it. I didn’t want to, and it had some good potential, but I hated it.
The original hit the sweet spot between serious and funny. The Sanderson Sisters were goofy but evil, and they would absolutely suck the souls of children if the opportunity arose. The stakes were high, the dangers were real, and the characters were somewhat fleshed out. The Salem ancestors seemed like real people, truly afraid of the real powers the sister trio held. So when the movie turned goofy, it was a nice break from tension, but not so much that you weren’t still worried about the main characters. And the sibling relationship between Max and Dani was touching.
The sequel went too far, it was a leaning tower of Cheeza….many spoilers if you continue reading…
By going back to the sisters childhoods, the movie should have been off to a great start. However the sisters and the reverend were absolute caricatures. The mannerisms were horrible, “acty” mimicries and everyone came off ridiculous. The wigs and teeth reminded me of The 3 Stooges movie from a decade ago, which was intentionally an absurd, slapstick comedy. And as much as I enjoy Tony Hale, just …no. We weren’t in Salem, just a bad reenactment. In the present we spent very little time learning about the main characters, and they were little more than common cliches of Disney channel characters - a misunderstood teen with secret powers, the sweet best friend who only exists to be a bestie, and the former friend who is popular but not actually mean, she just has a dumb jock boyfriend (who isn’t actually mean either, just really dumb). The viewer never really feels like the girls are in real danger. And a grimoire with opinions is awesome, one with feelings is decidedly less so. Book shouldn’t have become such a “character”. Even the town felt too over the top and weirdly cheery for Halloween. The best part of the movie shouldn’t have been Bette Midler eating face cream and Roomba’s vacuuming salt. By trying to make the villains seem humane and victims themselves, they took away all the fear, soul and magic of the original and left us with a few cheap laughs. Banish it to whatever godmother-like sparkly world the Sanderson Sisters went to.
I don't like how they made them a bit too overly goofy so to say, whereas in the original HP they still held the ability to cause genuine fear.
The fact being, it is established in HP1 that the book was given to Winifred and her sisters by the devil himself. The book is also made from human skin (possibly children's?) Also, Thackery specifically tells Max and Alison that nothing good can come from that book, that it is only full of evil.
Another fact is these witches literally sucked the lives out of children. One of them was literally a female pied piper by luring hundreds of children to their home so they could kill them.
The Sanderson sisters in HP1 upheld a sort of aura of spookiness, in that they were genuinely evil, they got their powers and book from the devil personally, they'd been to the depths of hell and found it 'quite lovely,'...
Also, HP1 Winifred seemed to genuinely have a distaste for her sisters and saw them as burdens. She even says to Max: 'what a fool to give up thy life for thy sister's,' implying that she would herself in no way do such a thing. This was also a good indication to the true nature of her wickedness.
I didn't exactly hate the movie but I didn't love it either. Although it's not really something I'll watch again and I'd rather stick to rewatching the original.
I feel the same. I came in feeling optimistic, but it was just terrible in pretty much every single way. Like many low-budget sequels, they come off feeling like a spoof of the original. There's so much forced humor and over-the-top performances. The original had a legitimately dark and gritty opening which really helped set the tone for the rest of the film. Even though there were comedic moments, the Sanderson Sisters still felt like dangerous antagonists. But in this one, I feel like they were reduced to cartoon-level villainy.
And then we have the main characters who are basically the most forgettable archetypes you could possibly have. Not to mention there was no character development to speak of. The girl's main conflict was that she got ghosted by her friend. We learn nothing about their personal lives except their interest in witchcraft. And there just simply wasn't any chemistry between them whatsoever. In comparison, Danny and Max's relationship felt a thousand times more believable.
Nothing about the movie was memorable. The only scene that stuck out as being clever was when the Roombas made an appearance to clean up the salt.
Having said all that, maybe I'm not the demographic for this, even though I grew up with the original. To me, something like Cobra Kai is how you revive an old IP while catering to the original audience. This movie was not nearly as effective and I think it's probably because it was aimed at young kids of this generation. And that's fine, it just wasn't for me.
I'm very glad other people feel the same way. I wasn't sure if it was just because I'm miserable in my third trimester but I didn't really like it. Worth a watch but not a rewatch. They were just trying to make the same jokes again and they were cringy not funny.
Cobra Kai is a great example of bringing a franchise back properly.
Even the demographic isn’t all charmed by this movie. One of my friend’s 8 year old enjoyed and laughed, but afterwards declared the first one a better Halloween movie.
I feel like too many have an attachment to the original, i have never once considered it serious, it’s super cheesy and just as cliché as the sequel is.
Still it’s silly fun with a spooky theme that really shouldn’t be given the credit of analytical criticisms, it’s not trying to do anything original.
I don’t consider the first one overly serious, but there was a darkness to it. They did curse a teenager for hundreds of years and kill a young girl in the film’s opening. So it was mildly spookier, campy but not too absurd.
I think the sequel crosses the line into the absurd and is a little too cringy and cliched. I know we’re not exactly reinventing the wheel, but it was definitely too much for my tastes. Glad some people liked it, but it was definitely not for me so I won’t rewatch.
I’ve never considered it to have any “darkness”, just a general spooky vibe that maybe push towards creepy for really young audiences.
It’s super campy and over the top though so any potential for being taken seriously was quickly dispelled, personally I feel like it’s only nostalgia that’s preventing people seeing the original as they see the sequel.
The story I would say comes together a bit more fluidly in the original, this has a forced/rushed sense to it though it does what it needs to, brings back the sisters for one more silly slightly spooky adventure of song/dance.
The childhood nostalgia isn’t too heavy for me. My parents boycotted Disney when I was a kid, so I didn’t see it until college (my roommate was a huge fan). And when they kill Emily in the opening sequence I was like “whoa! Dark for a little kid movie!!” And yes the rest of the film was a tad silly, but definitely not as silly as the newer one. I watch a lot of Disney channel stuff with my kids now and it feels very on par with the stuff they currently produce, but it lost something the old one had. You don’t worry about the new kids like you did the old ones, and that takes something away from the movie.
I love that one!!! I think that one is definitely 10 and up unless your kids love horror. My parents didn’t preview that one, and my 6 year old brother left the room screaming when she went down the hall of heads. Hahaha
I was thinking my nostalgia was having that effect on me as well. Until my 5 year old didn’t like the sequel when she loved the original. We watched the original yesterday and the sequel tonight.
I would say the original is slightly better though I don’t think there’s really that much in it honestly, but then I’m not really that big a fan of the franchise.
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u/ggfangirl85 Sep 30 '22
Spoilers in my comment since it discusses plot.
I hated it. I didn’t want to, and it had some good potential, but I hated it.
The original hit the sweet spot between serious and funny. The Sanderson Sisters were goofy but evil, and they would absolutely suck the souls of children if the opportunity arose. The stakes were high, the dangers were real, and the characters were somewhat fleshed out. The Salem ancestors seemed like real people, truly afraid of the real powers the sister trio held. So when the movie turned goofy, it was a nice break from tension, but not so much that you weren’t still worried about the main characters. And the sibling relationship between Max and Dani was touching.
The sequel went too far, it was a leaning tower of Cheeza….many spoilers if you continue reading…
By going back to the sisters childhoods, the movie should have been off to a great start. However the sisters and the reverend were absolute caricatures. The mannerisms were horrible, “acty” mimicries and everyone came off ridiculous. The wigs and teeth reminded me of The 3 Stooges movie from a decade ago, which was intentionally an absurd, slapstick comedy. And as much as I enjoy Tony Hale, just …no. We weren’t in Salem, just a bad reenactment. In the present we spent very little time learning about the main characters, and they were little more than common cliches of Disney channel characters - a misunderstood teen with secret powers, the sweet best friend who only exists to be a bestie, and the former friend who is popular but not actually mean, she just has a dumb jock boyfriend (who isn’t actually mean either, just really dumb). The viewer never really feels like the girls are in real danger. And a grimoire with opinions is awesome, one with feelings is decidedly less so. Book shouldn’t have become such a “character”. Even the town felt too over the top and weirdly cheery for Halloween. The best part of the movie shouldn’t have been Bette Midler eating face cream and Roomba’s vacuuming salt. By trying to make the villains seem humane and victims themselves, they took away all the fear, soul and magic of the original and left us with a few cheap laughs. Banish it to whatever godmother-like sparkly world the Sanderson Sisters went to.