As a lifelong horror nerd, visiting Salem, Massachusetts for the first time felt like a rite of passage. I was 22 years old, freshly graduated from college, and finally experiencing what it was like to have enough savings to put money aside for travel. I’ll never forget the first time I drove into The Witch City, spotting the “Welcome to Salem” sign with the little witch icon underneath that I’d spot all over town, from store signs to police cars.
I was so excited to have finally made it to Salem for many reasons, but the reason that kept bubbling to the surface the most during my visit was that I was standing in the exact filming locations of my family’s favorite annual Halloween movie: Hocus Pocus.
For more: Check out Summerween movies to get you in the spirit.
It felt like I was taking my younger self on a film-set tour for a movie my parents plopped me in front of after trick-or-treating, annually from the time I was a toddler. At the risk of sounding trite, the visit felt magical.
Salem isn’t a huge city, so it was easy to wander and spot locations that felt like I had somehow tread before, only to realize it was a filming location for Hocus Pocus. It made me realize how much the city of Salem is the bedrock of the nostalgia that so many people feel towards the film. It’s the reason that filming for the newly announced Hocus Pocus sequel should return to Salem.
Hocus Pocus 2 was a polarizing film for many reasons. There’s a lot to be discussed around where it fits in terms of legacy sequels and how well it honored its nearly 20-year-old predecessor, and while it landed as fairly middling for me, the most glaring disappointment was that it wasn’t filmed in Salem.
Filming for Hocus Pocus 2 primarily took place in Providence, Rhode Island, and on a handful of sets. In fact, the only actual footage of Salem in the film is a brief aerial shot of the city, with the Sanderson Sisters green-screened flying over it. The omission of Salem makes the film feel largely hollow.
The original Hocus Pocus is lush with charm and, at times, grittiness, largely established by the locations. The scenes featuring Thackery Binx’s village during the 1600s were filmed in Salem’s Pioneer Village, which, if you watch now and notice how authentic it looks, is no surprise given that it’s America’s first living history museum.
Or consider the poignant exterior shots of Max and Dani’s seaside house, a house so strikingly New England-esque and iconic that there’s no wonder thousands annually flock to get pictures out front (including yours truly).
Now compare these filming sites to those featured in Hocus Pocus 2. One of the most pivotal scenes in the movie, when one of the main characters discovers she has latent magical abilities, takes place in a…Walgreens. It’s a funny scene that ends with Kathy Najimy iconically flying away on two Roombas, but the sterile setting of a Walgreens is a far cry from the mood established by the original's locations.
This is just one example of a pattern that plagues the entirety of Hocus Pocus 2: there are great moments that are diminished by the hollow environments in which they take place.
The original Hocus Pocus is silly (and has plenty of flaws of its own), but the realness beneath all its zaniness makes it a unique and memorable film. The performances by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy are so campy and over-the-top compared to the very authentic city they’ve spawned, which makes the film feel strangely real.
As someone who grew up adjacent to New England, the Halloween festivities, the house interiors, and decorations featured in the film feel like a Halloween I could truly experience in the next town over. Hocus Pocus 2 lacks the details that make the original feel like a visceral film you could step into. The artifice of Hocus Pocus 2’s sets blends into the performance of the Sanderson Sisters, and the result is a forgetful, sterile grey.
This isn’t to say that Hocus Pocus 3 is a lost cause–far from it, even, especially given how easily the main trio of witches were able to slip back into their characters. One of the most obvious ways that it can correct course is by heading back to where it originally captured the magic that has captivated so many. The idea feels even more prescient in the age of AI, when folks are craving more authenticity and experiences that feel more analog.
This is obviously easier said than done–especially given how much films like Hocus Pocus have dramatically influenced the tourism landscape of Salem. (In fact, any residents of Salem who might happen to read this would probably curse my name, given that the sheer volume of tourism in recent years has caused many issues and headaches around the city.)
But at the same time, it also fits into the larger meta-narrative that Hocus Pocus 2 has set up: the Sanderson Sisters have garnered a fanbase and notoriety. Why not have them actually return to the city that put them on the radar?
Go behind the scenes of Hocus Pocus with Makeup FX legend Tony Gardner.
In any case, Hocus Pocus has already been inducted into the horror hall of fame of films that have established iconic road trip destinations. There’s a reason why people still travel to California to see the Myers House, to Texas to see the iconic gas station from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, or to New Jersey to visit the camp where Friday the 13th was filmed.
Salem will remain intrinsically tied to Hocus Pocus, and presenting any other location in the sequels as a Salem stand-in will always create a gaping void that can’t be ignored. Give the original fans what they want and the newer generations something to love: film Hocus Pocus 3 in Salem!
