Hocus Pocus

On Halloween evening one of my all time favourite movies was on TV, Hocus Pocus! It is a 1993 movie about the three Sanderson sisters that were resurrected in Salem after three centuries by a teenage boy and his girl crush, his little sister and a talking cat on Halloween night and follows their hilarious journey to end the witches reign of terror once and for all!
The Sanderson sisters had been executed in 1693 in the witch hunt era in Salem for the horrifying acts they committed which was sucking the life out of little children to remain youthful forever. After they were killed the only way they could live again was if a virgin lit the black flamed candle on the night of Halloween. It stars Sarah Jessica Parker as Sarah, Kathy Najimi as Mary and Bette Midler as Winifred.

 Winifred is the oldest, ugliest and most evil of the three Sanderson sisters. Her look is very obviously inspired by the Elizabethan period with her heart shaped red hair that is the signature look of Queen Elizabeth I, pale skin, blushed cheeks, heart shaped red lips and undefined eyebrows. She is the most prominent personality of the three sisters and incredibly bossy, she is almost the Queen of the trio and her sisters appear as her sidekicks. Her teeth are a particularly ugly part of her make-up and are hard to miss as they are abnormally large and create a rat-like look to her face. The look designed for Winifred helps to portray her unkind and ugly personality and I think it does this perfectly. As well as the make-up and hair design, her costume is very Elizabethan looking in the style, shape, colours, material and detail. 

 

Throughout the film as the witches begin to age during their unsuccessful quest to find children to make them remain youthful. The make-up artists did an amazing job at showing them deteriorate and Winifred becomes uglier and uglier.  Lee Harman was Bette's make-up artist, Hazel Catmull was her hair stylist and Kevin Haney was the make-up in charge of her aging. I love the make-up and hair in this film and after watching this film over and over again I realised it is very relevant to our current project due to the heavy Elizabethan influence, although I feel it is quite unfair to Queen Elizabeth I to be connected to such a hideous and revolting character such as Winifred Saunders!

 

 References:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107120/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm
http://www.themakeupgallery.info/horror/witch/hocus.htm