Secret Girlfriend of the Week: SJP in Hocus Pocus

Ah, Halloween. Is there any better holiday than one that centers around 1) chocolate, 2) scaring the bejeesus out of people, and 3) chocolate? You might say Christmas, but that shit's a lot of work. At Halloween all you need to do is throw on a sheet and grab some candy and you are set.

And one of the best parts of the holiday is the plethora of scary movies on television through the month of October. But sometimes you aren't in the mood to be actually scared--you want the comfort food equivalent of horror. For me, it's the Disney movie Hocus Pocus, a Halloween staple.

Just in case you live under a rock or are a communist or something and haven't seen Hocus Pocus--here are the basics. Teenager Max and his little sister have recently moved to Salem, Massachusetts. On Halloween, while trying to impress a girl, Max releases the Sanderson sisters, a trio of nasty witches, from their 300 year old grave. The witches have one night to absorb the souls of children in the town or it's back to dead for them. Hijinks ensue, and while the concept might sound scary the movie is actually silly fun. It doesn't hurt that the Sanderson sisters are played by Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker.

Ah, SJP. Hocus Pocus came out in 1993, so before Sex and the City made her a household name, and she plays the youngest witch sister, Sarah. Or the "sexy" one if you prefer. As much as a 300 year old witch can be sexy.

See, she's the "hot" one.

Bette Midler is clearly the star of the witch trio, but if you keep your eyes on SJP during the movie you'll see that she's actually kind of brilliant. While mostly in the background, she's constantly performing bits of physical comedy (munching on spiders, hanging off random fence gates, getting beat up by Bette) and it makes me wonder how much was on the spot ad libbing.

She also gets a brief moment to show off her pipes (SJP did a lot of musical theater--seriously look it up) and its nice to see her acting totally goofy before she got caught up in all that Carrie Bradshaw stuff. While rewatching it on Halloween I enjoyed her performance more than any other part of the movie--which came as kind of a surprise.

So SJP gets an MVP trophy and the distinction of being the TV Sluts Secret Girlfriend of the Week. Work that witch stuff girl, snaps!