The LEGO Hocus Pocus Sanderson Sister Cottage Is A Spooktacular Halloween Playset
It's Halloween, and what's the spooky season without a little "Hocus Pocus," my sweet children? The beloved Disney movie may have been a box office flop when it debuted in theaters back in the summer of 1993. But today, it's a seasonal favorite that many consider one of the greatest Halloween movies of all time. Just earlier this month, the movie re-entered the box office charts in the #10 spot, thanks to 30th anniversary screenings at theaters across the country. The love even spawned a long-anticipated sequel, and though it doesn't quite measure up to the original, there may be another one in the works at Disney.
In the meantime, for those who want more of the Sanderson Sisters stirring up trouble, LEGO has you covered. Earlier this year, the building brick company released a LEGO version of the creepy Sanderson Sisters' cottage, inspired by a fanmade LEGO Ideas creation that was voted on and fully approved by LEGO's creative committee. It's a full modular building of the famous location from the first movie that appeared to have some fantastic little details and the perfect assembly of minifigures, making for a spooktacular addition to your Halloween decor. LEGO was kind enough to send over the "Hocus Pocus" LEGO set for us to build ourselves, and it's just a delightful building brick creation. Let's take a closer look below!
Right out of the gate (and the minifigures)
Before we even get to the LEGO house, let's start at the very beginning with the construction of a nice little display piece that can be situated in front of the house. First, you're putting together a combination gate and graveyard display that is perfect for displaying the minifigures. There's a creepy tree, some twisty vines, a couple headstones, including one with a stone skeleton head, and a little sign on the gate that certainly won't keep any trespassers away, especially nosy children. Plus, there's a little black cat figurine included, officially making Thackery Binx part of the line-up. You'll notice (in the pictures below), that the display piece has hinges that allow you to shape it around the house for a more dynamic display.
Since this piece is made for showing off all the minifigures, let's just dig right into those too. It should be noted that you do not build all of these minifigures in the beginning of the build with this gate display. Instead, you build them one at a time at various points throughout the build, so don't be confused if you purchase this set and you have zero minifigures to begin with.
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It wouldn't be a "Hocus Pocus" LEGO set without the trio of Sanderson Sisters, played perfectly by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy. Each of them comes with their own accessory. Winifred (Midler) has green magic bolts for her hands, Sarah (Parker) has a little bottle with green potion in it, and Mary can hold what appears to be a frying pan. But the better accessories are what make them fly. Within the house, there's a broom, a mop, and yes, a vaccum. And situating Mary on the vacuum so she can take flight is one of the best touches.
That brings us to the movie's main characters, Max Dennison (Omri Katz), his sister Dani (Thora Birch), and his love interest Allison (Vinessa Shaw). Max doesn't get his own accessory, but it would have been nice if he got a bicycle, since that's how we're introduced to him in his new home of Salem, Massachusetts. As for Dani, she's dressed in her trick-or-treat outfit, so of course she comes with a little jack-o'-lantern candy pail. And finally, Allison gets a container of salt, so she can try to keep the witches from harming them.
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It should be noted that there were supposed to be five other minifigures included in this set. The original LEGO Ideas submission also included the zombie Billy Butcherson, the bullies Ernie (or "Ice") and Jay, and the ghosts of Thackery Binx and Emily Binx. However, they didn't make the final cut. It's kind of a bummer, because as you can see below, within house, there are two cages that Ice and Jay would have fit in perfectly, but instead they're occupied by skeletons.
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Perhaps the most disappointing removal is Billy, who would have been a great minifigure. Brick Fanastics asked LEGO Ideas Design Manager Jordan Scott why this happened, and he explained:
"It was a collaboration with Disney, because ultimately it's their IP, so they have final say on who goes in the product. We worked with them to make the designs for these characters."
So if you're mad about Billy Butcherson not making it into the set, you can blame Disney.
'Come little children, the times come to play'
All right, now let's dig into the house. As with many of the modular buildings from LEGO, you have to begin with the foundation. Since that's not a particularly exciting part of the build, we're just going to dig into the interior details. The house comes together as you build small sections of rooms, and with each section, you build another part of the walls that make up the house around the interior. There are tons of fun little details to be found within the house.
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Since the Sanderson cottage has been turned into a museum, there's a case for the spell book to sit in, a register station featuring a little spinning rack of postcards and brochures, and some velvet ropes blocking off certain areas, such as the Black Flame Candle. Plus, there are a lot of other candles in pretty much every part of the house. After all, the Sanderson sisters didn't have electricity, even though the museum probably does. It just sets a nice ambiance, okay?
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There's also a second floor to the house, which is where you'll find the Sanderson Sister's bedroom, complete with a bed that represents each of the color schemes of their wardrobe. We never seen the Sanderson Sisters sleeping, but it would appear as if they may have shared one big bed. Apparently being witches doesn't bring home a lot of money to afford separate sleeping arrangements.
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Back on the first floor, you'll find various potion bottles and chalices, as well as a trio of frogs, a skeleton head, and an assortment of cooking utensils for making some kind of witches brew. Speaking of which...
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In the middle of the floor, there's a black cauldron with a fire pit situated underneath. Little green bubble pieces are tossed inside to replicate a spooky concoction. But it's the fire pit that has one of the coolest features of the house. Thanks to a little mechanism under the foundation of the house, you can turn on a light-up brick that makes it appear as if the fire pit is burning.
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The house looks particular spooky if you turn off all the lights in the room and just let the glowing brick provide the light. I wish these glowing bricks were a little more common in LEGO sets, though of course they're not always necessary. Actually, I wish there was a way to easily incorporate this effect into other, smaller LEGO builds. It would be awesome to have light-up bricks in LEGO vehicles for lights, or something like a "Ghostbusters" trap that shines a bright white light out of it, maybe even lightsabers for the minifigures that have a glowing light. Perhaps the technology isn't compact enough for some of that, but that's what I'd like to see.
'My friends at school told me all about that place. It's weird!'
This is one of those instances where the exterior of a LEGO building isn't just about creating an accurate representation of a familiar pop culture location. Since this is a rundown cottage from long ago, the modular building style requires a little extra finesse than if you were building something like the Ghostbusters firehouse or Doctor Strange's Sanctum Santorum (both of which are amazing, by the way).
In this case, the exterior of the house has more than a few superb aesthetic touches that bring the house's personality to life. For example, the front has crooked rectangular pieces that make it appear as if the house is rundown and disheveled. Adding to that look is the overgrown vines that are crawling up the house in certain places. Meanwhile, the roof has tons of broken and missing shingles, as well as little leaves scattered about.
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You'll also notice that there's a plume of purple smoke coming out of the chimney, representing the witches conjuring up evil magic. The pieces themselves actually have a stylish little swirl in them to make them look a little more magical. What's particularly great about this element is that it's not just a stagnant piece of the build. Inside the house is a little mechanism that connects to the house's exterior waterwheel. When you spin the wheel outside the house, it moves the smoke up and down, giving it a simple animated feel.
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The back of the house isn't quite as impressive when it comes to style, though I do appreciate the addition of some ground elements, which help hide the fact that this side of the house swings open to reveal the interior. The way the house opens is actually much different than the original LEGO Ideas pitch. Honestly, the original option seems like might have been better for visibility inside the house, though it does seem to make the build a bit more complicated. Thankfully, one side of the roof can be opened up along with the back panels to get a proper look inside.
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Otherwise, there's the additional side section where there's a fireplace with pots and pans, and the chair where little Dani is interrogated by the Sanderson Sisters. That's one of the last parts of the build, and it detaches easily from the side of the house so you can create the scene and display it properly.
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Overall, this is quite an impressive build. In particular, I love all the touches that make the house feel like it's fallen into disrepair. It's always cool to see how LEGO's designers (and the master builders behind LEGO Ideas builds) figure out how to create intricate details with existing LEGO pieces. While it's a shame the minifigure roster wasn't a bit bigger as originally planned, this is the kind of LEGO set that you'll want to have on display, if not year-round, then at least every Halloween.