Double, Double, Toil And Trouble
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''Double, Double, Toil and Trouble'' is a 1993 American
Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...
made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...
children's film A children's film, or family film, is a film genre that generally relates to children in the context of home and family. Children's films are made specifically for children and not necessarily for a general audience, while family films are made f ...
. It stars
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Fuller Olsen (born June 13, 1986), also known as the Olsen twins, are American fashion designers and former actresses. Mary-Kate Olsen, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Ashley made their acting debut as infants playing Mi ...
as two adventurous little girls who discover that their Great Aunt Sophia has been trapped and cursed by her evil twin sister Agatha. On the 7th year of her imprisonment, Sophia will be doomed to the netherworld unless the curse is broken by the magical spell of twins. The film's title is part of the famous line spoken by the
three witches The Three Witches, also known as the Weird Sisters, Weyward Sisters or Wayward Sisters, are characters in William Shakespeare's play ''Macbeth'' (c. 1603–1607). The witches eventually lead Macbeth (Macbeth), Macbeth to his demise, and they ...
in Shakespeare's ''
Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...
'' (Act IV, Scene I): "Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble."


Plot

7-year-olds twins Kelly ( Mary-Kate Olsen) and Lynn Farmer's (
Ashley Olsen Ashley Fuller Olsen (born June 13, 1986) is an American businesswoman, fashion designer and former actress. She began her acting career at the age of nine months, sharing the role of Michelle Tanner with her twin sister Mary-Kate Olsen in the ...
) parents, Don (
Eric McCormack Eric James McCormack (born April 18, 1963) is a Canadian and American actor known for his roles as Will Truman in the NBC sitcom ''Will & Grace'', Grant MacLaren in Netflix's ''Travelers (TV series), Travelers'', and Dr. Daniel Pierce in the T ...
) and Christine (Kelli Fox), are deeply in debt and in danger of losing their home. During the
Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...
season, they visit Christine's cold and cruel Aunt Agatha (
Cloris Leachman Cloris Leachman (April 30, 1926 – January 27, 2021) was an American actress and comedian whose career spanned nearly eight decades. She received many accolades including 22 Primetime Emmy nominations and won eight, tying Julia Louis-Dreyfus ...
) to ask for a loan, which is immediately refused. While the girls wait outside, they meet Agatha's grave digger ( Wayne Robson) who tells them the story of Agatha's twin sister Sophia (also played by Cloris Leachman) who is trapped inside the house. He explains to the girls that Agatha's home once belonged to a powerful witch who, before being burned at the stake 200 years before, had hidden her moonstone, the rare gem which gave her power. As children, Agatha and Sophia, tired of being twins, heard the tale and began looking for the stone in hopes of using its power to no longer look like each other. Agatha found the moonstone but hid it from her sister and instead began using the magic it possessed to make her sister's life miserable. Years later on Halloween, Sophia and her fiancé George ( Matthew Walker), now Agatha's butler, prepared to elope and begin their life together, but Agatha, out of jealously and rage, cast a spell that banished her sister into the netherworld through a mirror, which she keeps hidden in the attic. On the 7th year at midnight, this Halloween, the spell will become permanent and there will be no way for Sophia to be rescued. Back at home, Kelly and Lynn learn of their parents' financial problems. Christine expresses that if Aunt Sophia were still around, she would be able to help them. Knowing this, the girls begin a rescue mission to free Aunt Sophia before it is too late. The spell can only be broken by twins who have possession of the moonstone, so Kelly and Lynn's ultimate goal is to apprehend it. The only problem is, Aunt Agatha wears the gem around her neck at all times. While out trick or treating, they swap costumes with two other kids so they are able to get away from their parents. The first person they meet is a homeless man who dreams of money and stardom, Mr. N (
Meshach Taylor Meshach Taylor (; April 11, 1947 – June 28, 2014) was an American actor, widely known for his role as Anthony Bouvier on the CBS sitcom '' Designing Women'' (1986–93), for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstandin ...
), who offers to help the girls because they should not be on such a dangerous journey without an adult. The girls carry with them a toy magic wand that they won at a Halloween party, which actually has unexplained genuine magical powers (though it is heavily implied that the twins have the magical powers and not the wand). Kelly, Lynn and Mr. N visit a phony psychic to ask where they are able to find the witches gathering that Aunt Agatha will attend that night. Lulu is unable to answer and instead they use the wand to find the location and set off again by hitching a ride on a pumpkin truck. They get dropped off near a woods and find a small house deep inside, the home of a man named Oscar ( Phil Fondacaro) who wishes to be taller. They tell him the whole story and he agrees to go along with them. Meanwhile, Don and Christine discover the girls have gone and inform the police. Aunt Agatha overhears the girls' plan using the magic mirror and begins a plan to get rid of them. She is threatened by their presence because she knows that the power of twins combined is superior to her own. Kelly, Lynn, Mr. N and Oscar turn up at the gathering in costumes in hopes of fitting in and they oversee the events inside. Aunt Agatha reveals the story of her spell on her sister to the crowd while Mr. N and Oscar create a plan to try to get her to hand over the moonstone, which she does, intrigued by their promise to double her power. However, they are soon found out and are chased through town. They decide to split up; Lynn, who has the moonstone, with Oscar, and Kelly goes with Mr. N. Followed by Agatha and her butler, Kelly and Mr. N run into a dead end at an abandoned warehouse. Mr. N goes out to confront Agatha, but she turns him into a crow, leaving Kelly alone. Later on, Aunt Sophia appears to Kelly, expressing that Lynn and Oscar have freed her, but Kelly realizes it is a trick and that Aunt Agatha has transformed herself to try and catch her. She manages to get away but is then caught by George when she flees from the building. Mr. N, as a crow, finds Lynn and Oscar to tell them what has happened (but not before puncturing one of Agatha's tires off-screen to help Lynn and Oscar buy time). Lynn starts to panic since she and Kelly have never been apart, and Kelly is probably scared all by herself. In the same part of town, Lynn finds where Mr. Gravedigger lives and goes to ask for his help in getting to Agatha's house. On their way, the police officer looking for the girls sees them driving away. She informs Don and Christine where she saw them, and Christine realizes it is near Aunt Agatha's mansion, so that is probably where they are heading. Fifteen minutes to midnight, the group break into the house to search for the mirror. Lynn hears Aunt Sophia crying out for help in the attic, and she goes to investigate. The good news is, Lynn has the moonstone, but the bad news is that Kelly is not there, and she needs both twins to free her. Minutes later, Agatha, George, and Kelly arrive. Agatha tries to persuade Lynn into betraying her sister, but Lynn refuses. Still, she promises to hand over the moonstone if Agatha lets everyone go, to which Agatha agrees. Lynn places the moonstone on the floor, and then Aunt Agatha breaks her end of the promise, threatening to turn everybody into animals forever. Mr. N flies down the staircase and snatches the moonstone away in his beak, while Kelly escapes from George's watch, and the girls flee upstairs to free Sophia together. Oscar and Gravedigger are turned into turtles when they make their last stand towards Agatha. The twins ask Sophia what the incantation is, but Sophia reveals that it has to come from their hearts. Aunt Agatha bursts into the room laughing, revealing that it is after midnight. Lynn and Kelly tell each other that they love each other and want to be sisters no matter what anybody else says or thinks, and Sophia is finally freed. Lynn explains she pushed the clock ahead by five minutes, so it was not too late after all. Enraged, Agatha attempts to push her sister back into the mirror, but the twins fight back, and Agatha falls into the mirror herself. All of Agatha's dark magic is destroyed, and the mirror is shattered, thus trapping her in the netherworld forever. Don and Christine arrive at the mansion to find Sophia safe and happily returned. Everyone keeps what happened a secret, preferring to tell them that Agatha went on a long trip to "reflect." Kelly and Lynn thank their new friends for helping them out: Mr. Gravedigger for his courage and bravery when standing up to "you know who," Oscar for his fabulous plans and distractions, and Mr. N for being their first companion who looked out for them on the road. He tells them he has also learned that money is just money and that friends are more important. Aunt Sophia and George fall in love all over again and redecorate the mansion, so it is a second home for the whole family. She also agrees to give the Farmers the money they need to save their home. Days later, while enjoying family time in the garden, Lynn and Kelly are cleaning up the broken mirror in the attic, and they see Aunt Agatha in one of the broken pieces. She asks for help, but the twins say "no chance" and walk out of the attic while holding hands and the magic wand. The movie ends with Aunt Agatha shouting, "I hate Halloween!"


Cast


Release

The movie was filmed in
Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
,
British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
, Canada. It debuted in the United States on October 30, 1993.


Awards and nominations

In 1994, there was an
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
nomination for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Composition for a Miniseries or a Special (Dramatic Underscore) for composer Richard Bellis. In the same year,
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Fuller Olsen (born June 13, 1986), also known as the Olsen twins, are American fashion designers and former actresses. Mary-Kate Olsen, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Ashley made their acting debut as infants playing Mi ...
were also nominated and won the
Young Artist Award The Young Artist Award (originally known as the Youth in Film Award) is an accolade presented by the Young Artist Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 to honor excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young ...
for Best Youth Actress in a TV Mini-Series, Movie of the Week, or Special.


See also

*
List of films set around Halloween This is a list of films set on or around Halloween. Children's and family * '' A-Haunting We Will Go'' (1966) * '' The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad'' (1949) * '' The Addams Family'' (1991) * '' The Addams Family'' (2019) * '' Alpha and Ome ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Double, Double, Toil And Trouble 1990s children's fantasy films 1993 films 1993 children's films 1993 television films 1993 horror films 1993 comedy films American supernatural horror films Children's horror films American fantasy comedy films American films about Halloween American television films Films about curses Films about twin sisters Films about witchcraft Fiction about twins Films directed by Stuart Margolin 1990s American films Films shot in Vancouver