Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

Hocus Pocus
Theatrical release poster by Drew Struzan
Directed by	Kenny Ortega
Produced by	Joe Roth Steven Haft David Kirschner
Screenplay by	Mick Garris David M. Evans Neil Cuthbert
Story by	David Kirschner Mick Garris
Starring	Bette Midler Sarah Jessica Parker Kathy Najimy Omri Katz Thora Birch Vinessa Shaw
Music by	John Debney (Score) James Horner (Song)
Cinematography	Hiro Narita
Editing by	Peter E. Berger
Studio	Caravan Pictures
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures
Release date(s)	July 16, 1993 (1993-07-16)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$28 million
Box office	$39,514,713

Hocus Pocus is a 1993 Halloween-themed fantasy/comedy film that was released by Disney and directed by Kenny Ortega. The film tells the story of a Halloween-hating teenager named Max, who inadvertently resurrects three witches, The Sanderson Sisters, from their temporary death and must risk his life to protect his sister and defeat them with the help of a classmate crush, a friendly zombie, and an immortal black cat. The film stars Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy as the sisters, and Omri Katz, Thora Birch and Vinessa Shaw as the main heroes.

Plot

In 1693 Salem, Massachusetts, Thackery Binx (Sean Murray) is awakened and notices that his young sister Emily (Jodie Rivera) is being lured into the woods by an old hag. Thackery gives chase, arriving at a cottage as Emily is led inside by the woman. The cottage is home of the Sanderson sisters, Mary (Kathy Najimy), Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Winifred (Bette Midler), a trio of evil witches. It is revealed that they are brewing a potion with which to absorb life force out of young children to regain their youth. Thackery is too late, however and Emily drinks the potion. After subduing Thackery with her powers, Winifred, along with Mary and Sarah share the life force from young Emily making them young. When Thackery insults Winifred, she decides not to kill him as punishment, and to their amusement the trio transform Thackery into a black cat and curse him with immortality, thus forcing him to live forever with the guilt of failing to save his sister from death. The townspeople, led by Thackery and Emily's parents come and capture the sisters to hang them; however Winifred casts a curse that on Halloween night when the moon is full a virgin will summon them back from the dead so they can claim all the lives of the children in Salem.

Three hundred years later, a teenager named Max Dennison (Omri Katz) is angry because of the fact that he had to move to Salem from his hometown of Los Angeles, California. He is also less enthusiastic and skeptical of the story of the Sanderson sisters. One day, he is accosted by two high school bullies Jay and Ernie "Ice" who steal his shoes when he doesn't have cash or bud. His younger sister, Dani (Thora Birch), on the other hand, is completely enthralled with the holiday and dresses up as a witch for Halloween night. Max, who objects to taking Dani out trick-or-treating, is suddenly forced to by their parents as they will be going to the Town Hall for an adult party and won't be able to take her. After another confrontation with Jay and Ice, Max upsets Dani and apologizes for his behavior. They arrive at a large mansion that just so happens to be the home of Max's crush from school Alison (Vinessa Shaw); when Dani expresses an interest in the Sanderson sisters, they leave the party and go to the old Sanderson house, a former museum which was soon abandoned due to "spooky things" happening there. While they're there, Max finds the Black Flame candle, which is rumored to raise the spirits of the dead on Halloween Night if lit by a virgin. Still disbelieving all the "hocus pocus" he lights the candle and the house suddenly comes to life; candles light in place of the glass bulbs, the floorboards shake, the cauldron lights and it culminates in the sisters reentering their front door for the first time in three centuries. Mary quickly finds Dani with her power to sniff out children, but Max interrupts before they can harm her. He tricks the trio into thinking he is a wizard using a lighter to summon the "Burning Rain of Death" (the fire alarm system) in the house. Before he can leave, however, Binx, who can now talk as a cat (Jason Marsden) makes Max grab the spellbook so the women can't create their life stealing potion. They soon give chase and Binx leads the kids to a graveyard, telling them stories of the sisters, Alison deduces who he is. As the witches can't set foot on hallowed ground, and air assaults are useless to the quickly moving children, Winifred summons her old lover Billy Butcherson (Doug Jones), a ghoul whose mouth was sewn shut with a dull needle so he can't divulge Winnie's secrets, to chase them. They escape through the sewers and Max knocks Billy's head off.

The sisters encounter a bus and Sarah is driving it when Binx emerges from the sewers. Max and the others witness his death and resurrection due to the curse that he can't die. Meanwhile, unable to track Max and the others, the sisters encounter costumed children furthering their confusion of Halloween Night. After an encounter with a man dressed as Satan and mistaking him for their true master who is wed to Medusa (a woman with snake-like curlers in her hair), Winnie realizes the truth of Halloween, while their broomsticks are stolen by children dressed as them. Max and the others try to tell the police, but find a man costumed as a police officer instead. They go to warn their parents, but the sisters arrive and in a big song and dance number, discredit their claims and curse the adults to dance until they die. The kids lure the sisters to the high school and into a kiln where they are apparently burned to death. The sisters are resurrected and return home defeated, Winifred is unable to remember the ingredients to the potion and they fall into despair as it was earlier established that the candle only brought them back to life for that night, and unless they can use the potion on children by sunrise, they cease to exist. As Dani and Binx rest, Alison and Max, despite the warnings that nothing good can come from the book, open it to find a cure for his immortality. The book signals the sisters who use a corn broom, a mop, and a Hoover vacuum cleaner to fly to its location. They secretly invade the house and grab the book, Binx, and Dani before violently exploding from the house, but not before Winifred reveals the nature of the spell that brought them back to Alison. Sarah uses her power, a siren song to lure the children of Salem to their house.

Max and Allison give chase and Max manages to trick the sisters again using the headlights of his parents' car to simulate sunrise. In the confusion, he frees Dani and Binx and they return to the graveyard to hold out against the sisters. They encounter Billy and using a knife to sever the stitches on his lips, he apparently breaks the control Winnie has over him and joins the kids against them. They hold out well to start with, but Dani exits her protected grave plot when Winnie kicks off Billy's head and she uses this to her advantage, swooping down and taking Dani. Binx saves her by knocking the last vial of the life stealing potion out of Winnie's hand, which Max catches and drinks to take her place. Winnie drops Dani and picks up Max to drain his life force, but Alison, Dani and Billy cause a distraction using Sarah and Mary which gives Max the opportunity to knock both himself and Winifred to the ground as the other two fly up into the sky out of control. Winifred recovers and tries to steal Max's life force, but because she is standing on hallowed ground, she turns to stone. As the sun comes up, Mary and Sarah bid their goodbyes dramatically before exploding, followed shortly after by Winnie's statue exploding. They bid farewell to Billy, who returns to his grave, and Dani finds Binx, who had died after being thrown against the rock. The sisters are dead, the spell was broken and his soul was finally freed to move on. They meet Thackery's ghost and he bids farewell to Alison and Max, before kissing Dani on the cheek and leaving with his sister. As they walk out of sight, Thackery is apologizing to Emily for taking so long to find her, and they disappear into the afterlife together.

Meanwhile, Jay and Ice, who had been kidnapped and caged by the sisters, are singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat in their boredom. The eye of the book below them opens up and looks around, hinting that perhaps the sisters aren't completely gone after all. Shown as the credits roll, Max and Dani's parents are shown emerging from the Town Hall with the other adults, covered in sweat and complimenting on how Salem knows how to throw a party, unaware they were uncontrollably dancing the night away.

Cast

The Sanderson Sisters

• Bette Midler as Winifred "Winnie" Sanderson, the leader of the Sanderson sisters and the main antagonist. She is the eldest and is highly sensitive to people calling her ugly and has a very short temper. Generally the most intelligent of the three sisters, however she is prone to being melodramatic. She has the power of electrokinesis.
• Kathy Najimy as Mary Sanderson, the middle witch sister and second of the secondary antagonists. Often complimenting and comforting Winnie, Mary constantly seeks Winnie's approval. She has the ability to sniff out the presence of children and has a tendency to bark in a Curly Howard-like fashion. She is the most observant of the three.
• Sarah Jessica Parker as Sarah Sanderson, the youngest witch sister and one of the secondary antagonists. She uses a siren-like ability to lure children to the Sanderson home. She sings a song called "Come Little Children" to lure the children to the home, to suck their lives to become younger. She is not particularly intelligent and she is often prancing around and goofing off. She is the most beautiful of the three which makes her have the tendency to attract boys and flirt with them.

Main Cast

• Omri Katz as Max Dennison, the main protagonist. A teenager upset at having to move to the small town of Salem from Los Angeles. He is initially cynical towards Halloween, but is persuaded by his sister, Dani, to go out. He has a crush on Allison and strives to impress her. He inadvertently releases the Sanderson sisters from beyond the grave. Although he bickers with Dani, they still clearly love each other, as he willingly drank the potion Winnie planned on feeding her, thereby sacrificing himself for his sister. His character is shamed throughout the movie for being a virgin, which caused the witches to resurrect.
• Thora Birch as Dani Dennison, Max's 8-year old sister. She is around the same age as Emily was, which is the reason why Binx bonds closely with her. She is somewhat volatile, such as screaming when Max refuses to take her trick-or-treating, but she is very brave and is very upset when Binx dies, although cheers up when his ghost comforts her. She argues with Max, but they evidently care about each other.
• Vinessa Shaw as Allison, Max's love interest and native Salem resident. Her family owns pieces of the town's history giving her an in-depth knowledge of the Sanderson Sisters and their past.
• Sean Murray as Thackery Binx (body double in human form) (Jason Marsden as his voice in both human and cat forms) a teenager from 1693 who has a little sister, Emily, whom he follows into the woods and fails to prevent her death at the hands of the Sanderson sisters sucking her life force from her. He is since then cursed as an immortal cat, feeling uncontrollable guilt over her death he guides Max, Dani and Allison in fighting back against the sisters. He is particularly close to Dani, due to her reminding him of Emily, and warns Max, "Protect Dani, Max. You'll never know how precious she is until you lose her."
• Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson, once Winifred Sanderson's lover, now a zombie, Billy was caught sporting with Sarah and was punished by Winnie. Having been poisoned, in death Winnie sewed his mouth shut with a dull needle. Upon cutting the stiches he insults Winifred. Saying to Max that he has waited centuries to insult her. He then joins side with the kids to defeat the Sanderson sisters.
• Charles Rocket as Dave Dennison, Max and Dani's father.
• Stephanie Faracy as Jenny Dennison, Max and Dani's mother.

Other Cast

• Jodie Rivera as Emily Binx, Thackery's sister who was lured in by Sarah Sanderson and had her life force sucked out by the sisters while Thackery watched.
• Larry Bagby as Ernie / "Ice", the leader of a group of high school bullies.
• Tobias Jelinek as Jay, a blond haired punk.
• Rodrigo Castaneda as Elijah, a boy from a farm in 1693.
• Norbert Weisser as Mr. Binx, the father of Emily and Thackery.
• Kathleen Freeman as Miss Olin, Max's and Allison's teacher.
• Jason Marsden as the cat version of Thackery Binx who is the guide of the children.
• Garry Marshall as "The Devil", a man wearing a devil costume who the Sanderson sisters assume to be their "Master" (referring to Satan). Flattered by this, he wholeheartedly welcomes them into his home. Penny Marshall (Garry's sister), plays the "Devil's" wife. They assume she's Medusa, because of her curlers, which look like snakes.

Production

Hocus Pocus started life as a script for a special original movie for the Disney Channel, to be produced by one of the smaller studios owned by The Walt Disney Company. The script, however, caught the eye of Walt Disney Studios who decided that the film was strong enough to carry well-known names and to attract a cinema audience. The film has (as pointed out by most critics) a strange virgin concept strung along. The idea to cast Bette Midler was partly inspired by Midler's Golden Globe-nominated performance in a milestone motion picture for The Walt Disney Company on its Touchstone Pictures line, Down and Out in Beverly Hills. Midler, who plays the central antagonist of the film, is quoted as saying that "Hocus Pocus was the most fun I'd had in my career up to that point."

The movie is set in Salem, MA, but most of it was filmed on sound stages in Los Angeles studios. However, most exteriors were filmed in Salem and Marblehead, MA during two weeks of filming with principle cast.

Release

Theatrical

Hocus Pocus was released in the United States and Canada on July 16, 1993, opening in fourth place with $8.1 million. Following a sophomore gross of $5.2 million, the film fell out of the top ten, ending its domestic box office run with $39.5 million. The film was released to foreign markets in October 1994.

Home video and television

The film was released to VHS in North America on September 9, 1994. And later to DVD on June 4, 2002. Following the film's release on the latter format, it has continued to show strong annual sales. Raking in more than $1 million in DVD sales each October. In the mid to late 1990s, the film was rebroadcast annually on ABC, before switching over to ABC Family's 13 Nights of Halloween lineup, in the early 2000s. The film has continuously brought record viewing numbers to the lineup. Including a 2009 broadcast watched by 2.5 million viewers. In 2011, an October 29th airing became the lineup's most watched program, with 2.8 million viewers. As of September 2010, it is the most played film on the television station RTÉ in Ireland.

Reception

Upon its U.S. release, Hocus Pocus received rather mixed reviews from film critics. The Miami Herald called it "a pretty lackluster affair", adding this comment: "Despite the triple-threat actress combo, Hocus Pocus won't be the Sister Act of 1993. There are a lot of gotta-sees this summer, and this isn't one of them." The New York Times' Janet Maslin wrote that the film "has flashes of visual stylishness but virtually no grip on its story". Ty Burr of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C-, calling it "acceptable scary-silly kid fodder that adults will find only mildly insulting. Unless they're Bette Midler fans. In which case it's depressing as hell"; and stating that while Najimy and Parker "have their moments of ramshackle comic inspiration, and the passable special effects should keep younger campers transfixed [...] the sight of the Divine Miss M. mugging her way through a cheesy supernatural kiddie comedy is, to say the least, dispiriting." On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Hocus Pocus has a "Rotten" score of 32%, based on twenty-two reviews.

Legacy

Over the years, through various outlets such as strong DVD sales, and annual record-breaking showings on 13 Nights of Halloween, the film has achieved cult status. Various media outlets from International Business Times, to Celebuzz, and Oh No They Didn't have reiterated such claims. In October 2011, the Houston Symphony celebrated various horror and Halloween classics, including Hocus Pocus, with "The Hocus Pocus Pops".

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Result
1994	Saturn Awards	Best Actress — Bette Midler	Nominated
		Best Supporting Actress — Kathy Najimy	Nominated
		Best Fantasy Film	Nominated
		Best Special Effects	Nominated
		Best Costumes	Won
	Young Artist Awards	Best Youth Actress Leading Role in a Motion Picture Comedy — Thora Birch	Won
		Best Youth Actress Leading Role in a Motion Picture Comedy — Vinessa Shaw	Nominated
		Best Youth Actor Leading Role in a Motion Picture Comedy — Omri Katz	Nominated
		Best Youth Actor Leading Role in a Motion Picture Comedy — Sean Murray	Nominated
		Best Youth Actor in a Voice Over Role - TV or Movie — Jason Marsden	Nominated

See also

• Salem witch trials
• List of American films of 1993

External links

• Hocus Pocus at the Internet Movie Database
• Hocus Pocus at AllRovi
• Hocus Pocus at Box Office Mojo
• Hocus Pocus at Rotten Tomatoes
• Hocus Pocus at Metacritic