Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

Hocus Pocus
Theatrical poster by Drew Struzan
Directed by	Kenny Ortega
Written by	David Kirschner (story) Mick Garris Neil Cuthbert (screenplay)
Produced by	Steven Haft David Kirschner
Starring	Omri Katz Jason Marsden Sean Murray Bette Midler Sarah Jessica Parker Kathy Najimy Thora Birch Vinessa Shaw Jodie Rivera Larry Bagby Kathleen Freeman Doug Jones
Cinematography	Hiro Narita
Edited by	Peter E. Berger
Music by	John Debney (score) James Horner (song)
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures
Release dates	United States/Canada July 16, 1993 United Kingdom October 29, 1993 Australia March 31, 1994 Japan October 8, 1994
Running time	96 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	US$28 million
Box office	US$39,514,713

Hocus Pocus is a 1993 Halloween-themed comedy film released by Disney, and directed by Kenny Ortega. The film tells the story of a Halloween-hating teenager named Max Dennison, 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 an immortal black cat.

Plot

The movie begins on October 31, 1693 in Salem, Massachusetts. The town is haunted by three witches, siblings Winifred, Sarah and Mary, who kidnap a young girl named Emily Binx to suck out her lifeforce to regain their youth. Successfully achieving their goal, the sisters are attacked by Emily's older brother Thackery Binx who saw them luring Emily to their house and punish him by cursing and transforming him into an immortal black cat to live with the guilt of not being able to save Emily. The town's citizens arrest the witches to hang them, but Winifred uses her spellbook to ensure their return from beyond the grave when a virgin lights the Black-Flamed Candle in their home. The three witches are hanged and Binx chooses to live his immortal life guarding the house so no one will resurrect them.

Three hundred years later, on Halloween of 1993, Max, his little sister Dani, and love interest Allison investigate the now urban legend of the witches. Max goofs around in the house and lights the candle as a joke and ends up bringing the witches back to life. The three immediately plan to suck out Dani's life, needing to absorb the lifeforces of more children to prevent them from dying again at dawn. However, Max fools them with modern day technology, escaping with the spellbook and Binx, who can still talk despite being a cat. Retreating to a cemetery, the children are quickly confronted by the witches, who are unable to place their feet on the cemetery's hallowed ground. Winifred instead summons Billy Butcherson, her undead and unfaithful lover, to capture the children and retrieve her book. Billy had an affair with Sarah, and in return, Winifred poisoned him and stitch his mouth shut. Escaping across town, the children find their parents at a Halloween party at city hall. The witches follow, Winifred entertaining the audience with her own rendition of "I Put a Spell on You", bewitching the adults to literally dance until they die.

The children lure the witches to a high school where they try to kill them by burning them alive in a kiln. Thinking they are dead, the children celebrate by cheering and dancing in the street and head home. However, the witches are not dead and see a beacon of light from the book after Max and Allison open it to find a way to break the curse on Binx. While downstairs, Max and Allison realize something is not right and are attacked by the sisters who then flee with Dani and Binx. Sarah uses her siren-like singing voice to hypnotise the children of Salem to approach their house. Max and Allison race to save Dani and Binx, once again fooling the witches before fleeing to the cemetery. The witches pursue them, despite having victory in their clutches. Billy shows up while Max holds him off, but instead of letting the witches kill him, he ends up helping Max.

As dawn approaches, a battle occurs between the children and the witches. Binx is mortally wounded by Winifred after she throws him to the ground and onto a boulder while he was stopping Winifred from forcing the life potion into Dani's mouth and knocks the vial out of her hand. Max threatens to smash it if she does not let Dani go and Winifred threatens to kill her if he does. Max then drinks the potion, forcing Winifred to take him instead. She grabs him and flies him up into the air, but they fall off the broom after Max puts up a fight. As Winifred grabs Max and starts to suck the life out of him, she is turned to stone for standing on the hallowed ground. The sun rises, killing the witches, and Binx dies, too, but reappears as a ghost in his human form. He says that his soul is finally free because the witches are dead. He thanks Max and Dani for freeing him and then hears Emily calling for him. He tells Dani that he will always be with her, kisses her cheek, and then walks over to Emily. He waves goodbye before walking into the afterlife with Emily while Max, Allison, and Dani happily watch. The movie ends with everyone at city hall leaving, their curse to dance until they die being broken by the witches' death.

Cast

• Bette Midler - Winifred "Winnie" Sanderson, the leader of the Sanderson sisters. She is the eldest and is highly sensitive to people calling her ugly and has a very short temper.
• Sarah Jessica Parker - Sarah Sanderson, the second witch sister. She uses a siren-like ability to lure children to the Sanderson home.
• Kathy Najimy - Mary Sanderson, the third witch sister. 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
• Omri Katz - Max Dennison, the main protagonist. A teenager upset at having to have moved 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 Alison and strives to impress her. He inadvertently releases the Sanderson sisters from beyond the grave.
• Amanda Shepherd - Emily Binx, Thackery's little sister. Around the same age as Dani, she is the reason why Binx bonds closely with her. Emily was lured in by Sarah Sanderson and had her life force sucked out by the sisters while Thackery witnessed.
• Thora Birch - Dani Dennison, Max's 8-year old sister.
• Sean Murray - 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.
• Vinessa Shaw - 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.
• Stephanie Faracy - Jenny Dennison, Max and Dani's mother. She dresses up as Madonna for the Town Hall's Halloween party.
• Charles Rocket - Dave Dennison, Max and Dani's father.
• Doug Jones - 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.
• Larry Bagby - Ernie / "Ice" the leader of a group of high school bullies known for the fact he has "ICE" shaved into the back of his short brown hair.
• Tobias Jelinek - Jay, a blond haired surfer and another school bully.
• Kathleen Freeman - The teacher in the beginning of the film.

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 throughout the movie. 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."

Release

Hocus Pocus was released in the United States and Canada in July 1993, then in October 1994 across Australia and most of Europe and some Asian countries. Despite receiving abysmal reviews, it took in over US$39.5 million at the North American box office. Following its release, the film has received a cult following, being shown across North America and Western Europe in particular, around late October while home media of the film has been extremely successful worldwide. As of September 2010, it is the most played movie on the television station RTÉ in Ireland.

Reception

Upon its U.S. release, 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". Despite the negative response, the film has since become a cult classic.

See also

• Salem witch trials
• List of American films of 1993

External links

• Hocus Pocus at IMDb
• Hocus Pocus at AllMovie