For people growing up in a household anytime after the mid-90s, odds were good you saw the Disney Channel during Halloween, and odds are good you saw this movie.  If you raised kids, there is a good chance this movie was one that you could put on for your your kid over and over.  At least, you could claim it was for the kids…

Title: Hocus Pocus (1993)

Cast and Crew

Directed by Kenny Ortega
Story by David Kirschner and Mick Garris
Screenplay by Mick Garris and Neil Cuthbert

Bette Midler as Winifred Sanderson
Sarah Jessica Parker as Sarah Sanderson
Kathy Najimy as Mary Sanderson
Omri Katz as Max
Thora Birch as Dani
Vinessa Shaw as Allison
Amanda Shepherd as Emily Binx
Larry Bagby as Ernie ‘Ice’
Tobias Jelinek as Jay
Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson
Sean Murray as Thackery
Jason Marsden as Thackery Binx (voice)
Garry Marshall as Devil (Husband) (uncredited)
Penny Marshall as The Master’s Wife (uncredited)

Premise

A teenage boy named Max and his little sister move to Salem, where he struggles to fit in before awakening a trio of diabolical witches that were executed in the 17th century. (from IMDB.)

High Points

The movie features Bette Midler, so of course she needs a musical number.  Even in a family Halloween movie it’s a sudden diversion, suddenly witches that haven’t been around for three hundred years know how to use mics and really work the crowd, and it is the movie would not have survived without it.  It is the most memorable part of the movie, just like the Day-O scene from Beetlejuice.

Low Point

This is not a intellectual movie.  There are plenty of parts that even the kids of the target audience would question the internal logic.  It works, but one can easily be forgiven for believing it was made-for-TV and never got a theater release.

The Scores:

Originality: 3/6 If you make a cake, you use flour, sugar, eggs, butter, and milk.  There are a million ways to dress them up, but if you take the basic ingredients, blend them up, bake it, you get a cake.  If you want a family Halloween movie, you get some witches, some kids, set it on Halloween, mix in some black cats…   It’s hard to call the way they were mixed together original, but there isn’t anything that it clearly rips off directly.

Effects: 3/6 The movie is still from an era of practical effects, which only have a few demands on them.  For the most part they all work, but the change from real to prop cat is obvious.

Production: 3/6 They did their job, though its theater release lost around $16.5 million.  (Its life on The Disney Channel brought about its Cult Classic status.)

Acting: 5/6 Bette Midler creates an over-the-top witch and deliver a performance loud enough so the people who stepped out to the kitchen during one of the repeated October viewings can still enjoy it.

Story: 5/6 It is a fun story of a few kids dealing with an ancient threat they accidentally brought forth, and despite a few poor choices, they can be hand-waved away by remembering that kids aren’t the best decision makers, the adults don’t believe or care what the kids are up to, and the witches are played as buffoons.

Emotional Response: 6/6 This had no business being a family favorite that lasted this long, but it managed a sequel, with a third entry in production.

Overall: 5/6 This is a movie the family can watch and re-watch year after year, and it will hold up.

In total, Hocus Pocus (1993) receives 30/42.  [Don’t let the lower score fool you, this isn’t a cinematic masterpiece, but it is great fun.]

 

The Schedule

October 5/6: Abigail (2024) and Abigail (2023): JD
October 12/13: Season of the Witch (1972) and Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) and Season of the Witch (2009) and Season of the Witch (2011) : JD
October 19/20:Hocus Pocus (1993) and Hocus Pocus 2 (2022): `Lex
October 26/27: The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023) and Humanist Vampire Seeks Suicidal Person (2023): JD
October 31: The Love Witch (2016):`Lex and Sleepaway Camp (1983): JD and Dark Gathering (2023): Alexander Case