Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

Hocus Pocus
Theatrical release poster by Drew Struzan
Directed by	Kenny Ortega
Screenplay by	Mick Garris David M. Evans Neil Cuthbert
Story by	David Kirschner Mick Garris
Produced by	Steven Haft David Kirschner
Starring	Omri Katz Bette Midler Sarah Jessica Parker Kathy Najimy Thora Birch Vinessa Shaw
Cinematography	Hiro Narita
Edited by	Peter E. Berger
Music by	John Debney (Score) James Horner (Song)
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures
Release date	July 16, 1993 (1993-07-16)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	Template:FilmUS
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 and an immortal black cat.

Plot

In 1693 Salem, Massachusetts, Thackery Binx (Sean Murray) is awakened and notices that his little sister Emily (Jodie Rivera) being lured into the woods by an old woman while his best friend Elijah shows that the witches in the woods are conjuring. Thackery gives chase, arriving at a cottage as Emily is led inside by one of the women. The cottage is home of the Sanderson sisters, Mary (Kathy Najimy), Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Winifred (Bette Midler). It is revealed that they are brewing a potion with which to suck the life force out of young children to use as their own. Thackery is too late, however and Emily drinks of the potion. After subduing Thackery with her powers, Winifred, along with Mary and Sarah share the life force from young Emily making them young ("Well, youngER"). When Thackery calls Winifred a hag, she decides not to kill him as punishment and to their amusement the trio transform Thackery into a black cat who must live forever with the guilt of letting his sister die. The townspeople, led by Thackery and Emily's parents come and capture the sisters to hang them; however Winifred casts a curse that on the night of a full moon a virgin will summon them back from the dead so they can claim all the lives of the children in Salem.

300 years later, a teenager named Max Dennison (Omri Katz) is angry due to the fact that he had to move to Salem from his hometown of Los Angeles, California who is less enthusiastic and skeptical of the story of the Sanderson sisters. He is accosted by two high school bullies Jay and Ernie "Ice" who steal his shoes when he doesn't have cash or bud. 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 which had been since turned into a 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 glow green and 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 partake on a long overdue dinner. 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 and meanwhile 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 are dust and 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 dead, the spell was broken and his soul was finally freed to move on. They meet Thackery's ghost and he bids farewells 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. As the credits roll, the adults and Max and Dani's parents are shown emerging from the Town Hall, 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.
• 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 the their lives to become younger. She is not particularly intelligent, however, often prancing around and goofing off. She is the most beautiful of the three.
• 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. She is the most observant of the three.

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. Around the same age as Emily, she 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 Thackary 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.
• 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, Zachary's little sister. She 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 known for the fact he has "ICE" shaved into the back of his short brown hair.
• Tobias Jelinek as Jay, a blond haired surfer and another school bully.
• Steve Voboril as Elijah, a boy from a farm in 1692.
• Norbert Weisser as Mr. Binx, the father of Emily and Zachary.
• 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"

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."

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 $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 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". The movie debuted at No.4 at the box office. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes Hocus Pocus has a "Rotten" score of only 32% based on twenty-two reviews.

Sequel

Since 1994 there have been multiple interests in creating a sequel, due to the open-ending of the first film. The main idea would be a "Re-lighting of the Black Flamed Candle". A few scripts have been written, and as of 2011, Walt Disney Pictures have been contemplating their production.

See also

• Salem witch trials
• List of American films of 1993

External links

• Hocus Pocus at IMDb
• ‹The template AllMovie title is being considered for deletion.› Hocus Pocus at AllMovie
• Hocus Pocus at Box Office Mojo
• Hocus Pocus at Rotten Tomatoes
• Hocus Pocus at Metacritic