Hocus Pocus (1993 film)

Hocus Pocus
Hocus Pocus theatrical poster
Directed by	Kenny Ortega
Written by	David Kirschner (story) Mick Garris Neil Cuthbert (screenplay)
Produced by	Steven Haft David Kirschner
Starring	Bette Midler Sarah Jessica Parker Kathy Najimy Doug Jones Jason Marsden Omri Katz Vinessa Shaw Thora Birch
Cinematography	Hiro Narita
Music by	John Debney James Horner
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures
Release dates	July 16, 1993
Running time	96 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$28,000,000
Box office	$39,514,713 (USA)

Hocus Pocus is a children's 1993 Halloween-themed film released by Disney, and directed by Kenny Ortega (known mainly for his hit movies on Disney Channel High School Musical trilogy and the Cheetah Girls 2). The movie 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, but the script 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 movie was released in the United States and Canada in July 1993. It was released in October 1994 across Australia and most of Europe and some Asian countries. The idea to cast Bette Midler was partly inspired by Midler's award-winning performance in a milestone motion picture for the Walt Disney Company on its Touchstone Pictures line, Down and Out in Beverly Hills. The movie has become a nostalgic favorite for those who saw it when they were young. Though Disney appears to have abandoned its long tradition of playing the film around Halloween, it still remains very popular with a small group of fans; many believe it has achieved cult status.

Plot

The movie begins in 17th century Salem, Massachusetts where three witch sisters — Winifred, Sarah, and Mary Sanderson — transformed Thackary Binx into an immortal black cat as punishment after they have absorbed the life force of his younger sister, Emily (Thackary had tried to stop them and save Emily, but failed, so they condemned him to live forever with his guilt). The witches are tried and executed by the locals. However, thanks to a curse created by Winifred's magic spell-book, they vow to return when a virgin lights the Black Flame candle.

Unfortunately, Winnifred's prophecy of the witches' return proves true when, three hundred years later in 1993, Max Dennison (Katz), a skeptical teenager (and virgin) from Los Angeles, lit the Black-flamed Candle at the Sanderson house with his younger sister Dani (Birch) and his love interest Allison (Shaw) present. The witches are resurrected as was planned but, in order to remain alive and young, they must steal the "life force" of a child before the sun rises and Halloween night ends. Max steals Winifred's magic book, which contains the spell that will create the potion the sisters need to succeed in their plan. The witches chase the kids (and Binx, who is still a cat, and can now speak) to the local graveyard where Winifred resurrects Billy Butcherson (Doug Jones), Winifred's previous unfaithful love interest. He is sent to chase the kids across town.

The witches experience some 20th century antics, including riding a bus, discovering paved roads, and finding themselves in a Halloween party. They also meet a man who they believe is their master, Satan, but they are thrown out of his house by his wife, who they think is Medusa, because of the curlers in her hair. (The couple was played by well-known director/producer Garry Marshall and his sister, actress/director Penny Marshall.)

Max, Dani, Allison, and Binx go to the town hall Halloween party where they find Max's parents. Max takes the stage in an attempt to warn the families that their children are in danger, telling them that the Sanderson sisters were back from the grave. The audience laughs it off as a prank while Winifred steps on stage and thanks him for his "introduction". Taking over the stage, the witches perform a spell disguised as a Broadway-esque musical number -- highlighting Midler's talent -— to cause all of the adults to "dance, dance, dance 'till you die!".

Max and the others lure the witches into the high school and use a radio to trick them into entering a kiln, where they appear to burn to death. However, the witches cannot die (they have yet to absorb life-force, nor has the sun risen yet). The witches return to their cottage, taking Jay and Ice (two high-school bullies) with them and locking them in cages. The witches believe that they are doomed because they are unable to make the life-potion without the book, until they spot the light from the magic book, coming from Max's house as Max and Allison tried to find a means of removing Binx's curse. The witches invade the house and kidnap Dani and Binx. They escape via a new gaping hole blown in the side of Max's home.

Sarah flies across Salem, utilizing a siren-song to lure all of the town's children to their cottage. Max and Allison fool Winifred, Mary and Sarah with threats of Daylight Savings Time (and some headlights) and retrieve Dani and Binx. They retreat to the graveyard, but not before destroying the witches' newest batch of potion. There is still enough for one child however, and Winifred decides that she will make Dani her victim. Max helps Billy, who, after cutting open the stitches over his mouth, reveals himself to be friendly and helps the others protect Dani. A battle begins: Dani is captured by Winifred, who tries to feed her the potion, but Binx forces her to drop it, and she throws him onto a rock, knocking him out. In order to save Dani, Max drinks the potion himself, forcing Winifred to take him instead of her. Meanwhile Allison and Billy incapacitate Sarah and Mary, and after a struggle, Max manages to bring Winifred down from her broom, forcing her onto holy ground, which causes her to turn to stone. Mary and Sarah sadly bid farewell and explode to dust when the sun rises, and Winifred's petrified form soon follows. Billy returns to his grave, but the three kids discover Binx dead (the immortality spell had ceased its duration with the death of the Sanderson sisters, and he was 317 years old). Dani is distraught, since she had formed a bond with him. His spirit appears and thanks the children for breaking his curse, then walks away into the sunrise with the freed soul of his sister, Emily.

During the credits we see the exhausted adults leaving the Halloween party, no longer under the dancing curse. Jay and Ice are seen still trapped in their cages and then the spell book's eye opens and looks around. However, what this means is left to the interpretation of the viewer.

Main cast

• Bette Midler — Winifred Sanderson
• Sarah Jessica Parker — Sarah Sanderson
• Kathy Najimy — Mary Sanderson

Witches

• Winifred Sanderson - played by Bette Midler. Winifred is the loud, red-headed, buck toothed leader of the group. The only intelligent member of the trio, she has to put up with her two idiot sisters. She has the power to stun her victims from a distance by firing bolts of lightning-like energy from her fingertips, and is the primary spell-caster of the group. It is her book that the children steal. Winifred, or Winnie as she tends to be called, has a tendency to be rather melodramatic. She is also very sensitive about being called "ugly." She rides a regular house corn broom in the climax of the film, forcing her sisters to fly by other means. She admits shortly before her second death that hell was actually 'quite lovely'. Her costume is green-themed.
• Sarah Sanderson - played by Sarah Jessica Parker. The most beautiful of the trio, Sarah is boy-crazy, extremely ditsy, and also unbearably stupid. Her primary power is a siren song: granting her the ability to control children's minds with her voice. She also possesses uncharacteristically-refined knowledge of spellcasting in general, as she has no problem assisting Winifred in spells of perpetual-dance and transmogrification. Sarah rides a mop in the climax of the film and dramatically bids farewell to Winifred before exploding. Her dresses are purple themed and more revealing then the other sisters.
• Mary Sanderson - played by Kathy Najimy. The "fat" sister of the trio who, while not nearly as ditsy as Sarah, is still rather dim. She has various canine tendencies, including barking when she is excited and having the power to sniff out the presence of any children near her. Mary acts as the voice of reason and has to calm down Winifred on several occasions. She also does whatever she can to be in Winnie's favor, including helping her make a potion or compliment her. Mary rides a vacuum cleaner in the climax of the film, known for yelling "broom ho!" to invoke a flight-spell onto a vessel. As she sees the sun come up, she cheerfully says 'Bye-bye' before exploding into dust. Her garb is red themed, and she sports a very interesting hairstyle.

Notes

• Fact: Binx's first name is actually Thackery. Some people believe he's named Zackary, but this is completely untrue.
• When Bette Midler takes the stage at the town Halloween Party, she says, "Hello Salem, my name is Winifred! What's yours?". This is a take-off of the famous "Hello world, my name is Rose! What's yours?", a line from the musical Gypsy, spoken by Mama Rose. Midler played Mama Rose in the television version of Gypsy the same year that Hocus Pocus was released.
• The role of Max Dennison was originally offered to Leonardo DiCaprio, but was given to Omri Katz when DiCaprio turned it down to appear in What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, for which he ended up being nominated for an Academy Award.
• A very quick eye will discover that Binx actually died on his sister's grave. Upon finding that Binx died, you can see her name written on the gravestone in which he lies.
• During the 1990s, this movie was shown along with The Worst Witch and A Disney Halloween on the Disney Channel around the time of Halloween.
• If one has a quick eye, when the witches sucked the life out of Emily Binx, you would see that Winifred has her hood on when she is looking at her new younger form and when she says, "but it's a start!" which is right after, her hood is off.
• If one has a quick eye, after Emily Binx has the life sucked out of her, one can see her moving her legs in the background of numerous shots.

External links

• Hocus Pocus at IMDb
• The Doug Jones Experience (Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson)