Hocus Pocus (1993)

July 16, 1993

July 16, 1993

Hocus Pocus is a 1993 American dark fantasy comedy horror film directed by Kenny Ortega from a screenplay by Mick Garris and Neil Cuthbert, and a story by David Kirschner and Garris. It follows a villainous comedic trio of witches (Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy) who are inadvertently resurrected by a teenage boy (Omri Katz) in Salem, Massachusetts, on Halloween night.

The film was released in North America on July 16, 1993, by Walt Disney Pictures. Upon its original release, it received mixed reviews from critics and was initially a box-office bomb, possibly losing Disney around $16.5 million during its theatrical run. However, largely through many annual airings on Disney Channel and Freeform (formerly ABC Family, Fox Family and The Family Channel) all throughout the month of October, Hocus Pocushas been rediscovered by audiences, resulting in a yearly spike in home media sales of the film every Halloween season. The annual celebration of Halloween has helped make the film a cult classic.

The film spawned a franchise, consisting of a sequel novelization, a theme park attraction, a TV special, and even a short film. A sequel, Hocus Pocus 2, written by Jen D'Angelo and directed by Anne Fletcher, was released on September 30, 2022, on Disney+, with a third film currently in development.

Storyline

On October 31, 1693, in Salem, Massachusetts, Thackery Binx discovers that his younger sister Emily has been kidnapped by the three witches Winifred, Mary and Sarah Sanderson. Binx confronts the Sanderson sisters at their cottage, but not in time to save Emily, whose life force they have drained to keep themselves young. The witches punish Binx for interfering by turning him into an immortal black cat, so he must live forever with his guilt. Binx's friend Elijah rallies the townsfolk to arrest the Sandersons; they are condemned to death, but Winifred casts a curse during the hanging, claiming that a virgin will light the Black-Flame Candle in the cottage on a day when the full moon and All Hallows' Eve coincide, resurrecting the sisters. Binx decides to try to thwart the witches' plans.

Three centuries later, Max Dennison, who has recently moved to Salem from Los Angeles, reluctantly takes his younger sister Dani out trick-or-treating. They meet up with his new classmate Allison Watts, on whom he has a crush. Max, Dani and Allison visit the former Sanderson cottage, now an abandoned museum, where Max inadvertently resurrects the witches by lighting the Black-Flame Candle. The witches attempt to suck out Dani's soul, but Max intervenes. Binx arrives and reveals that he can talk; following Binx's instructions, Max steals Winifred's spellbook and the children flee to a cemetery, which the witches cannot step into as it is hallowed ground. From a distance, Winifred raises her former fiancé, Billy Butcherson, from his grave and sends him after the children, forcing them to leave the cemetery. Winifred also reveals to her sisters that, unless they can suck the life out of at least one child, the three of them will turn to dust when the sun rises.

Max, Dani, and Allison hurry to a Halloween party that most of the town's adults are attending. Max tries to warn his parents and the other adults of the danger, but the witches take the stage and use a performance of "I Put a Spell on You" to enchant the partying adults to dance until they die. Binx and the three children then lure the witches into the local high school's pottery kiln and burn them alive; the witches temporarily disintegrate, but the curse revives them after the children have gone.

Not realizing that the witches have survived, Max and Allison open the spellbook, hoping to reverse the curse on Binx. This action allows the witches to find the children, abduct Binx and Dani, and retrieve the spellbook. Sarah uses her singing to lure all of Salem's children to the Sanderson cottage; however, Max and Allison rescue Dani and Binx by briefly tricking the witches into believing that the sun has risen an hour early.

Back at the cemetery, Billy catches up to the children, cuts open his stitched mouth with Max's knife, and reveals that he hates Winifred and is on their side. The witches snatch Dani back after attacking the children from the air, and Winifred attempts to use their last vial of potion to suck out Dani's life force. Binx attacks Winifred to make her drop the potion, resulting in her throwing him to the ground near Emily's grave. Max catches and drinks the potion to save Dani. Winifred takes Max on her broomstick to suck out his life force, and the two of them fight in mid-air. The rest of the party fend off Mary and Sarah, while Max and Winifred fall off the broom into the hallowed ground of the cemetery, causing Winifred to turn to stone. The sun rises, turning Mary and Sarah into dust, with Winifred's stone body also exploding into dust shortly after. With the witches vanquished, Billy gratefully returns to his grave to sleep while, at the same time, Binx dies in his cat form. Dani discovers the body of Binx and begins to weep, but his spirit, now free and returned to human form due to the curse being broken, thanks the children. Emily's spirit then appears to escort her brother to the afterlife.

In a mid-credits scene, the enchanted adults are freed from the spell and leave the Halloween party, exhausted from dancing all night. Some bullies that were earlier trapped in the Sanderson museum still wait in a cage to be freed, while the living eye on the witches' spellbook opens and looks around, suggesting the Sanderson Sisters may return.

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  • Hocus Pocus (1993) (Trailers)

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