It’s difficult to imagine a Halloween season without Hocus Pocus being a big part of many people’s viewing traditions. Despite an unusual release date in July and critics bashing the movie for being mediocre and dumb, Hocus Pocus has gained such a cult following from 90’s kids over the years. Now it's considered an underground Halloween classic in the making. Many people go insane for this movie every year and I was very curious to find out why. I might not have nostalgia for this movie in any form but I still thought to give it a chance. Strangely enough when I first watched it I felt disappointed, but as the years rolled by, I started to have a sudden liking to it that made me release the kind of movie that Hocus Pocus truly is.
On Halloween in the town of Salam during the 1600’s, Thackeray Binx (Sean Murray) witnesses her sister being abducted by witches, Thackery follows and discovers three witches named Winifred (Bette Midler) Mary (Kathy Najimy) and Sara (Sara Jessica Parker) who have just finished sucking the life out of Thackery’s sister to make them younger. Thackeray gets caught and is turned into a cat as punishment. The townsfolk of Salam however burst into the cottage and sentence the witches to hang for their crimes but the witches rebuttal by saying that they will return when a virgin lights the black flamed candle. Centuries later in 1993, teenager Max (Omri Katz) just moved to Salam with his parents and her sister Dani (Thora Birch) and is having a hard time adjusting. On Halloween night, Max along with Dani and Max's crush Allison (Vinessa Shaw) head to the abandoned cottage and accidentally light the black flame candle which brings the witches back from the dead. With the help of Thackery as a talking black cat the kids must stop the witches from sucking out the life of all the children in Salam before it’s too late.
The story does admittedly sound quite good in concept and there are a couple of times when it would become creative and Interesting especially when it comes to the movie’s beginning. The stuff that involves the witches is very interesting and it starts out to bring out storylines and ideas that are intriguing to follow along with. The film unfortunately falters when it focuses on the modern day 90’s stuff as there are many cliched characters and storylines that have been done before in many other family movies of the time. For the record, I already knew that this film was deemed a guilty pleasure so I knew that this film wasn’t supposed to be taken that seriously, but in all honesty, the film could have benefited from a better script and more well thought out ideas. However, I don’t think that is the reason the film is beloved. I believe this film is beloved for capturing the Halloween spirit and giving us a campy but also fun adventure. The film does certainly seem to excel at the before mentioned, but the campiness of the story may be a make or break for some moviegoers.
The characters can range from being average to kinda enjoyable but it does depend on which character we focus on. The main characters are kinda your typical kids and They unfortunately do sort of come down with typical live action family movie idis. To their credit they're not the worst characters and I admittedly did somewhat like the relationship between Max and Dani as their sibling relationship is believable and even endearing at times. The real stars of the show are the witches. Even though they can be a mixed bag with their humor I think they are the most entertaining just by how much energy they put into their characters. They are basically the reason why this movie is worth watching. Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy and Sara Jessica Parker’s performances are so good that they honestly should deserve a standing ovation for how well they were able to make somewhat dull lines feel fresh and enjoyable.
The cinematography surprisingly isn’t all that bad and it does succeed at capturing the joys of Halloween. I usually like it whenever they show the trick or treaters running about in the neighborhood or the halloween decorations on the houses as it does give a sense of childhood nostalgia. The witches cottage is also really well designed and it gives a chilling sensation of fear and also an enchanting looking hideout. The effects are also great and they really work in the scenes when anything magical or scary is happening. I’ll give credit that this is a nice movie to look at and there was a lot of effort that was put into making the movie have as much Halloween as possible.
The Music isn’t necessarily anything special but once in a while it can prove to be quite entertaining to listen to. The orchestra conducted by John Debney does play out in a whimsical manner to symbolise the feeling of the fall season. Some of the songs used in the film are sung by the witches and they are enormously entertaining. I especially enjoy “I Put a Spell on You” as it really does showcase the energy and personality of actors playing the witches.
I finally understand why this movie is considered an underground classic, while it has many problems with its storytelling and its characters, Hocus Pocus is not meant to a groundbreaking movie that challenges the audience, but more of a movie that just wants to deliver a fun and harmless Halloween flick that has decent creativity and is infectiously enjoyable from time to time. I’m not a 90’s kid, but even I found things to enjoy in this flawed but decently enjoyable movie that is honestly better than the critical reception it received on Rotten Tomatoes. There are many better Halloween flicks to check out that have much better storylines than this one, but Hocus Pocus may be worth at least one viewing if you haven't seen it already.
(Final Grade: B-)