Those who do not enjoy or choose to celebrate Halloween should still be grateful for the pagan holiday. Without Halloween, Christmas music would be permeating through every department store by mid-September, hell in some places it still does. Halloween is a buffer, a transitional holiday of sorts, one that allows us to dispel any leftover summer energy in the form of joyful dress up and frightening or comical make-believe.
Most people would argue that horror movies are in themselves by design, Halloween Films. I disagree with this notion because it is simplistic and creatively narrow. A Halloween Film should be considered any film set on or during the Halloween season. Not all of these movies are horror movies. Some of them are children’s films, comedies and even romances. Halloween movies need exude not only horror but also hilarity as well. The best kind, in my opinion, is able to exude both.
This is why Hocus Pocus (1993) has stood the test of time. It exists both as a film to watch with your family as well as with your friends. It is a film you can laugh at while still finding moments that leave you genuinely unsettled. Hocus Pocus was not a box-office success; on the contrary, it lost Disney a substantial amount of money upon initial release. Why then do we continue to watch, reference and place acclaim on it to this day? There are numerous reasons why Hocus Pocus has cast a spell on its audiences throughout the years, and they can only be explained like a recipe from Winifred Sanderson’s spellbook:
How to Make a Halloween Hit
- Fill a cauldron with a talented cast.
Hocus Pocus was originally envisioned as a tonally darker television movie until it underwent significant rewrites to enhance its comedic potential. What got it from the small screen to the multiplex you may ask? Its three female leads, all of whom were riding career highs at the time of the film’s production. Kathy Najimy had just gotten off the immense box-office hit Sister Act (1992) while Sarah Jessica Parker had just done Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) with James Caan and Nicholas Cage. It was Bette Midler’s interest in the project; however, that truly got it off its feet and into the air on a broomstick. The film lives and dies on the performance of its lead antagonist who defies convention to embrace instead an infectious campiness that makes her hysterical and horrifying all at the same time. Parker's sex appeal and Najimy's comedic timing also deserve due recognition, but it is Midler who keeps the audience transfixed from beginning to end. Credit should be given to the younger cast members as well, however. Omri Katz portrayal of our lead protagonist Max is sympathetic and charming in all of his teenage rebelliousness. His relationship with his sister Dani played wonderfully by a young Thora Birch further gives the film added depth and emotion. Vinessa Shaw is the least interesting admittedly of the three young heroes, but still does a fine job as Alison Witt. She downplays the class disparity between her and her suitor and never playing the damsel in distress but rather a competent ally to Max in his adventure throughout the film. Even the voice work done by Jason Marsden as Thackery Binx, the pilgrim turned feline evokes believable emotional investment, especially in his interactions with Dani. A funny cameo by Garry and Penny Marshall, brother and sister duo who play wife and husband in the film add further respectable gravitas to an already stellar ensemble. Overall if the cast had not been so dedicated to bringing the script to life in a way that was unique yet accessible, Hocus Pocus would be largely forgotten as a cash-grabbing Halloween flick better left to the cobwebs of cinematic history. The performances hold the test of time, however, each year when I watch it, no matter how many times I’ve seen it before, the energetic performances of each and every cast member reinvigorate my interest into following along with the dazzling tale once more.
2. Dice up and add in a handful of musical numbers. Stir until sizzling with catchiness.
Any good movie, from any genre of film, has to have at least one signature scene. It’s typically the first image that pops in your head when someone mentions the title. Many films have numerous ones such as The Godfather (1972), in Hocus Pocus, it's hardly a debate, however. Bette Midler’s take on Jay Hawkins classic “I Put A Spell on You” is enthralling, entertaining and undeniably toe-tapping. It is a large contribution to why the film has a special place in the gay community as the Divine Miss M shows off her vocal skills to cast a spell on the unsuspecting adults of Salem. Though Sarah Jessica Parker has stated in interviews that she and Najimy, competent singers in their own right, also contributed vocals to the track, it is unfortunate that they are not audible in any audio version I have ever come across. Regardless, while some may find the scene to be a crudely disguised excuse for fanfare, as a writer, I appreciate how the performance is integrated into the plot structurally. When Max excuses the Witches of being who they are on-stage at the Town Hall Halloween Party, how else are the Sanderson Sisters supposed to distract a room of partygoers and ensure that their young and helpless prey cannot be given any assistance or protection? They must cast a spell, but reciting some cleverly worded phrases does not an exciting scene make, so the sisters improvise, mocking the modernity of society by using their culture and music against them in the guise of a performance on their behalf. It is ingenious, credible and incredibly fun. The scene could be written twelve other ways, and none would hold a candle to the theatrics that Broadway legend Miss Midler and her two costars give in this unforgettable moment in childhood history. It is another example of how the film blends fear and comedy so well. While the performance itself is humorous and delightful, the intentions behind it are nefarious and deadly. This spell will cause these people to dance to death if the witches are not stopped by sunrise. It is an execution dressed up as a showstopper. The second, more understated musical performance is, of course, is Sarah’s bewitching original song “Come Little Children”. This leans heavier into scary Halloween territory as the witch is using this mesmerizing lullaby to lure the children of the town to their certain death. In fact, in the opening sequence of the film, it accomplishes just that with Binx’s sister Emily. The performance is brief, but it raises the stakes perfectly as the film enters its third act. The witches are armed and ready and will stop at nothing to achieve immortality, including infanticide. Again, the music plays a crucial role in supporting the plot, not just to adhere to the talents of the actresses or the desires and expectations of the audiences watching. That is why these songs and renditions linger in our heads long after we’ve first heard them. Their implications deepen as the years press on, and we understand the plot better.
3. Aged Millennial Loyalty (locally grown preferably)
At the end of the day, a cult film is only as strong as its followers will allow it to be. While Freeform’s constant October reruns certainly are a factor into Hocus Pocus’s longevity that doesn’t hold a Black Flame Candle to the devotion children of the 90s have towards this film. Coincidentally the film was directed by Kenny Ortega, who would go on to direct the High School Musical franchise, another staple of millennial nostalgia, particularly in the world of Disney. Hocus Pocus fans often associate the film with their fond memories of childhood. Watching it on VHS after trick-or-treating and laughing along with their parents and older siblings at the film’s many moments of adult humor. The film helps remind us of the simpler days we’ve left behind in which stories of witches coming back to life to haunt and hunt us felt like a viable fear to have alongside monsters hiding under our bed and impending acne. While there have been rumblings of a potential remake in the works for years, any such project would miss a crucial element that the original has in aplenty. That is the presence of nostalgia itself. The film was made at a time when Disney and children’s content creators, in general, were far less concerned with offending parents and guardians with troubling imagery or plot points. You could say the word "virgin" repeatedly in a film and even allude to its context. The use of practical special effects and limited CGI capabilities actually allows the film to reside in a more tangible and realistic level of existence than many similar cinematic efforts conducted today. When the Sanderson Sisters go on their broomsticks, they really are up in the air and not suspended a few feet off the ground with a green screen behind them. It is set in a time before you could use your Smartphone to inform your parents or friends that 300-year-old witches were after you or Tweet a selfie of you and your new lady friend hanging out at the Sanderson Museum on Halloween night. Hocus Pocus if made and set in contemporary times would no longer be Hocus Pocus, at least not the one so many of us connected with as children. Film historians likely won’t be speaking about it in 40 or 50 years, but those of us still alive more than likely will, especially during October. We will pass it down to our children and loved ones even if their love or admiration for it will be distinctly different than our own. It didn’t garner any acclaim during the Award Season of 1993, and yet it is critically acclaimed in the hearts and minds of us fans who watch it now as an escape, as a way back into a world we’ve long ago left behind. This is the most key ingredient in making a Halloween Hit; creating a film that will still entertain the trick-or-treater long after they’ve become the homeowner who answers the door on October 31st who worry about having to go to work the next morning.
While many deride Hocus Pocus as overrated, overacted and underwhelming in terms of legitimate chills or chuckles, the film has an unquestionable appeal to countless people, specifically millennials who were of cognitive viewing age around the time of its release and soon after. The film’s interior is unapologetically campy, protected by an outer shell of positively ghoulish storytelling. A virgin lighting a candle and causing a trio of witches be resurrected with their sights on murdering hundreds of children doesn’t exactly sound like the feel-good film of the year, and yet for so many, it has become the film that has defined All Hallows Eve Cinema. Set on Halloween night, we follow Max, Dani and Alison every year if for nothing more than to be reminded that there was a Halloween before jello shots and self-imposed curfews. It was a film that was unafraid to challenge expectations of what children could handle and what adults would tolerate. Love it or hate it, we should all respect cinema capable of having such a lasting impression on our hearts, minds and even wardrobes. It’s more than just a bunch of hocus pocus, but even if it isn’t that for you, I certainly hope you have some piece of spooky childhood cinema or even television that you hold dear to your heart this time of year. If not, damn, damn, double damn!
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