Parker’s witch is all in for foreplay and seduction. Hocus Pocus deals in surprising sexual undertones, lost on the intended pre-teen demographic, yet giving the script a lasting vitality. Munching on grade schoolers isn’t difficult to fit into that frame. It’s a lightly morbid fairy tale in that way, wrapped around real world history, filtered through a PG-rating. A gas stove is only a more convenient child broiler compared to their coal oven. Much as Hocus Pocus pokes at their naivety, a kitchen serves as a suitable torture chamber. More than fish-out-of-water playtime, the joke doubles up as late 1900s living suits them just fine. Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy own Hocus Pocus, delightfully campy and overplayed, genuinely clever too as they sort out modern society. Hocus Pocus is the witch’s movie they’re less villains than protagonists. Then a couple witches try to eat his sister and Max comes around to things… quickly. He hates his sister, hates the new town, and hates life. Running time: 95 min.Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy own Hocus PocusĬlassic storybook flourishes bring a (then) new early ‘90s touch, notably the clashing US coastal cultures centered on Max (Omri Katz) who plays the role with typical teen angst. Reviewed at the Mann Bruin Theatre, L.A., July 10, 1993. Schwartz visual effects supervisor, Peter Montgomery casting, Mary Gail Artz, Barbara Cohen. Darin Knight associate producer, Jay Heit assistant director, Ellen H. Berger music, John Debney production design, William Sandell art direction, Nancy Patton set decoration, Rosemary Brandenberg costume design, Mary Vogt sound (Dolby), C. Screenplay, Garris, Neil Cuthbert story by Kirschner, Garris.Ĭamera (Technicolor prints), Hiro Narita editor, Peter E. For all its “E.T.”-type flourishes - from John Debney’s score to one particular line of dialogue at the end - these broomsticks won’t give anyone that sort of lift.Ī Buena Vista release of a Walt Disney Pictures presentation of a David Kirschner/Steven Haft production. Unfortunately, like the zombie revived by Winifred, the film keeps losing its head, particularly during the final sequence, when it’s hard to ascertain exactly what the heroes are hoping to accomplish. ![]() Tech credits are modest yet solid, with creditable visuals from Buena Vista Visual Effects, some nifty costuming and a sharp look from cinematographer Hiro Narita. ![]() There are a few inspired moments from the witches, but for the most part the movie belongs to the kids, with Katz appropriately earnest as Max, Birch cute and wisecracking as the sister and Shaw spunky and well-cast as the quintessential dream girl. “Hocus Pocus” suffers from inconsistency, careening around somewhat aimlessly between the coven being menacing to the kids or a comedic sort of Three Stooges on broomsticks.Ĭhoreographer-turned-director Kenny Ortega, whose own last flight was on the ill-fated Disney musical “Newsies,” can’t quite pull off this tap dance either, even with the ripe comedic possibilities from the fact that on Halloween night no one takes these real-life witches seriously. ![]() They are, in fact, the Sanderson sisters: the cruel Winifred (Midler), the daft Mary (Kathy Najimy of “Sister Act”) and the positively dense, boy-crazy Sarah (Parker).Īccording to Mick Garris and Neil Cuthbert’s script, from a story by Garris and producer David Kirschner, the trio must suck the lifeforce out of children by dawn or risk being scattered forever. Stuck with taking moppet Dani (Thora Birch, one of the pic’s major assets) trick-or-treating on Halloween night, he meets up with his dream-girl classmate (Vinessa Shaw) and ends up traveling to a musty old museum where, inadvertently, he conjures up three children-hungry witches from the dead. That tried-and-true storyline has a teenage boy (Omri Katz) feeling out of place having moved to a new town - in this case venerable Salem, Mass.
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