Hocus Pocus (film): Difference between revisions

 

The scene shifts to 1993. The Dennisons are a California family who has just moved to Salem, bringing along teenaged son Max (Omri Katz) and 8-year-old daughter Dani ([[Thora Birch]]). Max is a virgin. Halloween night, Max takes his sister trick-or-treating and gets to hang with new [[Love Interest]] Allison (Vinessa Shaw). Allison tells him of the legend of the Sanderson sisters and of a supposed way to revive them; Max laughs and tries it out, bringing the Sandersons back to life. Now the three kids and the immortal cat Binx have to face the witches throughout the night, with the lives of every kid in Salem at risk.

 

[[I Thought It Meant|While a 1994 side-scrolling platformer]] [[Similarly Named Works|by the same name]] [[I Thought It Meant|also exists, they don't have any connection to each other]]. Also unrelated is [[Kurt Vonnegut]]'s 1991 novel of the same name.

* [[Disney Death]]: Binx revives after being crushed by the bus.

* [[The Ditz]]: Sarah.

* [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good]]: Winnie apparently can't understand self-sacrifice, especially for a family member.

* [[Evil Is Hammy]]: Let's face it, the witches are about the biggest hams you've ever seen.

* [[Functional Magic]]

* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: See above.

'''Bus Driver:''' Hey, it may take me a couple of tries, but I don't think there will be a problem. }}

* [[Have a Gay Old Time]]: Invoked in setting up the [[A Man Is Not a Virgin]] [[Overly Long Gag]].

* [[No Ontological Inertia]]: The party-goers are cursed to dance until they die. The curse ends when the witches die.

** Also, Binx and Billy are allowed to die.

* [[Not-So-Harmless Villain]]: The Sandersons may seem comically bumbling about 80 percent of the time, but you'd be wise not to mess with them when they ''really'' get angry. Sarah in particular seems a harmless, ditzy woman through most of the movie. Then she starts singing sweetly, luring children out, and you ''know'' she's deadly.

* [[Oh Crap]]: Billy reacts in this way ''twice'', each time just before he (literally) loses his head.

* [[One-Scene Wonder]]: Those skull-faced jazzers/rockers at the Halloween party were pretty cool.

** It may take a second viewing to realize that these performers segued from "Witchcraft" into "I Put a Spell on You" shortly before Winifred took over the show.

* [[Painful Transformation]]: Thackery Binx, intentionally invoked by the Sanderson Sisters.

* [[Perky Goth]]: Sarah, a rare villainous one.

* [[Really Gets Around]]: Sarah. It's honestly shocking for a Disney film that she flirts with every single male she comes across--from Thackery to Max to Billy to a random bus driver to Max's bullies to a random costumed man at the party...the list goes on and on. Although her idea of [[Cold-Blooded Torture|fun]] probably isn't what most men anticipate.

{{quote|'''Sarah:''' Thou wouldst hate me in the morning.

'''Winifred:''' ''Believe me'', thou wouldst. }}

* [[Redhead in Green]]: Winifred.

{{quote|'''Winifred:''' Now the [[Witch with a Capital B]] [[Elton John|is back!]] And there's hell to pay.}}

** Also, the "I Put a Spell on You" number is an [[Homage]] to Screamin' Jay Hawkins, who wrote the song, [[Beam Me Up, Scotty|although the original actually started with "I put a spell on you]], ''[[Beam Me Up, Scotty|because]]'' [[Beam Me Up, Scotty|you're mine."]]

* [[Sophisticated As Hell]]: Binx snarling [[Totally Radical|"Nice going, Max!"]] in his standard 17th-century Colonial accent.

* [[Spell Book]]: Bound in human skin, and emblazoned with a living human eye, no less.

[[Category:Fantasy Films]]

[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]

[[Category:Film]]

[[Category:Matte World Digital]]

[[Category:Disney]]