An Average Movie-Goer’s Review
No spoilers! If you would like spoilers – check out the Spoiler post
To be honest I wasn’t going to review Hocus Pocus or its sequel until I heard about that Texas mother who said Hocus Pocus will “unleash hell” and if watching a ‘horror’ movie that a parent tells you is dangerous isn’t the spirit of Halloween, I don’t know what is. So here we are.
Today we’re looking at Disney’s 1993 Halloween comedy Hocus Pocus
On Halloween, a pair of teens and an 8-year-old accidentally revive a trio of witches who have until sunrise to steal the life force from children or else they die… again.
Is it Scary?
Not even a little bit. I don’t even think there are any real jump scares. Hocus Pocus is a comedy and doesn’t try for scares. Overall you won’t leave this movie scared unless you’re an overprotective irrational parent and have an extremely ridiculous notion that it can unleash hell.
Review:
Hocus Pocus is pretty good for what it is. If you go into this movie expecting anything more than a Disney comedy based on Halloween, you’re going to be disappointed. The acting has its highs and lows, the witches; Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Midler, and Kathy Najimy are great throughout.
I think my favorite performance was from Parker but the rest of the cast (excluding the witches)… ehh. The main teens are alright but don’t hold a candle to the witches.
The dialogue makes sense for the movie and makes the story easy to follow since, again, Disney movie for kids so it’s gotta be simple. Some character choices don’t make sense or are over the top though.
For a couple of characters, you end up questioning why they even exist in the movie and are pretty annoying. Luckily they’re not in a ton of scenes so no big deal.
Overall I recommend watching Hocus Pocus especially if you’re looking for a movie to watch with your kids or younger relatives. Plus it’s a great palette cleanser after watching Hellraiser.
Cast IMDB