Hocus Pocus is a 1993 American horror fantasy comedy film that was released by Disney and directed by Kenny Ortega. It tells the story of a Halloween-hating teenager named Max Dennison, who inadvertently resurrects three witches from their temporary death and must risk his life to protect his sister, Dani, and defeat them with the help of a classmate crush, a friendly zombie, and an immortal black cat.
The film was meant to be a made-for-TV Disney Channel Original Movie but producers felt it could stand as a major theatrical one. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics during its theatrical release but has since become a cult film.
Plot[]
On October 31, 1693, in Salem, Massachusetts, Thackery Binx discovers that his younger sister Emily has been whisked away to the woods by the three witches Winifred, Mary and Sarah Sanderson. Binx confronts the Sanderson sisters at their cottage but fails to stop them from draining Emily's life force to restore their youth. To punish him for interfering, the witches transform Binx into a black cat and curse him to live forever with his guilt for not saving Emily.
Having been alerted by Binx's friend Elijah, the townsfolk arrest the witches for Emily's murder and sentence them to death. But before they are hanged in the town square, Winifred casts a curse that will resurrect the sisters during a full moon on All Hallows' Eve if a virgin lights the Black Flame Candle in their cottage. Binx devotes his life to guarding the cottage to ensure that no one can bring the witches back to life.
Three centuries later, on October 31, 1993, teenager Max Dennison has recently moved to Salem from Los Angeles. After reluctantly agreeing to take his younger sister Dani out trick-or-treating, they meet Max's new classmate Allison Watts, whom Max is attracted to. The three visit the former Sanderson cottage, now an abandoned museum, where Max inadvertently resurrects the witches by lighting the Black Flame Candle. The witches attempt to suck out Dani's soul, but Max comes to her rescue.
Escaping, Max steals Winifred's spellbook on the advice of Binx, who remains an immortal black cat. Binx guides the group to an old cemetery, where they are protected from the witches since it is hallowed ground. The witches eventually catch up to them at the cemetery, where Winifred raises her former lover Billy Butcherson from the grave and sends him after the children. As the witches pursue the children across town using Mary's enhanced sense of smell, Winifred reveals that the spell that brought them back only works on Halloween—and unless they can suck the life out of at least one child, they will turn to dust when the sun rises. The children attempt to alert the town's adults at a Halloween party where Max and Dani's parents are in attendance, but the witches arrive at the party and distract the adults by taking the stage, using a performance of "I Put a Spell on You" to cast a curse that will force the adults to dance until they die. After luring them to the local high school, the children trap the witches in a pottery kiln and burn them alive. But while the children are celebrating their victory, the witches' curse revives them again.
Not realizing that the witches have survived, Max and Allison open the spellbook, hoping to reverse the spell on Binx. The opened spellbook reveals the group's location to the witches, who track them down and abduct Binx and Dani, taking back their spellbook in the process. Sarah uses her singing to lure Salem's children to the Sanderson cottage. Max and Allison free Dani and Binx by using a car's headlights to trick the witches into believing that the sun has risen an hour early. Believing that the sunrise has sealed their fate, the witches panic and pass out, allowing Max, Dani, Allison and Binx to escape. Back at the cemetery, Billy catches up to the children and cuts open his stitched mouth with Max's knife, and joins the children against the witches after revealing his hatred of Winifred. The witches snatch Dani back after attacking the children from the air, and Winifred attempts to use their last vial of potion to suck out Dani's life force. Binx manages to knock the potion out of Winifred's hand, and Max catches the potion and drinks it, forcing the witches to take him instead of Dani.
As Winifred attempts to drain Max's life force, the sun begins to rise. In the ensuing struggle, Allison, Dani, and Billy fend off Mary and Sarah. In a mid-air struggle atop Winifred's broomstick, Max and Winifred fall onto the hallowed ground of the cemetery, turning Winifred to stone. As the sun rises above the horizon, Mary and Sarah disintegrate into dust along with Winifred's stone body. Billy returns to his grave, Binx's curse is broken, and his soul is freed due to the death of the witches, allowing him to reunite with Emily in the afterlife.
During the credits, the adults at the party finally leave exhausted, no longer under the witches' curse. Back at the cottage, Two bullies Jay and Ice, who tormented Max and Dani earlier, are still trapped in the cages the Sisters put them in earlier for calling them ugly chicks. As they sing Row, Row, Row Your Boat in their boredom, Winifred's spellbook below them opens its eye once more, suggesting that the witches will return again someday.