“It’s just a bunch of Hocus Pocus!” Synopsis: After three centuries, three witch sisters are resurrected in Salem, Massachusetts on Halloween night, and it is up to two teenagers, a young girl, and an immortal cat to put an end to their reign of terror once and for all.

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Calamity Brains:

What can I say? Even as an adult, I still love Hocus Pocus. It was just the right level of creepy for scaredy-cat little me, and now it’s just the right level of cheesy for adult me.

Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy steal the show as the Sanderson sisters. Their interpersonal relations are entertaining (and Sarah Jessica Parker adds a particularly strong note of What the Fuckery). And even though it’s a recurring gag, their lack of familiarity with the modern world carries through the movie surprisingly well.

The kids also do a fairly good job. Hocus Pocus doesn’t exactly call for any serious acting, but the child actors were a reasonable level of believable for a family movie.

The story itself is fairly straightforward, but where the movie shines is in dozens of little moments throughout. There’s a zombie cursing, trick-or-treaters dressed as the Sanderson sisters; and the witches doing a performance number. (Like Once Bitten, the movie also involves an awful lot of virgin shaming, which is weird for a Disney movie.)

Since its release, Hocus Pocus has cemented its place as one of the go-to family Halloween movies – and it deserves to be on that list.

Calamity Brains’ Rating: B-
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