Hocus Pocus (1988), a Spooky Delight!
From Swords and Spaceships Magazine, October 1998
What happens when you combine the visions of Steven Spielberg, Tim Burton, and Jim Henson? You get
Hocus Pocus, Disney’s 1988 Halloween release! The film was directed by Tim Burton and starred Chloris Leachman[1], Kathy Bates, and Kim Cattrall as the three Sanderson Sisters, Salem witches who have returned to earth after centuries to torment our teenage protagonists. Sean Astin voices (and plays in live action appearances) Tackery Binks, a 1688 teen turned into a black cat by the witches. Cory Feldman and Drew Barrymore play the teenaged protagonist Max[2] and his crush Allison. A young Vinessa Shaw[3] plays Max’s little sister Dani while Josh Brolin and Judd Nelson play the bullies Bert and Ernie, whose names become a source of amusement. The film was originally slated to be directed by Spielberg, but he chose to spend time with his new family instead and gladly handed the directorial reigns to Burton and production to Lisa Henson in partnership with her father Jim as executive producer. It was the father and daughter’s first official work together since the Henson merger with Disney.
+
= this timeline’s film (with a twist of
The Goonies)
And if all of this seems like an odd combination of talent, then you’re right, because this film had one of the oddest productions you’ve ever heard of. The film started life when writer David Kirshner and his daughter saw a black cat one night and Kirshner made up a story on the spot about it being a kid turned into a cat by witches long ago. The story became a screenplay that Disney CEO Ron Miller picked up in early 1984[4], where it became known as “Disney’s Haunted House”, possibly in reference to the Haunted Mansion attraction. Kirshner wanted Spielberg to direct, but at that point Spielberg wasn’t interested in working with Disney, as he’d hoped to spin up his own child-friendly competing brand. But then the 1984 ACC hostile takeover bid was launched and Spielberg suddenly found himself playing the White Knight for his Disney rivals! He became an “associate director of the board” and joined the production and hoped to direct, bringing in
Goonies scribe Chris Columbus to script doctor. However, other projects took precedence, so production was delayed until 1988.
By then, Spielberg was a new father and wanted to be there for his son, so Tim Burton, by then the successful director of
Jonathan Scissorhands, was asked to take over, which he did. Burton originally wanted River Phoenix and Winona Ryder as Max and Allison, but Phoenix was committed to the film
Running on Empty and Ryder was committed to
Heathers, the first time that Burton was denied his preferred collaborators. The selection of Barrymore was seen as a risky move, as the troubled child actor had just emerged from rehab for alcohol and cocaine addiction at the tender age of 13. Other studios weren’t touching her. Reportedly Spielberg, who was her Godfather, convinced Burton to choose her in an overt attempt to restart her life and career.
Hocus Pocus is truly a product of its time, a PG-rated teen horror-comedy in the vein of
The Goonies or
The Lost Boys and starring many of the same names. It retains that nightmare juice common to Disney and Henson productions of the time, but manages to layer in some borderline slapstick like in
The Goonies, helping to soften the blow, making it a sort of transition piece. It also shares a diegetic pseudo-musical nature with Burton’s later
Beetlejuice, with the witches singing Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell on You” (complete with Hawkins cameo in the band[5]) and other Halloween-ish songs during the run of the film. It features Creatureworks effects, most notably the kid-turned-cat Binks, and some epic makeup for the witches that transforms them into hideous monsters when their “true form” is revealed. Jim Henson’s hands can be seen all over this, with a story that’s clearly influenced by Roald Dahl, in particular
The Witches, a book that Henson had expressed interest in making into a film[6]. It’s a miracle that they never got sued.
MAX: Really? You’re named Bert & Ernie? Like the Muppets?
ERNIE: (pushes Max) Shut up!
MAX: I guess I won’t ask about Rubber Duckie.
BERT & ERNIE (together): SHUT UP!!
The film begins in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1688 where 14-year-old Thackery Binks (Astin) witnesses his sister being abducted by witches. He tries to save her, but the three witches, sisters Winnifred, Mary, and Sarah Sanderson (Leachman, Bates, and Catrall) manage to steal his sister’s youth using a spell from their sentient spell book and turn Binks into a black cat, cursed with immortality. The witches are soon caught and hanged by the townspeople, but cast one last spell, vowing to return when “the black flame candle is lit by a virgin”. Binks, now a cat, calls out to his father (Doug Jones), but his cries sound like meows to his father, who chases him away. A little girl notices that Binks can talk, but her parents don’t believe her and drag her away, leaving Binks alone.
The film then flashes forward to the “present day” of 1988 where 14-year-old Max Dennison (Feldman) and his family have recently moved to Salem from Los Angeles. He’s a fish out of water who gets harassed by upperclassman bullies Bert and Ernie (Brolin and Nelson) and develops a crush on the beautiful Allison (Barrymore). For Halloween the class goes on a field trip to the “Old Sanderson Cottage” museum where the teacher exposits the legend of the Witches Three and the candle that will burn black if lit by a virgin on “the night of Samhain”, or Halloween. The legend is listed as the “inciting incident” for the later Salem Witch Trials. Max scoffs at the “local superstition”.
That night, he’s asked by his parents to take his little sister Dani trick-or-treating, which mortifies him. Eventually they end up at Allison’s house where Max flirts with the coy Allison, and finds out that Bert is her older brother. Bert & Ernie harass Max and dare him to break into the Old Sanderson Place with them. Dani tells him not to, but he wants to impress Allison, so he gives in. While there, he’s pressured by Bert & Ernie into lighting the black flame candle, releasing the Witches Three. They also meet Binks, who as a cat can only be understood by virgins. The witches smell out the “youth” of the teens and attempt to steal Dani’s youth for themselves. Max, however, uses trickery and his lighter to set off the fire sprinklers and the youth are able to escape, grabbing the witches’ spell book on the way out on the advice of Binks.
BERT: I dare you to light that candle, virgin!
MAX: First, witches are a myth, and second, I’m not a virgin, so nothing could possibly go wrong anyway, right? (goes to light the black flame candle)
VOICE (BINKS): No, you fool!!!
DANI: (scared) Max, don’t!
ALLISON: (nervous) Really, max, you don’t need to do this.
ERNIE: What, are you scared the old witches are going to break out through the floor, Max? Do it!
BERT & ERNIE chant “Do it! Do it!” over and over.
MAX goes to light the candle, but BINKS the cat attacks him.
MAX: Ah! Crazy cat!
MAX throws off BINKS and lights the candle, which burns with a black flame. Suddenly everything starts to shake and eerie green light glows from the floorboards. Everyone looks scared.
BINKS: (jumps up on the table) Oh, great, now you’ve done it!
All turn towards the cat and stare in amazement.
BERT: Wait, you can talk?
BINKS: Yes, but only virgins can hear me.
ERNIE: Well, that shows you because we’re not virgins! (beat) Oh… (looks embarrassed)
DANI: Um, can we just get out of here now?
Suddenly in a flash of fire and lightning the WITCHES THREE burst from the floorboards, cackling, as the youth run and hide.
The youth now go on the run from the pursuing witches. On the advice of Binks they shelter in the “Holy ground” of the graveyard, but the witches try to capture them from their brooms and then Winnie resurrects the corpse of Binks’s own father William Binks as a zombie[7] (Jones). This leads to a series of chase scenes and hijinks as the witches interact with the modern world, including one popular scene where they meet a man dressed as the devil, mistaking him for their “master”, much to the annoyance of his wife (cameos by Alice Cooper and his wife Sheryl Goddard[8]). They end up having their brooms stolen by kids while they hang with “master” and end up commandeering a modern broom, a mop, and an upright vacuum cleaner instead, which made the poster. In another scene they come across the town’s parents partying and Sarah leads her magical rendition of “I Put a Spell on You” that causes the adults to dance without stop, presumably until they die. The real Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, who’s playing in the band, complements her on her performance.
The ongoing fight sees the witches incinerated and supposedly defeated, and then sees Allison read their spell book and learn to use a circle of salt to block the witches’ magic. She’ll place a salt circle around the witches, which breaks their glamor, revealing their hideous, demonic “true forms”. This ultimately leads to the final showdown with the Witches[9] and Max and Allison getting together. But you'll just have to watch the film yourself, I won't describe it all here. And don't worry, kids, there's a happy ending.
Max and Allison kiss as the sun rises behind them, framing them in warm light.
BERT: Oh, hell no!
BERT starts to walk towards them, hands curled into fists, but he’s stopped by Ernie’s hand on his shoulder.
ERNIE: (tear in his eye) They make such a cute couple!
BERT: (pushes ERNIE) Dude, it’s my little sister!
Hocus Pocus was primarily filmed in Disney Studios with some location shots in Salem, Mass, and other locations around New England. The set design, costume design, and cinematography all have Burton’s fingerprints all over them, with just a touch German Expressionist and Victorian elements even when the action is in the 1980s or 1680s. Chiaroscuro, Dutch Angles, striped outfits, pale makeup, desaturated color, Danny Elfman score…the works. The results are creepy and scary, but not too traumatizing. And audiences agreed, making a good $68 million against its $19 million budget[10]. Nothing spectacular, but a good, solid film, particularly in the “dump month” October time slot. It also proved that Tim Burton’s earlier success as a director wasn’t a fluke and helped lead to his long-running career.
Sean Astin was delightful as Binks, Corey Feldman and Drew Barrymore had great screen chemistry together as Max and Allison (considering that they started dating while in production it wasn’t just good acting, apparently!), and Vinessa Shaw was adorable as Dani. But what made the film really work was the witches themselves. Chloris Leachman was her usual just-the-right-amount-of-over-the-top as eldest Sanderson sister Winnie, Kathy Bates was diabolically likeable as macabre middle-sister Mary, and Kim Catrall was delightfully seductive (and flighty) as youngest sister Sarah. The three witches devour every scene with cackling delight. Chloris Leachman manages to be domineering and crazy in just the right way. Kathy Bates demonstrates that “sweet and likeable” to “absolutely psychotic” switch-flip that she’s so damned good at. And Kim Cattrall manages to push more than one preteen boy a little further along the developmental pathway with her seductive performance of “I Put a Spell on You”. Seriously, a much as we all love Corey Feldman, Drew Barrymore, Josh Brolin, and Sean Astin, you could remove all of the teens from this picture and just watch the Witches Three for 90 minutes.
And while it’s hard to imagine anyone else in these roles, the truth is that others were considered. Angelica Huston was Jim Henson’s favorite for Winnie, but she had a conflict and instead went on to work with Burton in
Beetlejuice. Michelle Pfeiffer was considered for Sarah, but turned down the role. Meg Ryan was considered, but passed over as “too wholesome”. And Rosie O’Donnell, still largely a “nobody” at the time, auditioned for Mary, but was passed over for Bates.
The film also generated some controversy, with the Wiccan community decrying it as “slanderous” to their faith[11]. Jim Henson did an interview with
The Wiccan (now
Pagan Dawn) where he expressed his own faith and beliefs, which were, he assured them, quite in line with Wicca and tried to assure them that it was all meant as a fun scary story based on the “myth” of witches rather than true Wicca. Since he’d also been the driving force behind
The Dark Crystal and
The Black Cauldron, which were largely loved in the Pagan/Wicca community, he was largely forgiven. However, the interview would cause Henson and Disney problems later.
Ten years after its release, the film has gone on to become a Halloween classic and continues to sell well on home media. The Disney Channel plays it every Halloween season, where it has become a holiday tradition. It’s considered a “criterion film” in the Tim Burton canon by fans and professionals alike, representing a pivotal moment in his career from up-and-comer to go-to director. It also marks a fun crossover between Spielberg, Burton, and Henson, capturing elements of all three of their unique interests and talents all the while retaining its own unique flavor.
As for those of us at
Swords and Spaceships, well, we just can’t get enough of it.
[1] The part of the eldest witch Winnie was written with her in mind, but production dragged into the ‘90s and Bette Midler played the part in our timeline…a role that she absolutely loved playing. Alas, she’s doing “high concept” work for Hollywood Pictures in this timeline at the moment. And Requiem in Pace to Chloris Leachman, who passed away in January of 2021.
[2] Needless to say given the shared actor, there will be numerous fan crossover theories between
Hocus Pocus and
Where the Wild Things Are, even though the timelines clearly do not align.
[3] Fun with irony casting: she played Allison in the version from our timeline made in 1993.
[4] As happened in our timeline.
[5] Witch’s Hat Tip to
@TheMolluskLingers.
[6] In our timeline he did Executive Produce a version of
The Witches, and ran headlong into Dahl’s cantankerous dislike for the changes he made, in particular the happy ending. In this timeline he does
Hocus Pocus and scratches that itch in ’88.
[7] Changed by Chris Columbus from Winnie’s ex-husband in order to increase the emotional stakes.
[8] Garry and Penny Marshall in our timeline. Different timeline means different connections.
[9] Effectively follows the same story beats at the film from our timeline, the big differences being the bullies are a main part of the cast and “Bert” (different name in our timeline) being Allison’s older brother. Also, the Witches have ugly “true forms” hidden under mystical glamours in a twist taken from
The Witches by Dahl. No spoilers here for those who haven’t seen it.
[10] Better than
Hocus Pocus did in our timeline thanks largely to the “Burton touch” giving it that unique look that clicked with audiences in the late ‘80s and from being more in line with the zeitgeist than in ’93 (performs largely on par with our timeline’s
Beetlejuice). Did significantly better than
The Witches, which got great reviews but was “screwed by the studio” when Lorimar got bought out by WB just before release and they screwed with the release dates and failed to promote it.
[11] A similar thing happened with
The Witches (1990), which led Henson to do some damage control.
