In an odd coincidence, 1993 brought two Disney-distributed films with supernatural themes that failed to find big audiences at the time. Neither July’s Hocus Pocus nor October’s Nightmare Before Christmas flopped at the box office, but neither did big business either.

For 1993 releases, Hocus landed in 39th place at the US box office, while Nightmare got to 27th. Neither turned a profit at the time.

However, both eventually developed into semi-classics on home video. I missed Hocus three decades ago but finally caught up with it in 2024.

In Salem Massachusetts circa the late 17th century, locals execute the Sanderson sisters – Winifred (Bette Midler), Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Mary (Kathy Najimy) – as witches. Before their death, though, Winifred casts a spell that claims they will return when a virgin lights a black candle in their home.

300 years later, teen Max Dennison (Omri Katx) and his family move to Salem and on Halloween, he finds himself in the old Sanderson home along with eight-year-old sister Dani (Thora Birch) and classmate/wannabe girlfriend Allison Watts (Vinessa Shaw). Still inexperienced in the ways of sex, Max sets a candle ablaze and causes the catastrophic return of the Sanderson sisters.

Though I compared the box office and legacy fates of Nightmare and Hocus, one big difference exists: how critics viewed the two in 1993. While Nightmare got excellent reviews, Hocus largely received mixed or negative notices.

Can I disagree with those? Not really, as this turns into a pretty spotty affair.

Director Kenny Ortega started his career in music videos and he made his feature debut via 1992’s Newsies. Because that one offered a musical, it made sense for the former choreographer.

Hocus required something else from Ortega, however, as it lacked the same musical components. Actually, we do find a Midler take on the Screaming Jay Hawkins’ classic “I Put a Spell On You” and Parker croons part of a seductive song late in the tale, but that’s it in terms of tunes performed by the cast.

Devoid of the usual musical context, Ortega seems clueless how to proceed. As a result, Hocus becomes a clumsy mish-mash of scenes in search of a consistent narrative.

This feels like a weird problem given the story’s simplicity. Hocus doesn’t exactly come with a complex plot.

Even so, Ortega finds a way to muddle the end product. The movie hops from one silly stab at comedic scares without clarity.

Some of these occasionally threaten to amuse, but the film never quite gets there. The clunky teen “coming of age” plot related to Max doesn’t help, as it becomes tedious.

The widely varied acting styles create another distraction. The three lead witches camp up a storm and feel like they’re in an entirely different movie than everyone else.

I get their choices from attempts to make a potentially scary film more kid-friendly. Hocus comes with enough moments that could upset little ones that the presence of goofy witches alleviates actual fright.

Still, Midler, Parker and Najimy really do feel like they exist in a completely different project than everyone else. These portrayals make no sense because the characters fail to synch with their environments, whether 17th century or 20th century.

Hocus Pocus moves at an energetic enough pace that it doesn’t become a chore to watch. Still, I don’t get its enduring popularity, especially since I can’t see much appeal for anyone beyond young kids.

Note that a tag scene pops up during the end credits, one that concludes with a tease for a sequel. We wouldn’t get Hocus Pocus 2 until 2022.

Hocus Pocus appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though not stellar, this became a more than competent presentation.

Overall sharpness seemed fine. Due to the mild use of grain reduction, low-light shots – of which we found many – occasionally leaned a little soft, but the majority of the film boasted fairly appealing definition.

Neither jagged edges nor moiré effects impacted the image, and I saw no edge haloes. Even with the reduction, some light grain still appeared, and I saw no print flaws.

Given the Halloween setting, the movie’s palette leaned orange. Other hues popped up to a lesser degree, and all seemed fairly full.

Blacks looked deep and dense, while shadows brought good clarity. Nothing here dazzled, but the movie largely looked fine.

Hocus Pocus offered a perfectly competent DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix. Though mostly a comedy, the film’s supernatural elements gave it sporadic chances to shine.

Dialogue sounded generally rich and natural, although some obviously looped lines often entered the equation. Effects also seemed clear and realistic.

The film's score appeared fairly smooth and melodic, and music as a whole was lively and warm.

The front channels displayed some pretty good stereo separation. Dialogue always remained front and center, but a decent number of effects appeared in the right and left channels, and the music used all of these speakers nicely.

The surround channels added breadth to the score and also conveyed a nice sense of the story’s shenanigans when necessary. As implied, this tended to become the case during magic-related scenes.

We didn’t get a ton of those, but they popped up enough to add pizzazz to the mix. All of this left us with a soundtrack that seemed pretty good, if a bit underwhelming.

Note that this 2018 “Anniversary Edition” represents the second Blu-ray release of Hocus Pocus. I never saw the first one so I can’t compare the two.

In terms of extras, the main attraction comes from a picture-in-picture track called We Love Hocus Pocus: Trivia and Treats Edition. This gives a mix of components.

As the movie progresses, we find comments from writer/producer David Kirschner, creature foreman Bill Sturgeon, director Kenny Ortega, production designer Bill Sandell, associate producer Jay Heit, animation supervisor Chris Bailey, FX makeup artist Tony Gardner, choreographer Peggy Holmes, animal expert Gary Gero, and actors Sean Murphy, Bette Midler, Omri Katz, Thora Birch, Vinessa Shaw, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, Garry Marshall, and Doug Jones.

We learn about the project's origins and development, story/characters, cast and performances, various effects, and sets and locations. “Love” also presents extended/deleted scene storyboards and footage, trivia facts and questions, concept art, and footage from the shoot as well as little nuggets like preferred dialogue.

As tracks of this sort go, “Love” works fine. It could be tighter and lose some of the fluff, but it still offers a fairly positive overview of different movie-related domains.

1993 Original Production Featurette. It goes for four minutes, 38 seconds and involves Midler, Katz, Parker, Najimy, and Ortega.

Most of this offers promotional fluff, but a few decent behind the scenes tidbits arrive as well. Those elements make the short clip worth a look.

A box office disappointment in 1993, Hocus Pocus found an audience on TV. I can see the movie’s appeal to kids but it offers little to entertain anyone who made it to puberty. The Blu-ray comes with generally positive picture and audio along with a reasonably informative PiP track. This turns into a pretty good release for a mediocre movie.