Today is an extremely important day in Halloween history.
Twenty-seven years ago, my lifelong favorite movie was released into the world.
I was just six years old at the time, but as obsessed with Halloween as ever. Back then, there really weren’t many things that the young Halloween enthusiast could watch. My only memories of kid-friendly Halloween media at the time are a few TV specials, mainly something called “Buttons & Rusty In ‘Which Witch Is Which?’”, which I had recorded on a VHS tape and watched so frequently to get my Halloween feels on in the off-season that it wore out pretty quickly. (My childhood mantra, any time I was obsessed with a movie, which happened pretty frequently, was from that moment on, “Is this tape going to break like Buttons & Rusty?”) There was some part of me that didn’t understand how there could be so many Christmas movies, but so few things related to Halloween. So, of course I was elated to find out that a Halloween movie was finally coming!
I actually didn’t see Hocus Pocus right away. This was most likely my mother’s decision, as, despite my love for Halloween, I scared terribly easily as a child, and not knowing many details about the content and imagery of the movie, she likely worried that it was something that could induce nightmares or monster-under-the-bed paranoia. I still got excited about it, though. I would run to the TV when the commercials came on, and during some news show that was highlighting new movies on the way, I learned that the black cat character was named Binx, prompting me to immediately name the nearest stuffed cat (who was a cartoony looking blue thing in a yellow bathing suit, meant to be taken into the bath or pool, but I’ve always had an imagination) after him. I think I also found it a bit odd that the movie wasn’t actually being released near Halloween. Perhaps this was my very first introduction to the fact that any day could be Halloween.
I finally saw the movie about a year and a half after its release. I actually have a very distinct memory of the evening I watched it for the first time, being the same day we put up the Christmas decorations that year. (I have truly always been this way, haven’t I? Even when it wasn’t intentional!) We had a free preview week of the Disney Channel (It was still a premium channel that you had to pay extra for back in my day!) and the movie was airing, possibly making its television debut but don’t quote me on that, that night. I was so excited. I distinctly remember the feeling of anticipation while getting settled onto my parents’ bed to watch a movie about my favorite thing in the world.
To say I loved the movie would be the understatement of the century. I. Was. Obsessed. Believe me when I tell you, Hocus Pocus became all I talked about. I was constantly coming up with ideas based on the movie. I was forever asking my mother if she remembered this or that part. I started begging for a black cat. I even began speaking in Old English to my parents and our pets to try and sound more like the Sanderson Sisters. (Pretty sure I once told the dog something along the lines of “Thou needest to stop barking so loudly!”) I once woke up crying from a dream in which I’d had a playdate with Dani Dennison, because I was so devastated that it hasn’t actually happened. I even recall a phone conversation with my grandmother, who had never even heard of Hocus Pocus, during which I recounted the entire movie from memory for her. I eventually found an actual black cat plush to bestow the name “Binx” upon, and started calling a little red headed doll I’d bought at a craft fair, “Dani”.
Like many Disney movies were back then, Hocus Pocus was impossible to find for purchase. My mother would rent it from the video store for me frequently, but I longed for my own copy. As Halloween of 1995 approached, we figured it would have to be airing somewhere on TV at some point. I waited with bated breath, and then my parents wound up going on a trip to New Orleans just before Halloween, a trip that my father had won at his job. In all the chaos, we forgot about trying to find Hocus Pocus on TV, but one night, while my Aunt Trish was babysitting me, lo and behold, there it was on one of the network channels, already in progress. I freaked out that I had missed my opportunity, but ran frantically around the house looking for a blank VHS tape anyway. I finally found one, can’t recall how or where, and just recorded it from where it was, on. For many years, (I believe I was fourteen when I was finally gifted a real VHS copy.) the only copy of Hocus Pocus I physically owned, started from the “calming circle” scene at the cemetery.
Having an “abridged” version of the movie didn’t stop me from constantly watching it, though! I’m actually quite surprised that old VHS tape lasted as long as it did, as it was my main way to view the movie for six years. I still saw the full version when it would come on TV, and I think I still occasionally rented it from the video store as well when I wanted to see certain scenes. By my teen years, I literally had the movie memorized. One afternoon when I was probably around fifteen, Hocus Pocus was on in our living room during a TV airing and I surprised my mother by being able to recite literally every line in time with the characters. To say I know this movie by heart is a massive understatement. I haven’t attempted to recite every line again in awhile, but I still have things timed very well. Like, if I leave the room while the movie’s playing, I can accurately predict what will be going on onscreen when I get back, or fill in the blanks for myself if I have to walk away from it to do something else, as if I never left. There are quite a few movies I’ve watched over and over again in my time, but none that I have a connection with quite like Hocus Pocus.
It’s truly amazing to me, to see what a phenomenon Hocus Pocus has become over the years. It may have started out slowly...for many years I believed I was the only little girl who wanted to be Winifred Sanderson rather than a Disney princess...but in recent years, Hocus Pocus has truly taken on a life of its own. Seeing all the merchandise in Spirit Halloween every year truly astounds me. As a child, I never would’ve dared imagine that one day, the characters from my favorite movie would be turned into pillows and wall art and stylized collectible figures. It truly amazes me how this movie is starting to transcend generations. It’s not just something that those of us who grew up in the 90s remember fondly; it’s become its own perfect Halloween legacy.
On Halloween 2017, I finally fulfilled my lifelong dream of becoming Winifred Sanderson.
So many young children stared in awe, saying things like “Look, she’s a Sanderson Sister!” or telling me how they’d just watched Hocus Pocus before trick-or-treating. It was truly a magical experience, to not only take the form of a character who had meant so much to me for so long, but to see what that character has become over the course of time. It’s amazing to me that there’s a network that plays Hocus Pocus for twenty-four hours on Halloween now, much like the iconic (but less satisfying, from my point of view) marathons of A Christmas Story that I grew up with. If you ride or walk around just about anywhere on Halloween night, you will likely see Hocus Pocus playing on a TV in someone’s window. This movie, that seemed like such an obscure thing to have an attachment to when I was seven years old, has become an essential piece of so many Halloween celebrations, and an essential piece of Halloween in general.
It’s a strange and wonderful, magical thing to watch your favorite movie grow into such a classic. I truly hope that Hocus Pocus continues to enchant many more generations, and always maintains its place as a true Halloween classic that the entire family can enjoy. I can’t imagine my childhood, or my life in general, without this iconic film that has come to mean so much to Halloween community.
Stay spooky, my friends. And remember: Don’t bounce your sack!
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