I’m one of those lucky 90’s kids who saw Hocus Pocus during its original theatrical release. Like Dani, I was 8 (and a little more than a half) in 1993. Disney Channel played a lot of behind-the-scenes looks at the film leading up to its release, so I was hyped when my Wisconsin hometown’s newspaper advertised an early sneak preview at our local movie theater. My parents tried to take me, but we didn’t get there early enough. It was sold out, so we saw something else. But I kept “going to the bathroom” to peek between the theater doors (pre-stadium seating) to watch Hocus Pocus in random one-minute bursts. I got the junior novelization by Todd Strasser to tide me over until I finally saw the whole film when it was officially released. I loved it as much as I knew I would, if not more. I was soon getting yelled at for riding my rollerblades around the neighborhood with a broom or mop between my legs (I could’ve died, apparently). These are the kinds of anecdotes Hocus Pocus fans get from other fans in the new book Witches Run Amok: The Oral History of Disney's Hocus Pocus, now available from Hyperion Avenue, an imprint of Disney’s Buena Vista Books.
(Hyperion Avenue)
I had never read an “Oral History” book before. For the unfamiliar, it’s a tome of organized quotes from people involved with the making of Hocus Pocus, and some of its most noteworthy fans. I really enjoyed the format, although the nature of it sometimes leaves room for tangents that stray away from the topic, which gets a bit jarring when you’re suddenly thrust back into the main conversation of that section. The book is organized into chapters about the film’s origins, pre-production, casting, and all manner of filming (location shoots, sets, costumes, props, music, etc…). The final chapters, making up about a third of the book, are devoted to what happened after the film was made, and how this box office flop became a perennial classic.
Written by entertainment journalist Shannon Carlin, Witches Run Amok: The Oral History of Disney's Hocus Pocus was born out of a 2018 article for Bustle about the making of the “I Put a Spell on You” sequence. The book reuses interviews conducted for that piece but expands them with a mix of newly conducted interviews just for this “booOOOook,” plus some archival interviews. It seems that the Sanderson Sisters themselves (Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy) weren’t as available as the rest of the cast and creative team, with most of their quotes pulled from the archives. But it doesn’t feel like there’s much they could’ve added to the narrative, either, so their absence doesn’t feel missed.
Considering myself a Hocus Pocus superfan, I was surprised by how much I learned from Witches Run Amok: The Oral History of Disney's Hocus Pocus, which makes for a great companion to Aaron Wallace’s Hocus Pocus in Focus: The Thinking Fan's Guide to Disney's Halloween Classic (Wallace is back in this book to add more brilliant perspective on the film and to point out discrepancies about the lore of Hocus Pocus). From how the story and script evolved through its numerous revisions to last-minute casting changes, there are so many anecdotes about the making of Hocus Pocus that were new to me. Although there are still a few questions left unanswered for the next writer who wants to dedicate 300 pages to Hocus Pocus (Why, all these years later, is the film version of “I Put a Spell on You” still not available anywhere outside of the film?).
Interviews include the film’s creative team (David Kirschner, Kenny Ortega, Neil Cuthbert, Mick Garris), stars (Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, Sarah Jessica Parker, Thora Birch, Omri Katz, Vinessa Shaw, Doug Jones, Jason Marsden, and more), crew (John Debney, Tony Gardner, Peggy Holmes, Mary Vogt, and more), plus people involved with Hocus Pocus 2 (Belissa Escobedo, Ginger Minj, Kahmora Hall), and a whole lot more.
There is one small issue with Witches Run Amok: The Oral History of Disney's Hocus Pocus, the book’s use of uncensored language. It makes what would otherwise be suitable reading for younger fans of Hocus Pocus somewhat inappropriate. For example, there are four F-bombs throughout the book (pages 27, 114, 124, 219), but the cover and back of the book don’t give any indication that this Disney-branded release would contain adult language (Naturally, one should assume that there is talk of “virgins” since this is Hocus Pocus, but those conversations are otherwise not explicit). Shannon Carlin’s Author’s Note at the beginning of the book includes a statement that some quotes have been edited for length and clarity, and you’ll find plenty of brackets throughout to indicate that a quote was amended, but words are never [freaking] censored the way you’d expect given Disney’s branding.
Up until the 2018 Blu-Ray release, Disney had largely ignored the behind-the-scenes story of Hocus Pocus, and not even that 25th Anniversary re-release painted the full picture. Thankfully, Witches Run Amok: The Oral History of Disney's Hocus Pocus offers a more complete overview of how one of the greatest Halloween classics of all time was made, and its unlikely road to becoming a pop culture phenomenon. If the Sanderson Sisters are part of your annual Halloween movie tradition, you’ll definitely want to read this.