IN JULY 1993, AN UNSEASONAL holiday film magicked its way onto screens. Although it featured a stellar cast - with an antagonistic trio of Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy leading the way - Hocus Pocus met with a lukewarm critical reception and did not set the box office alight. But now it’s a firm fan favourite, both in the oeuvre of Halloween films and the Disney back-catalogue, with a nostalgic audience eager to return to Salem again and again.
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Doug Jones, renowned for his versatile creature characters, played clumsy zombie Billy Butcherson, a jilted lover killed and subsequently resurrected. He thinks the film’s endurance is warranted. “I feel like the movie is timeless,” he tells SFX. “As we were filming it, I felt like we were creating a seasonal classic, and its delayed success was a lovely surprise for all of us. In the years following its release, we found our audience - and that audience is now sharing it with their kids.”