History YMMV / HocusPocus

* KarmicOverkill: Ice and Jay. Sure, they were jerks who deserved to be taken down a peg, but the last time we see them they’re still trapped in those cages with no indication anyone's coming to help them, and it’s clear Max isn’t going to go back considering how badly they treated him. The sequel book brings this up and uses it as a minor plot point.

* HilariousInHindsight: Billy the Butcher in Hocus Pocus was misunderstood and ultimately a good guy. Fast forward nine years later to ''Film/GangsOfNewYork'' and Bill the Butcher is anything but. The fast forward again to 2006 and [[ComicBook/TheBoys another Billy Butcher]] is like a hellish fusion of those two, a friendly, personable person who is also a complete psychopath with an axe to grind.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Ice and Jay. Sure, they were jerks who deserved to be taken down a peg, but the last time we see them they’re still trapped in those cages with no indication anyone's coming to help them, and it’s clear Max isn’t going to go back considering how badly they treated him. The sequel book brings this up and uses it as a minor plot point.

* [[https://at.tumblr.com/connor-dioda/so-the-sanderson-sisters-are-a-trio-of-flamboyant/pw09smaiw1ql The Sanderson Sisters are basically]][[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency the Pillar Men.]]

** It's hard not to feel very sorry for poor Thackery Binx. The poor kid fights for all his worth to save his little sister, just to fail and then endure a PainfulTransformation [[BalefulPolymorph into a cat]]. Then he gets rejected by his father who he was trying to communicate with in his hour of grieving. Finally, and this is the juicy bit, he spends the next few hundreds years, alone, with only his self-appointed duty in keeping the witches from coming back to give him purpose, but otherwise wandering aimlessly through his own personal, eternal hell. The only thing that averts this from being a full on AndIMustScream is that he somehow relearns how to talk as a cat, Max says he's one of the Dennisons now, [[spoiler:and Binx reunites with his sister in the afterlife]].

** ''Hocus Pocus'' didn't originate the UnusualEuphemism "Yabbos." According to [[http://www.imdb.com/search/text?realm=title&field=quotes&q=Yabbos IMDB]], "yabbos" was used in ''National Lampoon's Film/AnimalHouse for breasts in the phrase "major-league yabbos."

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaC-WDrvmUQ I Put a Spell on You]]," the VillainSong that the sisters sing to make it seem as if they're merely costumed entertainers and not real witches, is pretty well-loved.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Just like in the original, the plot of the 2022 sequel is kicked off by the characters accidentally bringing the Sanderson Sisters back to life by lighting a black flame candle, which can only be lit by a virgin. Unlike in the original, however, neither Becca nor Izzy are ever ''mocked'' for being virgins, and there's isn't even the slightest hint that it's inherently shameful or humiliating for a teenager to have never had sex--addressing a common criticism of the original film.

!Hocus Pocus

!Hocus Pocus 2
* ContestedSequel: There is some enjoyment to be found in this sequel. However, there are still plenty who will consider it inferior to the first movie.

* ValuesDissonance: The plot puts emphasis on the fact Max is a virgin, even though he's 15 and not even technically legal yet. Such a plot point may not fly as easily today as it did in the early nineties.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Ice and Jay. Sure, they were jerks who deserved to be taken down a peg, but the last time we see them they’re still trapped in those cages with no indication anyone's coming to help them, and it’s clear Max isn’t going to go back considering how badly they treated him.

* LGBTFanbase: It's as {{camp}} as twelve tents, stars three major gay icons, and was even directed by an openly gay filmmaker. It would honestly be more shocking if this ''didn't'' have a queer fanbase! Not to mention many gay males had a crush on Max.

* LGBTFanbase: It's as {{camp}} [[UpToEleven as twelve tents]], stars three major gay icons, and was even directed by an openly gay filmmaker. It would honestly be more shocking if this ''didn't'' have a queer fanbase! Not to mention many gay males had a crush on Max.

* UncannyValley: CGI was still in its infancy, so some shots of the cat blinking and talking could come off as this.

** Then there is Mr. Binx, Emily and Thackery's father. He finds out that [[AdultFear his little girl is missing]], and that his son is going after the local witches. He manages to raise an angry mob and subdue the witches, but he finds his daughter's corpse rapidly aged in the cottage, and Thackery nowhere in sight. The scene where he interrogates the witches on the gallows about his son's whereabouts is quite a TearJerker, especially when Binx in cat form tries to approach him and he doesn't realize the truth.

* WhatAnIdiot: Max lighting the candle might've been stupid, but it's understandable that someone wouldn't believe it. What is unbelievably stupid was Allison ''not just keeping a book made by the devil, but opening it and trying to use its power herself''. She even read that part herself! Even if the sisters were dead, how did she think that was a good idea!?

* LGBTFanbase: It's as {{camp}} [[UpToEleven as twelve tents]], stars three major gay icons, and was even directed by an openly gay filmmaker. It would honestly be more shocking if this ''didn't'' have a queer fanbase!

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaC-WDrvmUQ I Put A Spell on You]]," the VillainSong that the sisters sing to make it seem as if they're merely costumed entertainers and not real witches, is pretty well-loved.
** Music/JohnDebney's rich, soft score perfectly captures the film's blend of fun, spookiness and tenderness.

* DracoInLeatherPants: Sarah is often thought as less evil than the other two, probably because of her status as TheDitz and being [[BeautyEqualsGoodness the most attractive]] of the sisters. But then she sweetly serenades children (with "Come Little Children"), luring them to the sisters' home -- and she's as happy as her sisters to drain Salem's children of their life-force. She also excitedly proposed playing sadistically with Thackery, once they caught him.

* JustHereForGodzilla: Some people just watch it for Creator/BetteMidler, Creator/KathyNajimy and Creator/SarahJessicaParker hamming it up as the witches and clearly having a ball doing so.

* MemeticLoser: Max is this in the film itself, due to the amount of times it makes fun of him for being a virgin.

* CatharsisFactor: After they made him watch his sister die in front of him, it's satisfying when [[spoiler:Binx in cat form attacks Winifred before she can force-feed Dani the potion, giving Max an opportunity to bargain with Winifred for Dani's life. Though his real death is a TearJerker, Binx's ghost smiles at Dani, reassuring her and thanking Max for freeing his soul. To top it all off, he reunites with Emily who escorts him to heaven]].

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Is Sarah as ditzy as her sisters treat her? There are a couple of times where Sarah displays SimpleMindedWisdom - remembering the ingredient for the potion, sensing the children in the alley behind the restaurant, and being able to get the bus driver to give them a ride just because he's attracted to her. The latter could point to Sarah being more aware of her own seduction power than her sisters give her credit for.

* ValuesDissonance: The plot puts emphasis on the fact Max is a virgin, even though he's 15 and not even technically legal yet. Such a plot point may not fly as easily today as it did in the early nineties. At the least, the only person who directly ''mocks'' Max for being a virgin is Dani, and given her age and personality she may not even know what it means, just that it annoys her big brother to have it brought up around other people; Max is embarrassed by it but no one else really cares. Alison, Max's to-be girlfriend, does not find it to be a problem.

* WhatAnIdiot: Max lighting the candle might've been stupid, but it's understandable that someone wouldn't believe it. What is unbelievably stupid was Allison ''not just keeping a book made by the devil, but opening it and trying to use it's power herself''. She even read that part herself! Even if the sisters were dead, how did she think that was a good idea!?