History YMMV / HocusPocus

* AssPull: The Sanderson Sisters survive [[spoiler:getting burned alive in the kiln]]--because [[spoiler:their spell prevents them from being killed on Halloween Night]]. This is never foreshadowed or set up in any way: the audience is only told that the spell would ''resurrect'' them on Halloween Night for a single day, and the entire premise hinges on the fact that they can be killed just like anybody else.

* EvilIsSexy: Sarah is played by Sarah Jessica Parker in her prime, with beautiful blonde hair, a dress that shows plenty of cleavage, and numerous innuendo-laden lines. She's a HotWitch if ever there was one. But when she lovingly serenades children, it's clear that she ''is'' evil and dangerous:
--> ''Come little children, I'll take thee away...''

* CriticalDissonance: The movie garnered a 30% "Rotten" score from the critics, but received a much higher score of 70% from the audience.

* ClicheStorm: Is there a single late-[[TheEighties Eighties]] or early-[[TheNineties Nineties]] comedy trope they missed? Let's see here...We've got a CoolLoser hero with a pretty heavy [[DeadpanSnarker snarker persona]] who’s bummed over moving to a new place; his clueless yuppie parents; his bratty younger sibling; [[TheBully bullies]]; a cute talking animal; villains who [[AffablyEvil spend at least as much time making dreadful wisecracks as doing anything truly evil]]; satirical jabs galore...

* DarthWiki/WhatAnIdiot: When Max and Dani meet up with their parents at the town hall party, they try to explain to them what's been going on. [[NotNowKiddo The parents brush it off]], thinking their children are just being imaginative.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Binx, who is a ''talking cat'', to say something, proving to the parents that something supernatural is indeed happening.\\
'''Instead:''' Binx says nothing, leaving the parents both clueless and defenseless when the Sanderson sisters arrive.

** He's never been easy of "recognize" due to almost all of his work being done under heavy costumes and/or makeup, but Creator/DougJones has become far better known since this film.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: Despite featuring so much GettingCrapPastTheRadar, constant references to a teenage boy's virginity, the murder of a child onscreen and the threat of more child murders as a major theme, etc., this film is still promoted by Disney as a family favorite every Halloween season. As of 2023, Ride/WaltDisneyWorld even has WesternAnimation/MinnieMouse, [[Characters/ClassicDisneyShorts Clarabelle Cow]] and WesternAnimation/DaisyDuck dressed as the Sanderson Sisters in Mickey's Boo to You Halloween Parade.

* DarthWiki/WhatAnIdiot: When Max and Dani meet up with their parents at the town hall party, they try to explain to them what's been going on. [[NotNowKiddo The parents brush it off, thinking their children are just being imaginative.]]\\

* WhatAnIdiot: When Max and Dani meet up with their parents at the town hall party, they try to explain to them what's been going on. [[NotNowKiddo The parents brush it off, thinking their children are just being imaginative.]]\\

* '''You'd Expect:''' Binx, who is a ''talking cat'', to say something, proving to the parents that something supernatural is indeed happening.\\
* '''Instead:''' Binx says nothing, leaving the parents both clueless and defenseless when the Sanderson sisters arrive.

* WhatAnIdiot: When Max and Dani meet up with their parents at the town hall party, they try to explain to them what's been going on. [[NotNow Kiddo The parents brush it off as their children being overtly imaginative.]]
* '''You'd Expect:''' Binx, who is a ''talking cat'', to say something, proving to the parents that something supernatural is indeed happening.\\
* '''Instead:''' Binx says nothing, leaving the parents both clueless and defenseless when the Sanderson sisters arrive.

** '''You'd Expect:''' Binx, who is a ''talking cat'', to say something, proving to the parents that something supernatural is indeed happening.\\
** '''Instead:''' Binx says nothing, leaving the parents both clueless and defenseless when the Sanderson sisters arrive.

'''You'd Expect:''' Binx, who is a ''talking cat'', to say something, proving to the parents that something supernatural is indeed happening.\\
'''Instead:''' Binx says nothing, leaving the parents both clueless and defenseless when the Sanderson sisters arrive.

** Then there is Mr. Binx, Emily and Thackery's father. He finds out that [[MissingChild 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.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: Despite featuring so much GettingCrapPastTheRadar, constant references to a teenage boy's virginity, the murder of a child onscreen and the threat of more child murders as a major theme, etc., this film is still promoted by Disney as a family favorite every Halloween season. As of 2023, Ride/WaltDisneyWorld even has WesternAnimation/MinnieMouse, [[ClassicDisneyShorts/Characters Clarabelle Cow]] and WesternAnimation/DaisyDuck dressed as the Sanderson Sisters in Mickey's Boo to You Halloween Parade.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: Despite featuring so much GettingCrapPastTheRadar, constant references to a teenage boy's virginity, the murder of a child onscreen and the threat of more child murders as a major theme, etc., this film is still promoted by Disney as a family favorite every Halloween season. As of 2023, Ride/WaltDisneyWorld even has WesternAnimation/MinnieMouse, [[ClassicDisneyShort/Characters Clarabelle Cow]] and WesternAnimation/DaisyDuck dressed as the Sanderson Sisters in Mickey's Boo to You Halloween Parade.

** The cat getting run over, and seen flattened on-screen, has freaked out many people. Of course he turns out to [[DisneyDeath be alive seconds later]] but still...

** When the kids enter Sanderson Sisters museum, Alison turns the lights on. If the place had been closed for 300 years, the electricity would have been shut off. The door was also left unlocked. But if these realities were observed, there would have not have been much of a movie to work with.

** In the climax of the movie, the Sanderson Sisters are left with just enough potion for a single child required to survive past the night. Winifred willfully ignores the numerous children that Sarah lured to ge revenge on Dani for calling her ugly. However, there's no reason to go beyond wounded pride to go after Dani when the sisters could have used any of the hypnotized children and got their revenge later.
** As the kids make their second escape from the Sanderson Sisters house, Max could have ended the threat of the witches by simply blowing out the black flame candle, and for good measure, take the Book with them.

** [[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.]]

* MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales: Despite the Sanderson Sisters being [[WickedWitch wicked witches]], they're often beloved by real witches for [[EvilIsCool how fun and powerful they are]].

** The human form of Thackery Binx is played by Creator/SeanMurray, better known for his role as Tim McGee in ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' ten years later.

* RetroactiveRecognition:
** The human form of Thackery Binx is played by Creator/SeanMurray, better known for his role as Tim [=McGee=] in ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' ten years later.
** Kind of hard to believe that Mary Sanderson is the future voice of [[WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill Peggy Hill]].
** He's never really been easy to "recognize" due to almost all his work being done under heavy costumes and/or makup, but Creator/DougJones has become far better known since this film.
** Creator/ThoraBirch would later gain fame for her role in ''Film/AmericanBeauty'', and more recently retain some recognition as recurring villain Gamma on ''Series/TheWalkingDead''.