National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

Hocus Pocus was released by Walt Disney Pictures in July 1993, directed by Kenny Ortega. Though it performed modestly at the box office, the film found its true audience through cable and home video, becoming a perennial Halloween staple that has only grown in cultural significance over the decades. Shot on location in Salem, Massachusetts, it remains a distinctive artifact of early-nineties family fantasy filmmaking, blending practical effects with a tone that walked the line between comedy and genuine menace.

This three-frame consecutive sequence captures the confrontation between Billy and Max in what appears to be a nighttime, water-adjacent setting, rendered in deep blue-purple tones. The consecutive frames offer a rare sense of motion and tension, preserving a pivotal struggle from one of the film's more atmospheric moments across three individual cells from a single 35mm print.