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 genuine seasonal touchstone for an entire generation. Shot on location in Salem, Massachusetts, it remains one of the more distinctive entries in the Disney live-action catalog of that decade, blending broad comedy with genuine gothic atmosphere in a way that has only grown more appreciated over time.

This cell presents three consecutive frames of Mary Sanderson in close-up, capturing the character mid-expression against a dark background. The tight framing and theatrical makeup read clearly across all three frames, offering a small but coherent window into a single sustained moment from the performance. As a strip rather than a single frame, it preserves the natural rhythm of the shot, giving the piece an uncommon sense of motion held just at the edge of stillness.