National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

Hocus Pocus was released by Walt Disney Pictures in July 1993, directed by Kenny Ortega and written by Mick Garris and Neil Cuthbert. Though it performed modestly in its initial theatrical run, the film found a devoted audience through home video and cable broadcasts, becoming a genuine seasonal touchstone for a generation of viewers. Its blend of comedy, horror-adjacent atmosphere, and practical effects work reflects the particular sensibility Disney brought to family genre filmmaking in the early 1990s.

This three-frame cell captures Billy Butcherson in what reads as a nighttime outdoor environment, the dark background and architectural element in the upper frame consistent with the film's graveyard sequences. Shot on 35mm, the frames preserve the deep shadow work characteristic of the production's location photography.