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Hocus Pocus is the most topical, realistic Vonnegut novel to date…he is a satirist with a heart, a moralist with a whoopee cushion.”—Jay McInerney, The New York Times A king-sized relief valve of comedy. Every bit as humorous as Cat’s Cradle, Slaughterhouse-Five, Breakfast of Champions or any of Vonnegut’s other comic masterpieces…Vonnegut evokes the cynical chortle, the knowing grin, the inner laughter that soothes our troubled reflections…He’s mad as hell and laughing all the way to the apocalypse.”— Playboy Appearing on the podcast Post Mortem, writer/producer David Kirschner explained that “at the time [he pitched Hocus Pocus] the Halloween industry was almost a billion-dollar industry and there were no films out there for families. Since then, it’s become a 10 billion-dollar business.” It is likely that pagans would celebrate the start of the winter season with a harvest feast, but also with a feeling of impending doom as many would die during the winter period. Hence, it is a time to honor the dead and a time when darkness would bring out everything that goes bump in the night.
A.V. Club ran a piece for the 20th anniversary of the film, commenting that “it stands out from a host of other films from that era because it embraces its silliness, and then goes the extra mile to make sure that silliness is executed well.” And that’s the crux of it. Who doesn’t love a touch of good old-fashioned silliness when it’s cold, dark and miserable outside the window? Halloween: The Holiday That’s Here To Stay
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But in 1993, Hocus Pocus captured the imaginations of British kids, presenting them with the quintessential Halloween watch, and the aspiration to capture the season just as the film had. We wanted what we saw on screen: a real All-American scare fest, with activities town-wide for adults and children alike, and ever since then we’ve been striving for it. His voice is one of the most original in popular American fiction…sharp-toothed satire…truly hilarious… Hocus Pocusis ample proof that his literary prestidigitation can still amuse and delight.”— San Francisco Chronicle While speaking to Den of Geek, the author notes, “ Hocus Pocus might also be one of those films that has a special nostalgia for those who are the right age. I saw it as an adult and didn’t really like it much (I agreed with most of the critics in 1993), but that’s so often the case with adults seeing films intended for children. That’s probably another part of its increase in popularity: those who loved it as children are adults now and sharing it with their children.“ The generation who were kids during this Halloween-heavy year, and those who would grow up on the movies’ repeat airings—primarily millenials—have taken it upon themselves to inject the magic of the movie into Halloween every year and bring up their own children to love the seasonal holiday too. Of course, it isn’t just Hocus Pocus that is to blame for Halloween’s globalization, but its success as a film has paralleled the popularity of Halloween across the pond. The more success Hocus Pocus has seen, subsequently finding its feet as a cult film, the more Halloween has evolved and established itself as a seasonal holiday alongside Valentine’s Day, Easter, and Christmas.
In fact, the hype around the sequel just proves how lasting the magic of Hocus Pocus is, and perhaps thanks to the fact that its magic transcends the real film—it has brought life to a new generation of Halloween lovers who have solidified the festival’s legitimacy. Vonnegut’s best novel in years—funny and prophetic, yes, and fabulous too, as cunning as Aesop and as gloomy as Grimm…He’s up to something special in Hocus Pocus.”— The Nation In 2017, National Geographic ran an article entitled, “ Love It or Hate It, Halloween Is Going Global” that read, “Halloween is spreading around the globe like a zombie outbreak” and reported that “ Forty-six percent of U.K. consumers spent money on Halloween in 2016, shelling out a total of 310 million pounds.” In fact, according to Statista, Halloween has overtaken Guy Fawkes night in terms of popularity when it comes to celebrating one or the other in the UK, and the decline in fireworks sales and increase in Halloween partyware in supermarkets has reflected this.
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