Far Out
What One Cult Classic Movie Did Roger Ebert Hate With A Passion? Why?
By Lily Hardman
January 28, 2025
The cult classic movie Roger Ebert hated with a passion: “Desperately in need of self-discipline”
Film critic Roger Ebert didn’t always see eye-to-eye with the audience consensus. He despised John Waters’ 1972 gem Pink Flamingos, for example, and detested Armageddon. He was never one to equivocate either, happily heaping insults upon movies that he deemed incompetent, lazy, or downright evil.
In general, however, he did enjoy movies that were harmless fun, which is why it is particularly surprising that he should take aim at a film that is both a beloved classic and extremely uncontroversial.
“Watching the movie is like attending a party you weren’t invited to,” Ebert wrote of Kenny Ortega’s 1993 film Hocus Pocus. “And where you don’t know anybody, and they’re all in on a joke but won’t explain it to you.”
The film centres on a teenager named Max who inadvertently awakens a trio of witch sisters who were executed three hundred years before during the Salem witch trials. The witches in question are played by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy, and they proceed to stalk the children in a desperate attempt to suck the life out of one of them before the sun rises and turns them to dust.
Full of special effects, scenery-chewing performances, and tongue-in-cheek humour, Hocus Pocus fell flat at the box office when it was released but has gone on to be a cult classic adored by generations of Halloween enthusiasts. Its over-the-top camp and three central performances are part of the fabric of ‘90s nostalgia, and it is now an inescapable Halloween tradition observed by millions.
As with any cult classic these days, it was, much like the witches themselves, brought back from the dead. Hocus Pocus 2 was released in 2022, with all three actors reprising their roles. According to Disney, it was the most-watched movie to premiere on its streaming platform despite mixed reviews. A third film is currently in the pipeline.
For Ebert, Hocus Pocus was terrible on just about every level. He called it “desperately in need of self-discipline,” saying that it looked like a movie in which everyone was laughing and slapping each other on the back at the end of each take because they were so pleased with themselves about their own wackiness. He lambasted it for having a plot that was so confusing that the characters had to constantly remind the audience of the supernatural parameters and dismissed the acting as consisting mainly of “hysterical shrieking”.
Ultimately, Ebert’s first observation — that the movie feels like a party he wasn’t invited to — is his most revealing remark. As a straight man, there wasn’t much for him to latch onto. When you’re used to seeing films that were either made to resonate with basically everyone or to resonate with straight men, more specifically, a movie that leaned so heavily into arch, extravagant theatricality probably just seemed badly made.
The fact that millions and millions of avid film viewers disagree with that assessment is proof that niche movies can find their audience and that those audiences are all the more passionate because of how undeserved they usually are.
