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•	1993 Album

•	2013 Album

While Debney's work for Hocus Pocus is effective in the genre and exudes a fair amount of charm, it doesn't have as much uniquely endearing or devious personality as comparable music by Alan Silvestri for The Witches or John Williams for The Witches of Eastwick. Despite recording with 90 players and an all-female choir for a distinct touch of early Danny Elfman mystery and magic, the Hocus Pocus recording lacks resonance in its mix and memorability in its themes. The former issue is a surprising outcome, because Debney does apply all the right instrumental colors for the score. Metallic percussion, harpsichord, lute, recorder, and various drums represent the past and witchcraft/mysticism elements, and the strings and woodwinds provide a bevy of sensitive character moments. Brass and lower winds offer the witches' their personality. Certainly, Debney was already an expert at hitting synchronization points for haphazard comedy, and those techniques are well applied here. Regardless of these applications, the score is rather light on substance, and while a somewhat flat mix could be blamed for this result, Debney's thematic handling may also be a reason. He conjured a main theme for the three witches in a comedically bloated waltz format, and while its progressions are smart, they aren't the easiest to adapt into variations that can be supplied in suspenseful or funny moments, leaving a number of other devices to handle those duties. The theme itself has a ton of potential that is only partly realized, its placements numerous and expected but their enunciation not always easily discernable or even very satisfying. Introduced with wildly frantic pacing at 0:29 and 0:43 into "Main Title," the witches' theme is haphazard in the middle of "Witches' Lair," with a medieval feel at 3:58 and informing light comedy thereafter. These purely comedic moments extend on woodwinds in "To the Stake" before Debney unleashes the idea on ominously huge brass with slow tempo at the start of "Death to the Witches." After an understandable absence, the theme returns in shades during "The Black Candle" and ramps up in fragments early in "Witches on a Rampage," yielding again to full comedy action later in the cue. It offers suspense in the middle of "Graveyard Attack" before culminating in full brass menace, and the idea stews at the outset of "The Calming Circle" and is playful early in "Fingers."

The main witches theme of Hocus Pocus defines itself better in the score's second half, stomping lightly in "Springing the Trap" before a full, victorious statement on brass at 2:06. It informs the comedic suspense on low woodwinds at the start of "Winnie's Lament," adopting old witchcraft instrumentation for several renditions at 1:01 as something of a reprise of the briefly similar moment in "Witches' Lair." The theme is whipped into a frenzy at 0:25 into "Witches Flight" and dominates the cue repeatedly. It meanders throughout the fright of "Max Fools the Witches," enjoying cuteness late, and is twisted into a chase variant in "Winnie Catches Up," takes up triumphant taunting in "Witches Capture Dani," and receives nicely summarized performances in the last third of "End Credits." One of the reasons this theme struggles to maintain its identity is due to Debney's use of its pieces as separate, standalone motifs. An ascending figure of rising notes of anticipation extracted from the theme is the most prominent offshoot, used as a quick reminder of the witches or as a stinger tool. This motif opens "The Calming Circle" ominously in the bass under the main theme, generates a suspense technique opening "Springing the Trap," becomes massive at the end of "Winnie's Lament," and steps up to fanfare mode at the start of "Witches Demise." Comparatively, Debney's two secondary themes for the protagonists of the tale are rather mundane and may not stir much listener interest. The only impactful such idea belongs to the brother/sister relationship that guides two of these kids through their battles with the witches. This idea debuts at 0:08 into "Max and Dani" on piano, where its presence is pretty but clearly more anonymous among the lighter themes. It opens "Graveyard Attack" on wholesome woodwinds but saves its impact for the final cues, its redemptive moment on cellos and winds at 2:27 into "Springing the Trap" followed by soft piano later in the cue. The siblings' theme recurs at 1:22 into "Witches Demise/Resurrection" with some hopeful variations in progressions and occupies the choral climax near the end of the cue. Debney chose to apply this theme in both the longer and shorter alternative versions of the "End Credits," heard at 0:16 very lightly but building to full ensemble grandeur at 0:51. While a good argument could be made for the application of this theme at the outset of the "End Credits," the witches theme in full devious fanfare mode would have been better merited here, especially after the preceding resolution cue.

Sadly, the most engrossing themes of Hocus Pocus are its less frequently utilized identities. Debney's love theme for the other duo in the trio of youngsters is one of his more attractive career ideas, but it becomes lost in this score. Heard at 0:31 into "Meeting Allison" on woodwinds after a distinctly John Williams-like suburbia opening, this theme shifts to piano at 0:55 and espouses Horner-like drama in the latter half of the cue that carries over to "Max Loses Shoes." The emulation of both Williams and Horner in "Meeting Allison" makes it among the best moments in the score, ironically the first cue recorded and not surprisingly pleasing to the filmmakers. A burst of the theme returns at 3:31 into "Resurrection" (but not clearly or long enough), and Debney chose to reprise the first half of "Meeting Allison" in the middle of "End Credits." Otherwise, this theme is absent or ineffective in the work. The other rarely applied idea is the one supplied by Horner, and this is where listeners will draw battle lines about the Hocus Pocus score. Horner's soft lullaby for Sarah (the witch) is distinctly of his own style, a gorgeously haunting, descending melody that stands among his better children's film themes. Debney's arrangement of the idea, along with Sarah Jessica Parker's vocals, in "Sarah's Theme" is singularly wonderful, and this theme is foreshadowed on piano in "Garden of Magic." This is fantastic material, and while the two other Horner cues surviving in the score ("Thackery Follows Emily" and the last minute of "The Calming Circle") aren't quite as intoxicating, they still ooze Horner's style and suggest that the composer could have written a really outstanding score for this film if time had permitted. Debney's music is sufficient at every turn but lacks the same enchanting qualities, highly proficient and occasionally entertaining. The composer released a promotional album of 43 minutes (sans Horner music) in 1993, and that CD was long a hot collector's item. In 2013, Intrada Records offered a limited official album with a primary film score presentation of 69 minutes and a handful of alternate takes. The 2013 album's volume is surprisingly low, and its mix doesn't have much dynamic depth. For instance, "Resurrection" lacks resonance despite being a solid composition, and some of the other fuller sections fail to separate instrumental layers satisfactorily. This product is the only place to appreciate Horner's six minutes, however, and is recommended for that contribution and Debney's more melodically graceful passages. Concept enthusiasts fully embrace his music for this film, however, and he returned to provide the score for the 2022 sequel.  ***   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For John Debney reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.33 (in 56 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.1 (in 49,960 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.