Feline Friday is my chance to celebrate famous cats across the arts, whether their origins are in gaming, film, anime, literature or anywhere else.

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Thackery Binx

Hocus Pocus (1993)

Considering how rare it is that Halloween falls on a Friday, it was imperative that I deliver on a suitably spooky edition of Feline Friday for 2025. When the brief is Halloween + cat, there are a few candidates that come to mind. But perhaps there is one better suited than any other. His name is Thackery Binx, and like Salem Saberhagen (who we covered in a previous October), he’s not even a real cat. Scandal!!

Also, can someone please explain to me why Hocus Pocus premiered as part of the summer 1993 lineup? Who in god’s name made the decision not to slate this as a fall release? Thankfully, I have rectified this some 32 years later, and I feel quite splendid about it.

It tells the tale of the nefarious Sanderson sisters, a trio of witches who were known to drain the vitality from innocent children centuries ago. On one fateful night in the late 1600s, they target Emily Binx, sucking the poor kid dry before condemning her older brother Thackery to an eternity as an immortal black cat.

Honestly, it sounds like kind of a sweet gig. I wouldn’t mind being an immortal black cat, or even just an immoral black cat. I’d sell so much meow meow every Halloween (that’s a mephedrone joke, in case you were too young to catch that).

In any event, the townspeople finally get their angry mob on, executing the Sandersons for their propensity to suck. Before the sisters cark it, they proclaim that a virgin will bring them back from the dead someday — and despite Binx’s best efforts to ward off intruders at their old shack, this comes to pass 300 years later, proving once and for all that virgins ruin fucking everything.

So what is there to be said about Thackery Binx, the vigilant void from the 30+ year old children’s movie? He’s your quintessential witty 90s animal companion, whose mouth moves with delightfully dated CGI whenever he speaks. That’s right, he talks, and if we’re being perfectly honest, he sounds a little too sexy for my taste.

Binx’s vocals are provided by Jason Marsden; a Disney veteran whose roles include Max in A Goofy Movie and Kovu in The Lion King II. He acts as a voice of reason for the clueless Dennison siblings, offering exposition that helps keep the narrative clicking along at a reasonable pace.

Unfortunately, he refuses to show this capability whenever adults are present, which would help solve a lot of their problems. It could stem from the fact that people in the world of Hocus Pocus have an unreasonable level of animosity towards cats, the same kind of shortsightedness that indirectly led to the plague ravaging Europe back in Binx’s heyday.

He shows a real protectiveness towards the younger Dennison sibling Dani, likely stemming from his inability to protect his own sister so long ago. It’s quite sweet to witness, and he makes for an endearing figure as he puts in a whole lot of work throughout the roughly 100 minute runtime. But alas alas, right as the Sandersons are taken out once and for all, Binx suffers a lethal injury and can no longer recover.

It’s a sad moment at first (that actually made me cry, because cat), however fear not, for Thackery finally gets to reunite with his sister after being apart for so very long. Unfortunately, he reverts back to basic ass kid form as a ghost, a real downgrade from sultry-voiced pussycat.

To his credit, he at least has teeth that are far too good for someone from the 1600s. Suspiciously good, even.

Owing to his demise, Binx would not return for the 2022 sequel. It was perhaps for the better, as that film was dull as dogcatshit. A third film is in development, and I can only hope it will be called Hocus Pocus 3: Thackery Binx Fucks Around and Catches Mice.

Failing that, just a feature length montage of Mary Sanderson watching commercials, because it is the best thing in this fucking movie, and potentially in the history of fucking movies as a whole. I do love you so, Kathy Najimy, but I digress.

Happy Halloween, boys and ghouls!