Hocus Pocus 25th anniversary cast reunite at special party: LOOK at the kids now

Bette Midler’s wicked witch put a spell on audiences back in 1993 and teh movie continues to be a cult favourite, especially when Halloween rolls around every year.

On screen she was foiled by three plucky kids and the child stars who played them have remained firm friends ever since.

They frequently get together and the 25th Anniversary was another opportunity to dust off the cobwebs and hop on a broom to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery for a big celebration.

Omri Katz, Vinessa Shaw and Thora Birch posed alongside stars like Vanessa Hudgens at the special party.

The main trio of Omri Katz, Vinessa Shaw and Thora Birch were joined by co-stars Larry Bagby, who played Ice, and Tobia Jelinek, who played Jay.

Director Kenny Ortega was also there, along with Hudgens, who starred in his other major hit, High School Musical.

Disappointingly, there was no sign of Hollywood stars Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy who played the original three wicked witches.

Check out the pictures from the party showing all the kids looking very grown-up.

Vinessa Shaw, who played blonde beauty Allison, has maintained the highest profile. The 42-year-old regularly posts updates on Instagram, frequently referring back to her breakthrough in Hocus Pocus.

She said about the film: “I don’t think any of us had any idea of the magnitude of how popular it would be. It just goes to show that when you are young you watch things over and over again and it gets in your head, and just sticks.”

Shaw starred in the 2007 remake of the classic Western film 3:10 to Yuma with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, the indie drama film Garden Party and Two Lovers alongside Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow.

In 2013 she had a supporting role opposite Jude Law’s character, playing his wife in Side Effects.

Out of all of them, Omri Katz has undergone the biggest changes. The Isreali-American actor was the biggest of the three child stars before the film but his career fizzled out soon after.

The young heartthrob has starred in television and film hits like Eerie, Indiana, Matinee and Adventures in Dinosaur City. He followed Hocus Pocus with a major role in a standalone film follow-up to the iconic soap opera Dallas as John Ross Ewing III, the son of JR Ewing.

Small roles on General Hospital and two short films marked the end and he retired from acting in 2006.

Thora Birch was only 11 when she made the film, but has fond memories of the experience: “The fact that ‘Hocus Pocus’ found a niche in that world where it cannot be extricated from the holiday itself to me is really amazing. I’m really surprised, but humbled and happy to be a part of something like that. I had the best time on that film — maybe more than any other movie I worked on.”

Birch had an impressive career as a young actress in Monkey Trouble (1994), Now and Then (1995) and Alaska (1996) before hitting even greater heights in two Oscar and Golden Globe nominated films.

She had a major breakthrough in 1999 with the Academy Award winning film, American Beauty, alongside Kevin Spacey and Annette Benning. Two lears later, she played the lead role in Ghost World and received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

Avoiding mainstream Hollywood, she appeared in a succession of independent films, such as Dark Corners (2006), Train (2008) and Winter of Frozen Dreams (2009), before taking a break from acting.

At 36, the actress returned to teh screen in 2016 in the first season of Carlton Cuse’s television series Colony, as well as starring in four independent films.

This year she can be seen in Above Suspicion with Emilia Clarke and Jack Huston.