Grade: A+

Next to sweets and pumpkin-flavored things, the return of nonstop airings of “Hocus Pocus” is the best thing about October. In terms of holiday movies I love the most, “Hocus Pocus” is right up there with the Christmas masterpiece that is “Die Hard.” It’s clever, it’s timeless, it has some legitimate creeps (the human flesh spellbook, Billy Butcherson’s mouth stitches), and it’s all candy-coated in ’90s goodness, including the sweet haircut on the totally crushworthy human incarnation of Thackery Binx. Bette Midler is always divine, but her turn as Winifred is absolutely iconic, and her rendition of “I Put a Spell On You” has been stuck in my head for going on two decades now. And let’s not forget the educational value — how many of us heard the word “virgin” for the first time during our childhood viewings of this movie? Thanks, Disney.