Vinessa Shaw at Thanksgiving time. She then landed parts in a handful of television roles. She played a considerably large role in Disney's 1993 Halloween family film "Hocus Pocus" alongside Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, Omri Katz, and a young Thora Birch. Shaw completed roles in various independent films for the remainder of the 1990s. In 1998, she enrolled at Barnard College in New York City, but dropped out to continue pursuing acting. Shaw was attending the college when she was approached by Stanley Kubrick for her role in "Eyes Wide Shut", playing an HIV-positive prostitute who is encountered by
Jessica Lange for her performance in the film. In 1998, she starred opposite Elisabeth Shue in a film adaptation of Balzac's "Cousin Bette", for which she received strong reviews. That same year, Lange also starred opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in the somewhat cult classic, "Hush", which generally received negative reviews. Roger Ebert, however, praised Lange's performance, commenting, "The film's most intriguing element is the performance by Jessica Lange, who by not going over the top provides Martha with a little pathos to leaven the psychopathology." Lange received strong reviews for her performance in "Titus", Julie Taymor's 1999 adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus",