Best Halloween Movies: Family Favorites to Horror Classics

Family-friendly Halloween movies

• 1It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)The classic TV special — short, sweet and perfect for little ones.
• 2The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)Stop-motion musical about Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King.
• 3Hocus Pocus (1993)Three witch sisters return to Salem on Halloween night.
• 4Casper (1995)The friendly ghost finds a real friend.
• 5Halloweentown (1998)A Disney Channel favorite about a girl who learns she’s a witch.
• 6Hotel Transylvania (2012)Animated comedy with Dracula running a hotel for monsters.
• 7Frankenweenie (2012)Black-and-white stop-motion story of a boy and his revived dog.

Spooky but fun (tweens and up)

• Ghostbusters (1984) — the iconic paranormal comedy.
• Beetlejuice (1988) — a ghost couple hires a chaotic “bio-exorcist.” Its sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, arrived in 2024.
• The Addams Family (1991) — the creepy, kooky family on the big screen.
• Practical Magic (1998) — witch sisters, family curses and midnight margaritas.
• Corpse Bride (2005) — a gothic stop-motion love story.
• Monster House (2006) — kids discover the house across the street is alive.
• Coraline (2009) — a girl finds a door to an eerie “other” world.
• ParaNorman (2012) — a boy who talks to ghosts must save his town.

Horror classics (adults)

• Psycho (1960) — Hitchcock’s shower scene changed movies forever.
• The Exorcist (1973) — still among the most frightening films ever made.
• Halloween (1978) — Michael Myers stalks Haddonfield on Halloween night.
• The Shining (1980) — a snowbound hotel, a writer and “Here’s Johnny!”
• Poltergeist (1982) — a suburban family’s house is haunted.
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) — Freddy Krueger attacks in dreams.
• Scream (1996) — a self-aware slasher that revived the genre.

Modern horror favorites (adults)

• Trick ’r Treat (2007) — interwoven Halloween night tales; a cult favorite.
• The Conjuring (2013) — paranormal investigators take on a haunted farmhouse.
• Get Out (2017) — a sharp social thriller with real scares.
• Hereditary (2018) — a family unravels after a death. Deeply unsettling.
• A Quiet Place (2018) — survive by never making a sound.

Check each film’s MPA rating and parental guides before watching with kids. Many horror films are rated R.

How to plan a Halloween movie marathon

• Start family-friendly at dusk, then move to scarier films after kids go to bed.
• Set up a popcorn bar: butter, caramel corn, candy corn, pretzels and M&M-style candies.
• Dim the lights, add LED candles and grab blankets.
• Check which streaming services carry each title — availability changes every October.