Many families celebrate Halloween in a more traditional fashion — they opt for an in-home party and movie night, rather than trick or treating, which can run like a scary movie itself. How do you know which movies are family-suitable? Sure, there are lots of reviews out there, but it depends on who is writing them. Other than watching every movie beforehand, it’s hard to know what children may like, yet be safe watching. We’ve rounded up a few of the good movies to watch on Halloween night.
Hocus Pocus
When three witches were sentenced to die over three hundred years ago in Salem Massachusetts, and a boy was turned into a black cat, who knew that the witches would return and that this time they use vacuum cleaners to get around! The three have turned their wrath onto trick or treaters and it’s up to the very old cat (boy) to save the day.
Corpse Bride
Victor Van Dort starts to fret when his arranged marriage with Victoria Everglot reaches the rehearsal stage. He practices rehearsing the wedding by himself, in the forest. By accident, he slips the ring onto a corpse’s finger instead and is transported to the land of the dead, where he learns he has actually married the corpse. Victoria, still in the land of the living, wonders who she will marry, while Victor struggles to get back to her.
Casper
Carrigan Crittendon worries that her father willed her his old mansion instead of a pile of money. She’s about to torch the house when she finds a treasure map in it. Wicked waves of ghosts scare her away from the house. She hires an afterlife expert, Dr. James Harvey, so he can get rid of the annoying mansion ghosts. Harvey and his daughter move in, the better to exorcise the spirits, when they meet a friendly ghost — Casper. This is the ghost of a young boy and turns out to be the very friendliest ghost anyone could know.
Monsters Inc.
James P. Sullivan and Mike Wazowski work for Monsters Inc. which is a power company for a nervous and quite paranoid city of monsters. The power is produced when children who are sleeping, scream. Naturally, the monsters do their best to accomplish this. Sully uncovers a plot to rid Monster City of its power problems — but not in a good way. Both monsters fight to protect the innocent children which they have been scaring every night. This is a terrific little interactive show at Disneyworld, as well as having the characters there for children to get autographs from. See the movie then the show and the kids will have a wonderful time.
The Witches
A recently orphaned boy is taken over to England by his grandmother. At the hotel where they are, a group of witches plot to rid the world of children. Roald Dahl wrote the book and the film is one that’s definitely for kids. Jim Henson of the Muppets fame produced the movie.
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Taken from the wonderful Ray Bradbury story, two boys enjoy the waning autumn days. A strange lightning rod salesman tell them about a quirky traveling carnival so they go to check it out. When Mr. Dark, the Illustrated Man, sets up his carnival after midnight, and in mere seconds, the boys are terrified and thrilled at the same time. This is a wonderful film.
Pufnstuf
First a TV show, the movie is great and has long outlived the series. Mama Cass stars as Witch Hazel. There are colors which are bright, sped-up film, fast edits, pop culture in-jokes, and musical segments. Both young adults and kids loved the movie. Young Jimmy is at the center of the movie with his magic flute, and a group of witches want the flute for themselves. A friendly dragon called Puff (hence Puff the Magic Dragon), is a key figure.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Jack Skellington (naturally he looks like skeleton) is the pumpkin king of Halloween Town. This was a big movie for Disney and Tim Burton, and rightly so. Jack gets bored with Halloween and stumbles into Christmas Town. He finds out that he loves Christmas so he does his best to get the residents to put on Christmas instead of Halloween. These residents are the local ghouls, bats, and goblins. They just can’t get it right…
Beetlejuice
Two people, killed in a car crash, are trapped inside of their old house in New England. A yuppie family, along with their daughter, buy the house. The ghost family are just too nice to scare away the new residents. Beetlejuice, another ghost, is roped in to help. The dinner scene, with shrimp cocktails, is a riot.
Ghost Busters
Three occult studies scientists get booted out of a university in NYC. They start a business in an old firehouse and name it Ghostbusters. It’s good money trapping pesky spirits, haunts, ghosts and poltergeists. After stumbling on a gateway to another dimension, an evil one, the ghost busters are called upon to save the Big City. This movie is timeless, and a cult classic.
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