The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Hampton U chapter.
As we continue through fall and enter into October, I think it’s important to highlight what this time of year is all about, Halloween!! We all know it, some of us might love it, and others might not want anything to do with it. One thing that’s for sure is that “spooky season” produces some of the best holiday specials and movies. Here’s a list of 13 ( a scary number just for the occasion) of the best Halloween movies that will have you reminiscing your childhood drinking hot cocoa and indulging in your halloween candy.
(Listed in no particular order)
- Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride – I have noticed that this is a popular favorite for halloween, and of course any movie attached to Tim Burton’s name should be spooky. This movie is about Victor Van Dort who is set to marry Victoria, but who unwittingly marries the murdered bride, Emily. This tale takes you through the land of the dead and the land of the living, introducing you to various characters in Victor’s journey to find his Love.
- It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown– On the cuter side of Halloween movies is a serious classic and even a throwback, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. This movie follows the Peanut’s gang and their antics during Halloween. Linus van Pelt, the one with the blanket, believes that the Great Pumpkin is a supernatural figure who rises from the pumpkin patch on Halloween evening, and flies around bringing toys to children who believe (similar to Santa). Linus continues to have faith in the Great Pumpkin, despite his friends’ disbelief and mocking.
- Scary Godmother– If you grew up watching Cartoon Network, chances are you’ve seen this film. They air this movie and its sequel “Scary Godmother: Jimmy’s Revenge” every year around halloween. This story is about a girl named Hannah Marie who is locked in a haunted house by her cousin Jimmy and his friends. Hannah is understandably terrified, until her Scary Godmother shows up and invites her to her annual Halloween party. Scary Godmother takes her to the Fright Side, where Hannah is introduced to her ‘broom-mates’ and fellow monsters. This movie just captures the essence of what halloween meant to me as a child.
- Halloweentown Series– It is simply not halloween if you haven’t watched at least one movie from this trilogy. Yes, I said trilogy because we don’t speak of the fourth film ( What was up with that recasting??). This movie is about a young girl, living with her good-witch grandmother, finding out that she is a witch. She must help her grandmother save Halloweentown from evil forces. Along the way they meet various spooky characters who live out regular lives in a town where everyday looks like Halloween.
- Hocus Pocus– If you even turn on the TV during the month of October you are bound to run into this movie. No really, FreeForm played it everyday, sometimes twice a day last Halloween. Nevertheless, this is in fact a classic. This movie involves three witches and a kidnapping scheme, a very old talking cat who is somehow still a teenager, a virgin, and a host of Halloween shenanigans. There is not much to explain about this movie, If you haven’t watched it by now…put it on the list of movies to binge!
- The Addams Family (1991)– The Addams Family is a movie that is full of larger than life characters who do strange and spooky things. It’s definitely not a children’s movie with events that the characters go through, but I definitely loved this movie as a child. Even though it is meant for the halloween season, I can watch either of the Addams Family movies year round. The simple plot of the movie is “They’re creepy and their kooky, Mysterious and spooky, Their all together ooky, it’s just about them being a very weird family, The Adams family *snap snap*.”
- Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas– Is it a Halloween movie? or is it a Christmas Classic? Either way The Nightmare Before Christmas is a must watch during this time of year. Jack Skellington, also known as the Halloween Town’s pumpkin king, grows tired of his town’s holiday, which is when he happens to stumble into Christmas Town. That’s precisely when he comes to the conclusion that he must take over Christmas the one way that no one else can – by kidnapping Santa.
- Twitches– Two words. Twin. Witches. Twitches is one of my favorite Disney Channel original movies and absolutely one that I have to see every year around Halloween. On their 21st birthday, twin sisters (played by The Mowry Twins) are reunited after being separated at birth from their mystical homeland of Coventry. The two find out that they have magic powers, which they later use to try and save their world from the ‘darkness’ that has taken over.
- Casper (1995)– Casper tells the tale of Kat and her father who moves into a haunted house where Casper the friendly ghost and his three jokester uncles reside. Casper develops a crush on Kat, but their budding relationship is complicated not only by his transparent state, but also by his troublemaking uncles and their mischievous antics.
- The Little Vampire– This movie feels like a fever dream, but is also a favorite from my childhood. After he moves to Scotland with his parents, Tony struggles to make friends at his new school. But he is bullied and picked on by the other boys, and has little hope of overcoming his miserable new life. Then he meets Rudolph, a kid vampire, and they form an unlikely friendship. But, when Rudolph’s life and the future of the vampire race are threatened by a ruthless vampire hunter, Tony must find the courage to save his best friend and his family.
- Coraline– I believe it wouldn’t be spooky season without this movie. Coraline is about a young girl struggling to adjust to her new home. While exploring her residence she discovers a door to another world much similar to hers but with “other parents”. She prefers those parents to her own back home, but not everything is as good as it seems.
- The Haunted Mansion– Eddie Murphy stars in this movie that follows a father, a mother and their two kids who are trapped inside of a “Haunted Mansion”. The wife has a strikingly odd resemblance to a deceased occupant of the home. The movie has a lot of laughs as we see Eddie Murphy trying to free the deceased from a century old curse.
- Monster House– Last, but not least, Monster House was a classic for me growing up, not just because it was the only dvd that worked in our car for awhile. This movie is about three kids trying to destroy what seems to be a living house on halloween night. While it was a kid’s movie, it was the closest thing we had to horror at that age and definitely felt scarier than it’s PG rating.