Even though this spooky season will look a little different this year, staying home has given me the chance to spend nights in front of my tv with a cozy blanket, candy corn, and Halloween TV shows and movies playing while I pretend like fall weather has reached Georgia. With Disney+, I have been able to rewatch old Halloween episodes and movies that used to play on my TV during Disney’s “Monstober.” While catching up on these movies as a 20-year-old college student, I have noticed that there are 3 scenes in particular that terrified me years ago and still scare me today, even though they are intended for kids. Let’s see if anyone else was terrified of these scenes, too…
- The Suite Life of Zack and Cody: The Ghost of Suite 613
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For Zack and Cody, life is all about having fun and pulling pranks on each other—just like true siblings. Cody scares more easily than his twin, and in Season 1 Episode 19, Zack takes advantage of and devotes his time to trying to scare Cody constantly, despite his mom asking him to stop. What better way to scare Cody than by making him spend the night in a hotel room on the 6th floor of the Tipton Hotel which is rumored to be haunted by an angry, heartbroken ghost? From doors shutting to Ouija boards, this whole episode is scary enough to scare a child and still manages to scare me, even though I know that the whole thing was a prank… or so I thought. In the end, a surprise appearance reinstills the fear in Zack and Cody, as well as myself.
- Twitches and Twitches Too
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The Mowry Sisters honestly did not come to play in these movies by taking the beloved storyline of twins living completely separate lives and mixing it with magic and fairy tales. So what exactly was I scared of…? Well, the darkness from the first movie was enough to frighten me, but seeing it in more detail in the sequel solidified the fear. The darkness creeps into houses, terrorizes the girls, possesses the maid, steals shadows, and takes human form with a hand and all reaching out to hurt the twin witches. Possessions remind me of every horror movie with paranormal activity, which I did not expect to see in a Disney movie. Do I dislike these movies? Of course not! They are some of my favorites, but what is a good Halloween movie without a little scare, am I right?
- Halloweentown and Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge
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The Halloweentown franchise is great, even though the final movie did not include Kimberly J. Brown as Martie. However, the storyline, the special effects, the makeup, all were exceptional for a Disney Original Movie in the late ’90s and early 2000s. Two scenes in particular send a chill down my spine every time I watch the movies—which is every year. In the first Halloweentown, the villain is Kalabar, and while he himself is not scary, one scene in the movie theater catches me off guard with the cobwebs and paralyzed nature of the grandma and other Halloweentown residents. Turning around and seeing the frozen grandma is like a mini jump scare because we never expected the grandma to become a victim of Kalabar! In Halloweentown II, the quick progression of the monochrome transformation of Halloweentown caused by Kal, Kalabar’s son. This movie had more of an ominous or chilling feel to it, but it still creeps me out even though I know 1) it is just a movie, and 2) I already know the ending.
Disney’s Halloween specials and TV shows aren’t as good as they used to be, and I miss the Halloween seasons of my childhood. Thankfully, I am able to relive that time through Disney+ this spooky season! Maybe one day in the future, I will be able to watch these episodes and movies without getting scared, but honestly, I don’t mind! A little scare never hurt anyone. Happy Halloween!
