Halloween is the one time of the year where we are encouraged to dress up, gorge ourselves on candy, and indulge in all things creepy and spooky. For fans of sweet treats and bloody scares, Halloween is easily one of the best times of the year, ripe for celebration with friends and families. In addition to hosting costume parties and pulling mischievous pranks, watching scary and festive Halloween movies is one of the longest-running traditions of the holiday. From blood-soaked slasher flicks to family-friendly films featuring ghouls and ghosts, there’s a wide assortment of Halloween-themed films for audiences to enjoy.
If you’re having trouble deciding what movie to watch this year, we’ve tried our best to ease your burden by providing a list of five of our favorite Halloween movies. Whether you’re in the mood for something gory and grotesque or a story that’s lighter in tone, we’ve selected five fabulous films that should satisfy any fan of this spooky holiday. With that said, here are our picks for the five festive Halloween movies you should watch this year!
5 Festive Movies to Watch on Halloween
1. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Walt Disney Pictures
The Nightmare Before Christmas was created by esteemed filmmaker Tim Burton and is a breezy and festive Halloween treat that’s appropriate for every member of the family. Set in a mysterious world where each holiday has its own world to explore, the movie follows Jack Skellington (voiced by Chris Sarandon), the King of Halloween Town and master of all things scary.
After celebrating yet another successful Halloween, Jack grows tired of the same tricks and treats, yearning for something different. After taking a quick hike through the nearby woods, Jack stumbles upon a doorway to Christmas Town and immediately becomes enamored with its upbeat and colorful tone. With a renewed sense of appreciation, Jack embarks on an adventure to defy his destiny and vows to bring Christmas to Halloween Town.
Presented with beautiful, timeless clay-style animation and wonderfully musical moments, The Nightmare Before Christmas combines the two incredibly popular holidays, resulting in a joyful vibe of celebration. With memorable characters, unforgettable scenery, and a story of romance that will pull on your heartstrings, The Nightmare Before Christmas is a perfect Halloween movie pick for those who are averse to blood and guts.
2. Trick ‘r Treat (2009)
Warner Bros. Pictures
Created by Michael Daughtery and released directly to home video in 2009, Trick ‘r Treat is easily one of the most underrated horror movies of the last few decades. Told through a series of interconnecting stories that all take place on Halloween night, this anthology film pays homage to the history of the holiday while offering a variety of classic horror movie moments.
In one story, a group of friends visit the site of a grisly urban legend and discover its terrifying truth. In another, a masked killer stalks his prey during the Halloween parade. With five tales of terror that offer everything from supernatural frights to classic movie monster goodness, Trick ‘r Treat is a cult-classic movie that celebrates everything wonderful and mysterious about Halloween.
If you haven’t had the opportunity to catch this amazing anthology film, we highly recommend it, as we easily consider it one of the most festive Halloween movies out there.
3. Hocus Pocus (1993)
Walt Disney Pictures
If creepy animation or bloody anthologies aren’t your style, Hocus Pocus should provide some laughs along with its festive tone. Set in the early 1990s, the movie follows Max Dennison (Omri Katz), a young boy whose life is uprooted when his family moves from sunny Los Angeles to the gloomy town of Salem, Massachusetts.
Eager to impress his new crush Allison (Vinessa Shaw), Max brings her to a supposedly haunted cottage on Halloween night, and in the process of exploring, accidentally resurrects three sinister witches. Escaping by the skin of their teeth, Max and his sister Dani (Thora Birch), along with Allison, attempt to evade the witches while figuring out how to reverse their resurrection. Meanwhile, the witches try their best to fit into modern-day Halloween, resulting in plenty of comedic moments.
Thanks to fantastic performances by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy as the three witches, Hocus Pocus has gone down as a goofy yet endearing festive Halloween movie choice.
4. Halloween (1978)
Trancas International Films
It’s almost impossible to make a list of festive Halloween movies without including John Carpenter’s seminal horror hit, Halloween. Released as an independent film in the late 1970s, Halloween would go on to spawn a prolific franchise, with nearly a dozen sequels and spin-offs. This original entry in the beloved series takes place in the sleepy suburbs of Haddonfield, Illinois on Halloween, where a deranged killer named Michael Meyers escapes from a mental institution and begins to plot his next attack.
Returning to the site of his original murder, Michael catches a glimpse of high school student Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis), and chooses her as his next victim. Over the course of the night, Michael stalks Laurie and picks off her friends one by one, providing a pure and exhilarating slasher-flick experience.
Simply put, Michael Meyers has gone down in cinematic history as one of the most iconic villains of all time, and we have the original Halloween film to thank. If you want some classic slasher action and want to pay your respects to one of cinema’s most deadly killers, we highly recommend you check out this classic flick this Halloween.
5. Halloweentown (1998)
While Disney continuously pumps out animated films that win awards and woo audiences, old-school fans will likely remember the high-quality Disney Channel Original Movies from the late 1990s and early 2000s. Halloweentown was one of the first few made-for-television movies that struck gold, providing a celebratory story with content appropriate for all members of the family.
The film follows teenage siblings Marnie (Kimberly J. Brown) and Dylan (Joey Zimmerman), who are restricted from celebrating Halloween by their stern mother, Gwen (Judith Hoag). Luckily, their festive Aunt Aggie (Debbie Reynolds) embraces the holiday, telling tales of a mysterious village called Halloweentown, where all sorts of ghouls and monsters happily roam free. Sneakily following their Aunt onto a magical bus, the siblings (along with their younger sister Sophie) are transported to the festive town and begin to explore. As the trio learns more and more about Halloweentown, they discover a startling truth about their family history and must band together to defeat an evil creature.
Like our second pick, Trick ‘r Treat, Halloweentown features a huge variety of Halloween-themed characters and concepts, ranging from witchcraft and potion-making to goblins and demons. Especially for younger audiences, Halloweentown is a perfect movie to watch on Halloween that swaps horror for comedy and offers a redemptive message about being true to yourself and your history.
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