If you want to watch a movie to put you in the Halloween spirit, you have a lot of choices.
While everyone things of the scariest film as Halloween fare, there are plenty of films that Halloween themed without being unbearably scary.
Choices can include scary movie parodies and other comedies as well as Halloween themed tales.
Here are my picks for other 11 good Halloween themed movies.
It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown! (1966)
How can you get into the Halloween spirit without watching this?? It’s a definite classic for young and old. Linus is waiting for the Great Pumpkin while those around him trick or treat. Will he be rewarded for his vigilance or left out in the cold once?
Starring: Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, Snoopy
Runtime: 25 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Halloween (1978)
This film started the slasher genre rolling. A masked murderer is stalking the teenagers of Hadenfield on Halloween, trying to finish something he started many years before. A huge smash, even the critics loved it and it still holds up today as one of the best suspenseful, well done horror flicks of our time.
Starring: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: John Carpenter
Runtime: 93 minutes Rating: R
Halloween II (1981)
This one didn’t do quite as well as the first, critics didn’t like it but it was equally entertaining. It takes up at the end of the first Halloween movie and we find out why Michael is so intent on killing Laurie Strode.
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence
Director: Rick Rosenthal
Runtime: 92 minutes
Rating: R
Halloween 3 – Season of the Witch (1982)
Most people hated this movie. I don’t know why. If you forget the title, it stands alone very well. It has nothing to do with the first two Halloween films, this time there’s a plot by a warped Irish toy maker to kill children on Halloween using masks and Stonehenge.
Starring: Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin
Director: Tommy Lee Wallace
Runtime: 98 minutes
Rating: R
Trick or Treat (1986)
High school outcast gets picked on by jocks because of his heavy metal loving, morbid ways. His rock hero dies in a fire, causing him much grief. But he gets the last unreleased record by Sammy Curr from a DJ and that record holds the key to bringing Sammy back from the dead.
Starring: Tony Fields, Marc Price, Ozzy Osborne, Gene Simmons
Director: Charles Martin Smith
Runtime: 97 minutes Rating: R
Beetlejuice (1988)
Giddy, outlandish, high-spirited comic fantasy about two pesky poltergeists trying to frighten away the new owners of their old house. Not a Halloween themed film, but if it doesn’t put you in the mood to haunt, nothing will!! Michael Keaton shines as Beetlejuice!
Starring: Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin
Director: Tim Burton
Runtime: 92 minutes
Rating: PG
The Addams Family (1991)
It’s starts out at Christmas time and end up the following Halloween. It may not be a true Halloween film but how much more spooky could this family be? It’s always Halloween in the Addams household!
Starring: Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Runtime: 102 minutes
Rating: PG-13
The Halloween Tree (1993)
From a story by Ray Bradbury. An animated adventure about the Halloween Tree reveals the magical secrets of past and present Halloween traditions. Ages 5-8 and older, if you are still a kid at heart!
Starring: Lindsay Crouse, Leonard Nimoy
Runtime: 70 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Hocus Pocus (1993)
Every time we watch it, we all want to move to Salem, Mass. It’s cute, it’s funny, the effects are great. Great special effects, cute story! Three sisters who happen to be witches return to Salem after 300 years to wreck havoc on the town that hanged them.
Starring: Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, Sara Jessica Parker
Director: Kenny Ortega
Runtime: 93 minutes
Rating: PG
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Tim Burton’s innovative stop-motion animated musical about Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, who becomes enthralled by Christmas. He’s the head of Halloweentown, so this causes some problems. Some stunning visuals. Young and old will love this and you won’t be able to stop singing the songs for days!
Starring: Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O’Hara
Director: Henry Selick
Runtime: 79 minutes Rating: PG
Halloween: H20 (1998)
The sixth sequel. In fact, if you watch 1, 2 and H20, you’ll be all set. This one takes up 20 years later, Laurie is a functioning alcoholic running a prep school. She’s haunted by what happened on that Halloween night long ago. But it’s Halloween again and guess who’s back. Don’t think about the plot holes, just enjoy.
Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Michelle Williams
Director: Steve Miner
Runtime: 92 minutes Rating: R
A great list of some classic Halloween movies. The list I have here is quite good and work checking out if you are a movie fanatic. here
How old are the people coming up with the so-called “classic” halloween horror movies? Several lists, like this one, don’t mention Frankenstein, Wolfman, The Mummy? Sheesh! What makes the above “classic”? They were virtually made yesterday!