The time is coming for one of the most beloved holidays in America: Halloween. Halloween starts the kickoff for the holiday season—there’s Halloween, then there’s thanksgiving, and after thanksgiving it’s basically Christmas, the best holiday of them all! While the holidays are certainly great now, there was nothing like the holiday season as a child: dressing up in cute little costumes, having fun at thanksgiving with all your cousins, getting all those gifts for Christmas. Not to mention the movies they played on TV when we were kids were awesome. With that being said, here’s a list of Halloween movies we all loved as a child that are still great. Let’s get the nostalgia started!
1. Halloweentown
The entire Halloweentown series is great but the first one takes the cake. The plot was great: three kids sneak off to visit their grandmother in Halloweentown, a town filled with all types of ghouls and monsters (most aren’t evil, thankfully). The oldest of the kids realizes she’s a witch and that her mother has been shielding them from their true heritage. Not only do these kids find out their true lineage, they have to come together to defeat an evil demon before its too late. I don’t know about you, but when I was little, I desperately wanted to go to Halloweentown and test out my supernatural abilities.
2. Hocus Pocus
Is there any movie more beloved than Hocus Pocus? 3 bumbling witches who were killed during the Salem witch trials are resurrected by a virgin and seek to cause havoc on the town and sacrifice more kids for their eternal youth. With plenty of humor and lots of fright.
3. Twitches
“Twin…Witches…Twitches!” Okay, this has to be one of my favorite Halloween movies as a kid. The plot was wonderful: two twin witches separated at birth and adopted by normal human beings meet again and have to save the world from the Darkness. Plus, the Darkness was (and is!) so terrifying. The twists and turns were great, the humor was great, and the sequel was also great, not to mention, who doesn’t love the Mowry sisters?
4. Casper
My favorite as a kid was Casper Meets Wendy, which starred Hillary Duff, but every Casper movie is heartwarming. They are a little dark, especially the first one that involves many of the characters dying. Casper even gives up his last chance of life to save one of the main characters. The great thing about Casper movies is that despite the fact that they’re very Halloween-esque, they’re also the kind of movies that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
5. The Nightmare before Christmas
Is it a Christmas movie? Is it a Halloween movie? The world may never know. One thing’s for certain, it’s the quintessential Tim Burton movie. Tim Burton recently said some horrendous things about his lack of diversity in his movies, but The Nightmare before Christmas is such a classic, I had to put it on the list.
6. Phantom of the Megaplex
Another great Disney movie. Who doesn’t love a good Halloween movie based loosely on Phantom of the Opera? The movie tells the tale of a young movie employer searching for the “phantom” in his movie theater. Mixed with some laughs and some mystery, this is sure to bring back some nostalgia.
7. Don’t Look Under the Bed
This movie was definitely very dark for kids but that’s what made it so great. It tells the story of a young girl being framed by the Boogeyman. It’s one of Disney’s few attempts and branching into horror, and while it’s not so frightening now, it’s still great, and still a guaranteed way to bring some nostalgia into your life
8. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
Anybody who doesn’t love Charlie Brown movies is crazy and cannot be trusted under any circumstances. They’re essential for childhood. What’s so wonderful about many Charlie Brown films is that they bring back nostalgia for all ages. My mother loved these movies as a kid, I loved these movies as a kid, and now my young cousins (all born in the 2000s) love them too. Talk about generational nostalgia!
