Halloween is this week! I’m not sure how time has flown by that quickly, but is has. My husband and I like to get into the spirit of Halloween with spooky movies, and a few family-friendly ones too! Let me share with you our favorite Halloween movie favorites!

The Nightmare Before Christmas

The only thing I always ask myself is…why didn’t Jack just do Christmas in Halloweentown? If I were going to steal Christmas, I’d be stealing it for my own town. The children of Halloweentown would have loved those creepy toys! This movie used to freak me out as a kid but my children love it and the songs are absolutely fabulous. Danny Elfman is basically the best movie musical composer ever.

Beetlejuice

It’s almost like Christmas for me, knowing that they’ll be making another Beetlejuice. Michael Keaton and the entire cast of this movie just plain rock. Beetlejuice is probably a bit too frightening for the kids and there are a few adult jokes but it’s a wild one and one of my favorites.

Insidious

I hear mixed things about the Insidious movies but the concept really terrifies me. If you haven’t heard of it, Insidious is where a boy’s spirit is astrally projected and a demon comes in its place. It’s a really unique plot compared to all of the repetitive scary movies out there and it surely freaks me out.

Ghostbusters

My husband listed this one as one of his favorites. It’s a hilarious classic. I’m not sure how I feel about the pending sequel to this but I think that the original Ghostbusters was really fun!

Pet Sematary

Pet Sematary is an absolutely horrifying classic. They reference it in many other movies but the basic concept is that the graveyard beyond the pet cemetery brings everything buried in it back to life. Fred Gwynne, Herman Munster, makes a really eerie next door neighbor and you’ve probably seen his character parodied in several places. You’ll get it when you see “that thar road”.

1408

I feel like I never heard much about 1408 but I thought it was so scary! John Cusack is a writer in the business of debunking ghost stories until he finally runs into one that proves itself to be terrifyingly true! It definitely made me jump many times! It’s got creepy images, concepts, and it’s pretty haunting!!

Hotel Transylvania

Hotel Transylvania is just SO cute! My kids love it but I think I love it even more. It’s so cute and funny, perfect for Halloween! We’re looking forward to checking out the second one when it comes out on DVD.

The Addams Family

I love the version with Christina Ricci and Christopher Lloyd, among others. It’s one of the great older funny Halloween movies! It may be more for older kids, depending on where you stand with that, because there are a lot of funny but inappropriate adult jokes.

Hocus Pocus

Everybody seems to love Hocus Pocus! It’s pretty suited for children and not all that scary. Since my husband hasn’t heard of it and maybe others haven’t either, I’ll say that it’s about three witches who come out to modern day Halloween and try to scheme their way back into power. It stars Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker.

 

KIDS’ SHORTS

Pixar and Dreamworks have several entertaining Halloween-themed children’s short movies. Scared Shrekless and Toy Story of Terror are among them, also there is a Monsters vs. Aliens one out there. I hope to see more, even I love those short films!

What are your favorites?

*Check out all of my other movie reviews here.