Maha Yassin
Costumes, candy and Halloween family movies, nothing is better than Halloween! The second the first leaf falls from a tree, it’s Halloween season, and you must get ready! As a child, Halloween meant going door-to-door trick-or-treating and running around the neighbourhood in your homemade costume. As a young person, Halloween means parties and hanging out with friends in outfits you spent too much money and time on. However, when you’re a parent, you’re not sure what Halloween is for you!
As a parent, you would love to enjoy Halloween with your family, and we know how you can do that! After taking the small kids to their trick-and-treating adventure and having the older ones back from their parties, it’s time for some family fun! We have a list of Halloween family movies that are suitable for the entire family, from the youngest child to the parents and even the grandparents if they feel like joining. These films are classic Halloween movies that survived the test of age and will make your holiday a wonderful family affair.
10 Halloween Family Movies for All!
We know Halloween is a scary season, and most people prefer watching the most terrifying films they can get their hands on. But when you are a parent, you want to find something that fits the theme but is still suitable for your youngest child to watch. Other times, you can be an adult who doesn’t like scary movies, and that is okay! (No judgment here!). Halloween is supposed to be fun first and foremost, so everyone should only do and watch the things they enjoy.
We have prepared a list of Halloween family movies that everyone can enjoy without worrying about age appropriation. These films are funny, exciting, and a little scary (not too much!). All you need is a blanket, a bucket of candy, and all your family around you, and you will have a great Halloween movie night.
So, without further ado, here are our favourite animated and live-action Halloween family movies!
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Directed by: Henry Selick
Starring: Danny Elfman and Catherin O’Hara
What is your favourite holiday? Is it Halloween, or is it Christmas? Tough choice, right? Both holidays have their own sense of magic and their own celebrations. You are fortunate that you get to experience both and celebrate both with everyone you love! But what happens if you cannot? What if you are stuck celebrating only ONE holiday forever?!
Jack Skellington is the King of Halloweentown. He rules all over the holiday with its scary vibes, ghost towns and monsters. He loves Halloween Town! However, one day, Jack visits Christmas Town and is taken by surprise! Christmas is so different and so bright, and he must bring it to his friends. Unfortunately, celebrating Christmas in Halloween Town isn’t as simple as Jack hoped it would be!
This stop-motion classic from Tim Burton and Henry Selick is a must-watch for Halloween (or Christmas!)! It celebrates all the best parts of both holidays. It will instantly transform the mood of the spooky season—the Nightmare Before Christmas is a classic Halloween family movie that both children and adults will enjoy immensely.
Hocus Pocus (1993)
Directed by: Kenny Ortega
Starring: Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy
Do you know what the most popular Halloween costume for girls is? It is a witch! A long dark dress, a cape, a wand, and a broom are all you need to transform yourself into a powerful, magical, and bit scary witch. Witches can be good (think Harry Potter), but they can also be bad, like these three famous sisters!
The most famous town where witches once lived is Salem, and Max and his family just moved there! As Max struggles to fit in with the children in Salem, he accidentally awakens a trio of mischievous witches who once lived there. The Sanderson Sisters vow to wreak havoc on the city that once shunned them, and no one can stop them but Max and his friends!
This witchy movie is a Halloween classic! It is funny, adventurous and has all the dark-ish themes you expect of a good Halloween movie. The best thing about Hocus Pocus is that a second film was just released on Disney Plus, and you can make this a Halloween family movie double feature!
Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)
Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Phil Hartman, and Pamela Adlon
Not all witches are evil. Some witches are good. They work to provide their magical services to humans. From potions to magic spells, witches can use their unique powers to be helpful and friendly. But how does a young witch decide what she wants to do with her life? The possibilities are endless but also overwhelming and confusing.
Kiki is a young witch who just got her first broom and can finally go out into the world! But as she discovers the world of humans, she has a hard time deciding what she wants to do with her life. But to start somewhere, Kiki decides to use her flying powers to create a delivery service for a bakery in town.
Kiki’s Delivery Service is not about Halloween, but it is about a witch, so it fits! It’s a beautiful movie that teaches both children and adults that you can take your time to figure out what you want to do in life. And that the simple things you can do can be a great help to others! This Hayao Miyazaki classic is a beautiful Halloween family movie to watch this season.
The Addams Family (1991)
Directed by: Barry Sonnenfield
Starring: Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christina Ricci, and Christopher Lloyd
Some families are just better at the whole scary thing than others. You can say they were born that way. Dark, twisted, dangerous, and unbothered by it all. Black is their colour, and terrifying is their nature. These are the families who celebrate Halloween every day of every year, not just once a year. Do you know such a family? We do!
For The Addams Family, scary is not a vibe; it’s life. Being dark, twisted and terrifying is just an everyday affair that doesn’t move a hair on their heads. For the Addams, the most important thing in the world is family. So when they get the chance to reconnect with their long-lost uncle Fester, they take it! But what will happen when they find out that Fester isn’t Fester but an imposter after their riches?
The Addams Family is a dark comedy that is perfect for Halloween! Toeing the line between funny, scary, and family-oriented, the movie is the ideal addition to your Halloween family movies watch list. If your children and teens enjoyed Netflix’s Wednesday, then this classic film will surely be to their fancy!
Caroline (2009)
Directed by: Henry Selick
Starring: Dakota Fanning and Jennifer Saunders
Halloween is a time for magic and mischief. Strange things can happen, and you need to have an open mind to accept them. On Halloween, magic is in the air, but you must be careful because not everything is what it seems! And sometimes, our boring, everyday world is just what we need it to be.
Caroline is a stop-motion movie by the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas based on Neil Gaiman’s novel of the same title. It’s about a little girl who moves with her parents to a new apartment where she discovers a secret door to another world. In that world, her parents are not busy with work and shower her with love and attention. But the Other World is not what it seems, and Caroline will need to find what she wants in her own world.
Caroline is an excellent movie about family connections. Even though it does not take place during Halloween, Henry Selick’s style makes it a perfect film between creepy and fun. Both children and adults will enjoy Caroline as it digs into the parent/child relationship while still being funny and easy to watch. It’s your perfect Halloween family movie for the whole family.
Beetlejuice (1998)
Directed by: Tim Burton
Starring: Micheal Keaton, Winona Ryder, Geena Davis, and Alec Baldwin
When you are looking for a Halloween family movie, you can never go wrong with Tim Burton! He is the king of creepy but children-appropriate films. He toes the line between scary and funny so perfectly that you can never miss his style! For spooky, funny, and great music, Beetlejuice is the Halloween family movie you’re looking for!
Beetlejuice is a ghost that wants to be seen so badly! He can see the human world, but he can never touch it. One day, Beetlejuice comes across a girl who can see him! Lydia Deetz, who just lost her mother and is angry at her father for wanting to remarry, makes a deal with Beetlejuice to free him in return for helping her scare her father.
Making a deal with the devil always has consequences. Beetlejuice might only be a ghost, but Lydia is about to know the consequences of dealing with mischievous spirits. This classic Halloween family movie is a must-watch for Tim Burton fans. If you are up for some havoc-wreaking, then go ahead and say Beetlejuice three times!
Hotel Transylvania (2012)
Directed by: Genndy Tartakovsky
Starring: Adam Sandler, Andy Damberg, and Selena Gomez
When you think of Dracula, you think of a scary, bloodthirsty vampire, right? He is not a hotel owner but a single father raising his “teenage” daughter. But this Dracula is a hotel owner, a single father who just wants to protect his daughter from the “evil” humans.
Having run Hotel Transylvania as a safe haven for monsters for centuries, Dracula is hard set on NEVER letting a human set foot inside. His only daughter, Mavis, on the other hand, is curious about humans. So, for her 118th birthday, she asks her father to let her go into the nearby town. After much deliberation, Dracula allows her. But the problem is, Mavis goes and falls in love with a human boy!
Hotel Transylvania is one of the best animated movies ever for Halloween! All the famous monsters are there, and they are funny and friendly and not scary at all! It’s an excellent film for little kids who want to get into the Halloween spirit without the scary parts. Comedy legends Adam Sandler and Andy Samberg make this movie absolutely hilarious, so make sure you add it to your Halloween family movie list!
The Witches (1990)
Directed by: Nicolas Roeg
Starring: Anjelica Huston, Jasen Fisher, and Rowan Atkinson
As we said, not all witches are evil. However, a lot of witches ARE bad. Being able to tell them apart is not that hard, though, because bad witches want you to know just how bad they can be. But what should you do if you come across an evil witch? We would say run! But some people are braver than that.
Luke Evesham is on vacation with grandmother in a hotel in Norway. He meant to have a peaceful, fun time until he accidentally encountered a witch convention! A group of evil witches, posing as human women, were having a meeting on the hotel grounds to plan their evil deeds. Finding out that the witches plan to transform children into mice for their own evil plans, Luke and his grandmother vow to stop them.
The Witches is a classic film based on the novel by Roald Dahl. It’s a great Halloween family movie, as it features witches and a family coming together to defeat them! If your children don’t like watching old films, though, no worries! The Witches got a remake in 2023, starring Anne Hatheway. So whether you decide to watch the original or the remake, make sure you watch The Witches because it’s a great Halloween family movie.
Casper (1995)
Directed by: Brad Silberling
Starring: Christina Ricci, Devon Sawa, and Bill Pullman
Generally speaking, ghosts are terrifying! They float around and walk through walls, and if you are unlucky, they are as naughty as Beetlejuice. However, every now and then, there is a friendly ghost. One who wants no harm and maybe just wants a friend. That ghost is Casper.
Casper is a child ghost who has been living with his ghost uncles in Whipstaff Manor all his life —and death. When a wealthy and arrogant heiress arrives at the manor, Casper and his uncles try to scare her away. The heiress hires a ghost expert to eliminate the ghosts in the mansion. However, Casper makes friends with the expert’s daughter, who promises to help him remember his past life.
Casper is based on a children’s comic. Unlike the comics, though, Casper is darker and touches on the origin of Casper’s death. It is, however, still very appropriate for children to watch. No worries! For parents who grew up reading or watching Casper on TV, this Halloween family movie is a great nostalgia ride and a great way to introduce your children to the friendly ghost.
Scooby-Doo!: The Movie (2002)
Directed by: Raja Gosnell
Starring: Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Linda Cardellini, and Matthew Lillard
Halloween might be primarily about ghosts, monsters, and witches, but every now and then, Halloween is about mystery. A scary mystery to solve with a group of friends will always bring the Halloween vibes to a max! Just ask Mystery Inc.
Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and their dog Scooby have always been the best mystery solvers ever to exist. But after a disagreement two years ago, the band disbanded. When they get invited to help solve the mystery of Spooky Island, each member is hard set on serving the mystery independently. But soon, they will discover that they work best when they work together.
Scooby Doo is a Halloween classic! The mystery, the monsters and the hidden secrets always keep everyone on their toes (great opportunity for jump scares!). Your children might even already know the characters from cartoons, so it will be an excellent opportunity to bring your childhood into theirs and connect over it.
And these are TEN Halloween movies for your entire family to watch and enjoy together! Halloween is a beautiful time to go all out on costumes, party, collect candy chocolates, and hang out with friends. Still, it’s also an excellent time for families to spend time together, bundled under blankets and watching the best Halloween movies!