It’s time for sweaters, it’s time for pumpkin spice, it’s time for boots and scarves and falling leaves. It’s autumn and that can only mean one thing: Halloween is right around the corner. We love it for the candy, the unique costumes and the excuse to throw a party with fun drinks. We also love it for the classic films that put us in the right mood for the spooky holiday.
1. Hocus Pocus
Besides the fact that Sarah Jessica Parker is lowkey a star in this movie, it’s actually pretty freaky. I mean these three witches want to kill children and take their souls. It’s set on Halloween in Salem, Massachusetts (home of all things witchcraft!), and follows three witches on their quest to remain young forever. As they set their sights on young Dani, her big brother Max must overcome his hatred for the holiday to save his little sister. So it’s not the most high quality film out there, but it sure is entertaining and spooky.
2. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
Talk about a classic. This family friendly cartoon is one that everyone can enjoy while getting a Halloween costume together or decorating the house. Linus can’t wait to see the Great Pumpkin on Halloween and forfeits trick-or-treating to wait for it in a pumpkin patch. With typical Peanuts’ shenanigans and Snoopy as the Red Baron, it might even have you believing in the Great Pumpkin.
3. The Nightmare Before Christmas
Now this is just the best of both worlds- Christmas AND Halloween. Tim Burton’s stop-motion hit might be from 1993, but it never gets old. Jack Skellington is the mysterious pumpkin king with his obsession with Christmas. He means well acting as Santa and delivering gifts…but somehow giving children snakes and vampire teddy bears backfires terribly. Never fear, Jack learns the real meaning of Christmas and Halloween and receives a special gift from the real “Sandy Claws.”
4. Sinister
This recent horror film has nothing to do with Halloween, but it’s sure to make you want to sleep with the lights on. Ellison Oswalt is trying to piece together the connections of mysterious murders, while his own daughter is being controlled by Bughuul, a demon who controls children into brutally killing their families. The ending isn’t pretty and you won’t want to look in the mirror for a couple nights, but it keeps you on the edge of your seat and is the perfect scary movie for Halloween.
5. Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice is a great crossroads of creepy and funny. If you haven’t see this classic, now is the perfect time to get in the mood for Halloween. Beetlejuice is a ghoul who Barbara and Adam Maitland hire to guide them through their newfound afterlife after crashing their car. To say the least, he isn’t the most reliable source to show them the ropes. On top of being newly dead, Barbara and Adam must learn to live in peace with the people who move into their house. With the help of Lydia, the quirky daughter of the Deetz, they just might figure out their new “life” and get rid of Beetlejuice and his antics forever.
6. Casper
If this doesn’t make you tear up at least once…Kat Harvey and her father, James, move into a huge, creepy, haunted house called Whipstaff Manor. Hired by the awful Carrigan Crittenden to rid her inherited estate of Casper and the Ghostly Trio, James has been trying to communicate with the dead since the loss of Kat’s mother, his wife, Amelia. When Kat throws (let’s be honest) the best Halloween party in town, greed and unfinished business spiral into one question — who will be brought back to life? You’ll laugh, it’ll tug at your heartstrings, but in the end it’s an all around classic.
Have any more must-see Halloween movies? Leave us a comment below!