Halloween starts the holiday season off with beautiful weather, vivid foliage, and a great selection of cinematic classics.
To some, it’s a time to turn out the lights and watch movies that will ruin a perfectly good night’s sleep. To others, it’s simply an evening to celebrate autumn’s wonderment while sipping a warm cup of hot chocolate and enjoying a nostalgic family-favorite.
But wherever you fall in the spectrum of movie preferences, it’s hard to argue that there’s a better night of the year to enjoy a good film. And for those of you looking for a few suggestions, here are five mostly family-friendly films for your consideration.
5: It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown
Let’s get this one out of the way. The animation is simple, the colors are laughably dated, and if by chance it was excluded from this list there’d be 120 comments about how this article missed the most beloved Halloween special of all time.
So why do we love it? Who knows? But every year, people snuggle up to this classic with or without children present. Everything from Snoopy’s Red Baron battle to Charlie Brown getting yet another rock makes Halloween a little better. In fact, to some Charles M. Schulz fans, it’s simply not Halloween without it.
4: Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Wallace & Gromit fans were a little surprised at the spooky direction “Were-Rabbit” took our favorite, inventive protagonists. But let’s be honest, nothing was creepier than the evil chicken/penguin character from “Wrong Trousers.” And while on the subject, that robot-dog thing that was trying to catch Shaun the Sheep? Very unsettling.
In fact, while “Curse of the Were-Rabbit” is the obvious spooky choice from the series, feel free to just have a Wallace & Gromit film festival on Halloween night. They’re all great, and they all have their moments of creepy-goodness.
“Monster Squad” is a little known treasure that has a very devout group of followers. Two years after the success of “Goonies,” director Fred Dekker gave us his own misfit-kid adventure with humor, tone, and potty-language similar to the 1985 Richard Donner classic.
So how do you top a bunch of kids searching for a lost pirate treasure so well guarded that even Chester Copperpot couldn’t find it? You have them take on every classic monster from the Universal collection. “Monster Squad” is a really great blend of classic horror and 80’s camp, but also might be a bit scary and edgy for younger kids.
If you’re worried about the content, you can also catch another team of unlikely heroes battling the Universal monsters in “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.”
2: Ghostbusters
There’s a reason Hollywood is moving forward with “Ghostbusters 3,” and it’s not “Ghostbusters 2.” The original “Ghostbusters” was so clever, so quotable, and so iconic, that not even the painful sequel could derail public interest in another proton pack adventure.
If you’re looking for a Halloween staple this year, there are few effects-driven movies that have aged as well as “Ghostbusters.” It’s funny, a little scary and showcases a classic cast doing some of their finest ensemble work.
At the very least, it might help your kids understand that weird smirk you get every time someone says, “Who you gonna call?”
1: The Nightmare Before Christmas
For those of you who officially start the holiday season on October 31st, this is a perfect film. While unapologetic in its adoration for Halloween, “Nightmare” spins one of the most unusual Christmas tales ever set to celluloid. The music is beautiful, the animation is mezmerizing, and every year more and more people fall in love with it.
Until recently, you could catch Jack Skellington and his ghostly dog Zero on the big screen every Halloween season. This year however, Disney has decided to release a threee-disc combo set of the film, which includes a copy of the 3D transfer on Blu-ray 3D.