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Y’all. I can’t get over that I couldn’t find a family-friendly Halloween movies list. Oh sure, there were lists alright, but not for this conservative Mama. Um, no. So I created an Ultimate family-friendly Halloween movies list of a few that you won’t be scared to watch with your family (see what I did there?)! Enjoy the movie trailers and my Mom reviews of each one of the movies below.
Best Halloween Movies
These days, my family likes to be spooked a little – on the light side and it’s hard to find Halloween movies that aren’t gory or full of inappropriate nonsense. We love cool movies, so of course, I’ll be checking out the appropriate ones on the Official 31 Nights Of Halloween Schedule on ABC Family/Freeform like everyone else. To be honest, the Halloween movies schedule is a little odd this year and there are only a few we’ll watch.
BEST HALLOWEEN FAMILY MOVIES THAT ARE ANIMATED
I’m sharing the best animated Halloween movies for the slightly older kids. I was very disappointed that the two new (to me) Halloween movies for kids that I was excited to check out for were not good choices at all. A “groping” boyfriend on top of a young girl that he calls a prude when she pushes him off in one kid’s animated movie and homosexuality jokes in another is not something I’m going to support (Monster House and Paranorman), animated or not. Everyone is different, so it’s up to you to know which Halloween movies are best suited for your family.
This is why I do what I do, friend, to save you the time, money, and headache if you care about these things as I do.
The Halloween Tree – After digging very hard to find this one that I’d never heard of, it’s a book-to-movie Ray Bradbury classic adventure about four youths who try to save their friend from the ghosts of Halloween past. They take a journey that sweeps them back as far as 4,000 years and teaches them the meaning of Halloween and friendship.
The opening credits and pretty much the whole The Halloween Tree movie’s style took me back to my childhood of watching Saturday morning cartoons. That’s due to it being a Hannah Barbera film and great old-fashioned storytelling. I loved this cute retelling of the original book and loved that it went through the history of Halloween in such an interesting way. Don’t tell the kids that it’s slightly educational though and they won’t notice!
date: 2012
cast: Ray Bradbury, Leonard Nimoy, Annie Barker
runtime: 69 minutes
rating: NR
rating explanation: not rated
available to watch: DVD & Amazon Prime Video
Hotel Transylvania 1 – This movie is about a single Dad, Count Dracula, who does what he has to do to protect his only daughter from his most feared opponent… humans. His solution is to build a hidden monstrous (get it?) castle hotel where all monsters and goblins can feel safe from the outside world. His problems begin when a human young man accidentally walks through the door and catches the eye of his daughter.
I know this is an old movie but I had not seen it. Although not my favorite animated film, it’s a silly one to sit around and watch with the fam during the fall season. It plays out similar to Scooby Doo cartoons with spooky but silly characters. There’s also the gross stuff that’s supposed to be funny like bodily functions and bug-crawling sandwiches that aren’t awesome to me, but tolerable.
What I did love was the ‘human’ character, a millennial backpacker dude, that shows up with his hilarious dialogue. That was my favorite part. All in all, it’s super cute and a good way to bond with the fam.
date: 2012
cast: Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez
runtime: 91 minutes
rating: PG
rating explanation: Parental Guidance Suggested
available to watch: DVD, Blu-ray & Amazon Prime Video
BEST HALLOWEEN MOVIES TO WATCH WITH OLDER KIDS/TWEENS
Halloween movies for tweens can be really fun to watch with them. Because they are a little more mature, the topics don’t have to be kiddie. Even still, this one choice, though outdated, can be a fun tradition they’ll look forward to when they are even older.
Double Double Toil and Trouble – This cute little movie stars Mary-Kate and Ashley Owen, back in their little girl heyday. They win a magic wand at a birthday party and then meet a goofy gravedigger who tells them that their grouchy, old Aunt Agatha is a bad witch. The girls, with friends in tow, try to save their own house and their Aunt Agatha’s sweet twin sister, Sophia, that Aunt Agatha has put under a wicked spell they race. They also learn lessons about the importance of sisterly love that knows no bounds.
Ten minutes into the movie a nervous gravedigger tells the twins about the annual “All Hallows Eve” gathering where witches summon ghosts and goblins to do their bidding and that the dead rise from their graves. He goes on to tell them about a legend 200 years ago about a moonstone that belonged to a witch that was burned at the stake. The bad witch is pretty intense with her threats and meanness, but as a tween, teen or adult, she’s pretty ridiculous, not scary.
To be honest, I was pretty bored with this one midway through it, but my daughter seemed to enjoy it. There’s a good message at the end about friends and family sticking together. Even though it’s very outdated and a little slow, I have a feeling that this is one that we’ll be watching every year together from here on out!
date: 2009
cast: Mary-Kate Olsen, Ashley Olsen, Cloris Leachman, Meshach Taylor
runtime: 91 minutes
rating: NR
rating explanation: not rated
available to watch: DVD & Amazon Prime Video
Halloweentown – A single Mom and her kids are surprised when their unusual Grandma shows up to visit, and the kids are even more shocked when they follow Grandma home. Halloweentown is a haven for ghosts, goblins, and witches to live a normal life in their own society. They shortly realize that they have to help save the town from an evil one trying to take over the world.
This is one of my favorite Halloween movies to watch with the fam and I know it will be a tradition now. The kids in this movie are very disrespectful at the start of the movie but have a change of heart at the end. The fact that this film is outdated is part of its charm for me. Tell the kids to hang in there and they’ll fall in love with it too.
There are four Halloween Town movies…
- Halloweentown
- Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge
- Halloweentown High
- Return to Halloweentown
I have only watched the first Halloweentown movie, but will give you reviews of the others when I watch them!
date: 1998
cast: Debbie Reynolds, Kimberly J. Brown, Judith Hoag
runtime: 84 minutes
rating: G
rating explanation: general audiences
available to watch: DVD & Amazon Prime Video
FAMILY FRIENDLY HALLOWEEN MOVIES FOR TEENS AND ADULTS
Here’s the deal: your older kids/teens/grandkids have probably already watched the movies that I am listing below.
You could score major brownie points when you have a movie night and watch one of these cool Disney movies with that older kid!
Disney’s Channel’s Original movie, Girl vs. Monster – The main character is a confident girl who finds out that her parents have been leading a secret life of monster hunting. When she realizes that she’s a 5th generation monster hunter, she fearlessly goes where she’s forbidden to deal with it with her friends in tow (including her fearful bestie). There are pretty catchy tunes you’ll be singing for days after this cute film.
When the subject matter gets intense in this family-friendly Halloween movie, like the monsters coming to steal souls, it’s presented in a lighthearted way that’s not creepy or scary at all.
My least favorite part is when the mean girl and main boy appear possessed and have red eyes (it’s not bad though). It’s a good movie to watch with older ones because it’s refreshingly clean with no bad language, romance, or any other inappropriate stuff. I think you’ll fall in love with it whether you want to or not. We’ll definitely have this clean one to watch every single year at Halloween time. Hallelujah!
date: 2012
cast: Brendan Meyer, Luke Benward, Olivia Holt
runtime: 89 minutes
rating: G
rating explanation: general audiences
available to watch: Amazon Prime Video
Disney Channel’s Zombies – This is another Disney Channel musical-style movie, but for Halloween. In a perfect, cookie-cutter society of traditions and pep rallies, a chemical explosion causes one side of the town to be changed into zombies with the green haze. Humans and zombies live separately in Seabrook, until this year, when the zombies are allowed into the human high school and two brave teens, a cheerleader and a zombie boy, form a special friendship.
When I first heard about this one, I fought the idea of watching a zombie movie. I mean, yuck! What I didn’t realize was this wasn’t a typical movie about gross zombie life, it was a silly, but fun musical by Disney Channel. I dare you to watch and not fall in love with the characters and the catchy tunes! You may even learn some new dance movies. It’s actually a really good movie – I enjoyed it more than I’d like to admit to the kiddos!
date: 2018
cast: Milo Manheim, Meg Donnelly, Trevor Tordjman
runtime: 94 minutes
rating: NR
rating explanation: not rated
available to watch: DVD & Amazon Prime Video
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow – You know that the short story published by Washington Irving in 1820, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, of a Hessian mercenary, wounded in the Revolutionary War that tormented the town of Sleepy Hollow, right? Stoic Ichabod Crane arrives on the scene to become the new headmaster of the school and wants to court Katrina, who has another beau sweet on her as well, Brom Bones. Ichabod faces the headless horseman on the trail – or was it Brom Bones in disguise?
Since the latest movie starring Johnny Depp is rated R is not an option at my house, I started looking for other options. Disney has an animated version HERE that I haven’t seen yet. There are two other ‘real’ versions on YouTube, but this one is the shortest and best of the two. While it’s grainy and displayed in black and white, it’s worth every second. Come on, live a little!
Here is the link to the actual movie. You can watch on YouTube on any device and even stream through your TV by connecting your device to the TV with a hdmi cord or by doing what we do…streaming it through a YouTube app with our Roku device.
date: 1980
cast: Jeff Goldbloom, Paul Sand, Meg Foster
runtime: 104 minutes
rating: PG
rating explanation: parental guidance
***Related:
I hope you enjoy these suggestions for super clean Halloween movies to watch with your family. Apparently, Hulu heard that we watch everything including sports without cable, and offered me a free trial link.
I just signed up for a free month so I can check out the Season #1 Episode #1 S1 Pilot of the TV series of Sleepy Hollow. It is different than the rated R movie and a modern tale full of incredible full of American history by the looks of the trailer. Slightly scary + historical fiction = I’m all in.
Wish me luck because you know what a wimp I am with scary stuff. Also, if I find that it has bad language or vulgar stuff as I’m screening it ahead of time for the fam, I’ll be gone. Until next time, Happy Halloween, Y’all!
I’D LOVE YOU TO TELL ME WHICH ‘SQUEAKY CLEAN’ HALLOWEEN MOVIES I MISSED IN THE COMMENTS!
Published on HuffPost, Okefenokee Living Magazine, and more, Shan is a Family Travel Journalist with a passion for helping women lose the overwhelm of planning family-friendly trips in the south. She shares travel reviews & insider secrets that Women REALLY want to know about Georgia, Florida, & the Carolinas vacations.
☕️ It’s THE REAL DEAL around here ☕️
I’ve never heard of most of these. We’ll have to check them out.
My littles love the Curious George one, Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest. And also we all love It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
Thank you for providing a family-friendly list of Halloween movies. It is difficult to find seasonal movies this time of year that do not scare my kids (or me). I look forward to trying some of these suggestions.
Thanks for sharing. I’ve always loved Double Double Toil and Trouble, and Halloweentown! I actually watched them both last year with a friend – going back in time to when we were young. 🙂 I’ve seen some of the Zombies movie and it’s cute! I want to watch the Hotel Transylvania movies, I haven’t seen any of them.
-Lauren
Wow I can’t believe haven’t seen most of these. We love Spooky Buddies at Halloween time.
Hocus Pocus is one of our all time favorite halloween movies to watch every year. Hotel Transylvania is a favorite of the kids and okay adults as well.
I need more Halloween films to watch! This list is really helpful and I shall be checking a few of them out 🙂
I love love love Halloweentown, gotta see Hotel Transylvania this year!
We love Hotel Transylvania in our house! It’s so funny!
My favorite one is hotel Transylvania! I have watched all the parts with my family cant wait to watch it again for Halloween.
I truly appreciate this list! I am not a fan of creepy and overly scary movies, but it’s always fun to watch family movies to celebrate certain times of the year. We’ll be looking out for those teen Disney movies. Thanks for putting this together!
Author
Glad it was helpful, Yolanda. It’s my pleasure. Have fun!!!
much love,
shan
Thank you for sharing a family-friendly list of Halloween movies! In my house, we love Halloween, but my little one is much too young to break out the horror movies just yet. Hotel Transylvania and Halloween Town are musts for me this time of the year.
This is a great list, thank you so much for sharing. I am going to share it with some friends whose children I think would enjoy these movies. And thank you for telling us what not to watch too! I am right there with you on those,
Author
So glad you found it helpful, Susan. Have fun and thanks for sharing!!!
much love,
shan
Ahhh these are so great I want to see them! I so badly want to see halloween town again and of course hocus pocus!
Ok as a disney fan I cannot wait to watch the Zombies movie! Gonna check that out on netflix/amazon!
Author
It’s really super cute, Di. Have fun!
much love,
shan
I was just thinking about figuring out a good Halloween movie for family movie night on Friday. I loved Halloweentown when I was younger, but my boys are still too young that they prefer animated. I think we are going to watch CoCo.
Thank you for this list! My kids love Halloween but not the scary stuff. This is incredibly helpful.
Author
Aw. I’m so glad it was helpful, Christa! Have fun!
much love,
shan
My kids are big on Halloween movies and they probably have a list which they enjoy with their dad only. I am afraid to say that I am not a fan of any horror movie
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow movie is my favorite. it was a great movie 🙂
Author
I love it too for some reason! 😉
much love,
shan
They are such fantastic films which are suitable for all ages! Thanks for sharing
This is a great round up of Halloween movies. I have seen several of them, but I need to watch a few of them again!!
I haven’t seen any of these except hotel transylvania, there’s three of those now. You’ve also got me curious about Paranorman as I remember it being a good one.
We are so excited about Halloween! Since it lands on school day this year, we will be staying home, watching movies. This list helps!
Author
I’m so glad, Evelyn! Sounds like you have a perfect night planned with the family.
much love,
shan
This is very helpful. Sometimes its hard to tell if it’s going to be a good movie for my kids to watch!
Author
Exactly, Holly. Thanks.
much love,
shan
A Ray Bradbury book turned to a kids movie?? What??? I’m going to have to dig this one up!!
Author
Ha ha, Stacey. I didn’t know either. It’s pretty cool. The book is better (all books are, in my humble opinion), but it’s neat!
shan
Yay, thank you for this!! We love Hotel Transylvania and will have to try some of the other ones you listed 🙂
Great list! I had never heard of about half of them, and we’re always looking for new movies for our Halloween movie marathon. Thanks!
This is such a great list! My daughters are 21 and 17, and they still watch Halloweentown every year!
I love these suggestions! I love Halloweentown so much that this year I visited St. Helens, Oregon, where the original cast reunited to light the “Halloweentown” pumpkin! So, so cool!
Author
That’s so cool, Samantha that you visited during that time. Awesome sauce! 😉
shan
Good list! It’s really challenging to find something that is kid-friendly for Halloween. I appreciate that some of your suggestions would be good for tween as well!
Author
Thanks for the kind words, April. It’s truly my pleasure because I know how hard it is! 😉
shan
Such a great list! Halloweentown is always on my watch list every fall. Along with Hocus Pocus and all the classics like Halloween!
Great list – I’ve not seen many of these movies but I’m sure my daughter would enjoy them!
It’s amazing how many things jump out to you as a parent that never phased me as a kid. How the heck do I explain to my 4 year old what a virgin is? Thanks Hocus Pocus… I hadn’t meant to tackle that for a few more years.
I am a not a huge Halloween fan but I am so glad for this list. I was a bit worried it would be horror movies! Hotel Transylvania is such a cute movie!
I am not familiar with most of these because I don’t have any young children. But I will keep his list handy for when I do have them. Thanks for the reviews, nothing like a mom’s perspective!
I’m a fan of family-friendly Halloween movies. I’m keeping this so i can watch some with my family this year.
I was actually searching for some movie ideas for this Halloween! And I just stumbled upon your article! This is so great! Thanks!!!
Such great titles for Halloween. We’re looking to host a Halloween movie marathon with the kids. They LOVE this holiday and all it entails.
Oh wow, these brought back some memories. My sister and I would watch most of the Disney ones. I felt they were always safer than the others out there.
Aww my girls (who aren’t old enough for anything else on this list) LOVE the Hotel Transylvania series! My eldest even went as a witch a la the girl in the movies last year!
I haven’t seen any of these movies. We don’t celebrate Halloween in Greece but the last years more and more people love to have parties or a movie marathon so this list came just in time.
Author
Yay! I’m so glad it came just in time, Helene! 🙂
shan
This is such a cool list. We have seen most of these. But I didn’t realize that Jeff Goldblum was in a story of Ichabod Crane. That is so cool. My daughter and I will have to check it out.
I always forget about The Legend of Sleepy Hollow – my kids are a bit older and I think they would love it. Great ideas.
I absolutely LOVE Hotel Transylvania, but I haven’t seen any of the others. We’ll have to give them a try over Halloween 🙂
Louise x