Essential Movies for Spooky Season
If you’re like me and love Halloween, but hate being properly scared, here are my favourite movies to watch in October.
10. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Ware-Rabbit (2005)
This silly stop-motion masterpiece is the perfect movie to ease into the spooky season. Gromit’s eyes are so expressive!
9. Haunted Mansion (2023)
Perhaps because I have no nostalgic ties to the Eddie Murphy version, I was able to really lean into this recent remake. It’s fun, spooky, and heartwarming. I saw it at the theatre a week or two after seeing Barbie and honestly, Haunted Mansion was better.
8. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
This movie makes me happy and sad at the same time. I tend to watch it in November when I start growing impatient for Christmas magic to start.
7. Coraline (2009)
Alternate Mom is terrifying! This dark fantasy stop-motion is what nightmares are made of.
6. Halloweentown (1998)
Who else remembers the pure joyful excitement when this movie aired on the Disney Channel every October? In many ways, this movie did not age well. Halloweentown citizens really embraced 90s pop culture from their high-tech neon-coloured brooms to their aerobics classes. But at its core, its still a whimsical story that reminds us being normal is overrated.
5. Monster House (2006)
The animation in this movie is horrible and incredible at the same time. The literal monster house is such a brilliant concept. It’s not just haunted, it is terrifyingly personified.
4. The Addams Family (1991)
This is my favourite version of the famous quirky gothic family. Their dynamic is so much fun to watch. Gomez and Tish might actually be Relationship Goals.
3. House on Haunted Hill (1959)
The only proper horror movie that I can handle since I know it beat for beat at this point. Even so, it is still spine chilling and hits all the spooky notes. I normally have it on while I hand out candy to trick-or-treaters.
2. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
The on-going argument on whether this is a Halloween movie or a Christmas movie is silly. You watch it twice. You watch it in October and again in December.
1. Corpse Bride (2005)
Stop-motion animation and Halloween just seem to go together like peanut butter and jelly.
Honourable Mentions:
1. The rest of the Halloweentown series
If I have the time, I will inevitably watch Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge (2001) and Halloweentown High (2004). The second one is probably the best of the series. It’s slightly less cheesy than the first with the stakes being slightly heavier.
2. The Addams Family Values (1993)
The sequel is slightly less perfect than its predecessor, as is so often the case. I could do without Wednesday and Pugsley’s summer camp misadventure.
