(Photo by Buena Vista Pictures, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros, TriStar, MGM / Courtesy: Everett Collection)
Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island turns 25!
Looking for a scary movie to watch with the kids and family? Or a horror movie that won’t necessarily send you scrambling beneath the covers, with a 6,000 watt night light plugged in? Then you’ve come to the right ghoulish place with our guide to some of the best children’s movies for Halloween!
There’s something for everyone, from the very young (It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Coco) to the…well, still young, but we bet they think they’re so grown-up (The Addams Family). We’ve got animated funhouses (The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, Monster House), ’80s fantasies and creepfests (The Dark Crystal, Return to Oz), and ’90s classics present and accounted for (The Witches, Hocus Pocus, Casper).
But what’s a little mayhem for the young mind without some Steven Spielberg productions like Poltergeist and Gremlins? Or the maestro of palatable twisted dreams: Tim Burton, who’s represented by Beetlejuice.
Meanwhile, modern-day fare like Goosebumps, The Addams Family, and the long-awaited Hocus Pocus sequel will keep the torch burning well into the years. In the end, we kept the list to PG and below, before we sorted the list by Tomatometer, with Certified Fresh films first. Whatever scary family movies you’re looking for, the ones you need are in our guide to the essential kids Halloween movies! —Alex Vo
#1
Adjusted Score: 116643%
Critics Consensus: Coco‘s rich visual pleasures are matched by a thoughtful narrative that takes a family-friendly — and deeply affecting — approach to questions of culture, family, life, and death.
#2
Adjusted Score: 104098%
Critics Consensus: Spirited Away is a dazzling, enchanting, and gorgeously drawn fairy tale that will leave viewers a little more curious and fascinated by the world around them.
#3
Adjusted Score: 103193%
Critics Consensus: Clever, funny, and delightful to look at, Monsters, Inc. delivers another resounding example of how Pixar elevated the bar for modern all-ages animation.
#4
Adjusted Score: 101614%
Critics Consensus: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is a subtly touching and wonderfully eccentric adventure featuring Wallace and Gromit.
#5
Adjusted Score: 102063%
Critics Consensus: An infectiously fun blend of special effects and comedy, with Bill Murray’s hilarious deadpan performance leading a cast of great comic turns.
#6
Adjusted Score: 105455%
Critics Consensus: The Nightmare Before Christmas is a stunningly original and visually delightful work of stop-motion animation.
#7
Adjusted Score: 99728%
Critics Consensus: The Secret of NIMH seeks to resurrect the classical style of American animation and succeeds, telling a mature story with rapturous presentation.
#8
Adjusted Score: 97498%
Critics Consensus: With a deliciously wicked performance from Angelica Huston and imaginative puppetry by Jim Henson’s creature shop, Nicolas Roeg’s dark and witty movie captures the spirit of Roald Dahl’s writing like few other adaptations.
#9
Adjusted Score: 100934%
Critics Consensus: With its vivid stop-motion animation combined with Neil Gaiman’s imaginative story, Coraline is a film that’s both visually stunning and wondrously entertaining.
#10
Adjusted Score: 97772%
Critics Consensus: Beautifully animated and solidly scripted, ParaNorman will entertain (and frighten) older children while providing surprisingly thoughtful fare for their parents.
#11
Adjusted Score: 98460%
Critics Consensus: Frankenweenie is an energetic stop-motion horror movie spoof with lovingly crafted visuals and a heartfelt, oddball story.
#12
Adjusted Score: 95637%
Critics Consensus: Smartly filmed, tightly scripted, and — most importantly — consistently frightening, Poltergeist is a modern horror classic.
#13
Adjusted Score: 93166%
Critics Consensus: Whether you choose to see it as a statement on consumer culture or simply a special effects-heavy popcorn flick, Gremlins is a minor classic.
#14
Adjusted Score: 91453%
Critics Consensus: Brilliantly bizarre and overflowing with ideas, Beetlejuice offers some of Michael Keaton’s most deliciously manic work – and creepy, funny fun for the whole family.
#15
Adjusted Score: 91238%
Critics Consensus: As can be expected from a Tim Burton movie, Corpse Bride is whimsically macabre, visually imaginative, and emotionally bittersweet.
#16
Adjusted Score: 86678%
Critics Consensus: The Spiderwick Chronicles is an entertaining children’s adventure, with heart and imagination to spare.
#17
Adjusted Score: 85998%
Critics Consensus: While it’s far from Laika’s best offering, The Boxtrolls is still packed with enough offbeat wit and visual splendor to offer a healthy dose of all-ages entertainment.
#18
Adjusted Score: 85671%
Critics Consensus: Goosebumps boasts more than enough of its spooky source material’s kid-friendly charm to make up for some slightly scattershot humor and a hurried pace.
#19
Adjusted Score: 81447%
Critics Consensus: The Dark Crystal‘s narrative never quite lives up to the movie’s visual splendor, but it remains an admirably inventive and uniquely intense entry in the Jim Henson canon.
#20
Adjusted Score: 81351%
Critics Consensus: Monster House welcomes kids and adults alike into a household full of smart, monstrous fun.
#21
Adjusted Score: 79834%
Critics Consensus: While it’s arguably more interesting on a visual level, Labyrinth provides further proof of director Jim Henson’s boundless imagination.
#22
Adjusted Score: 97018%
Critics Consensus: Performed and animated with the comics’ signature melancholy warmth, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! celebrates the spooky season in true Peanuts style.
#23
Adjusted Score: 74966%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#24
Adjusted Score: 90203%
Critics Consensus: This Disney two-fer may not be the most reverent literary adaptation, but it’s remarkably crafted and emotionally resonant.
#25
Adjusted Score: 48836%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#26
Adjusted Score: 88706%
Critics Consensus: Its contents may be a bit busy and overly familiar, but Nightbooks offers a fun — and actually fairly scary — gateway to horror for younger viewers.
#27
Adjusted Score: 34546%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#28
Adjusted Score: 76979%
Critics Consensus: Although it softens the nasty edges of its source material, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events is a gothic visual treat, and it features a hilariously manic turn from Jim Carrey as the evil Count Olaf.
#29
Adjusted Score: 73593%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#30
Adjusted Score: 71133%
Critics Consensus: The movie is peppered with amusing sight gags and one-liners, but the disjointed script doesn’t cohere into a successful whole.
#31
Adjusted Score: 76882%
Critics Consensus: An entertaining PG detour for gore maestro Eli Roth, The House with a Clock in Its Walls is a family-friendly blend of humor and horror with an infectious sense of fun.
#32
Adjusted Score: 72911%
Critics Consensus: Hocus Pocus 2 is basically a boiling cauldron of nostalgia, but that’s just enough for this belated sequel to cast a reasonably effective spell.
#33
Adjusted Score: 67937%
Critics Consensus: Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation delivers exactly what fans will expect – which means another 97 agreeably lightweight minutes of fast-paced gags and colorful animation.
#34
Adjusted Score: 63799%
Critics Consensus: True terror and typical Disney wholesomeness clash uncomfortably in Something Wicked This Way Comes.
#35
Adjusted Score: 61102%
Critics Consensus: Return to Oz taps into the darker side of L. Frank Baum’s book series with an intermittently dazzling adventure that never quite recaptures the magic of its classic predecessor.
#36
Adjusted Score: 60712%
Critics Consensus: Hotel Transylvania 2 is marginally better than the original, which may or may not be enough of a recommendation to watch 89 minutes of corny, colorfully animated gags from Adam Sandler and company.
#37
Adjusted Score: 58119%
Critics Consensus: Thanks to the cast, Ghostbusters 2 is reasonably amusing, but it lacks the charm, wit, and energy of its predecessor.
#38
Adjusted Score: 54576%
Critics Consensus: A meandering, mindless family movie that frequently resorts to special effects and transparent sappiness.
#39
Adjusted Score: 51821%
Critics Consensus: The Watcher in the Woods boasts plenty of spooky atmosphere and a typically strong performance from Bette Davis, but it builds to a conclusion so dissatisfying that it undermines all that came before.
#40
Adjusted Score: 16937%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#41
Adjusted Score: 59118%
Critics Consensus: The Witches misses a few spells, but Anne Hathaway’s game performance might be enough to bewitch fans of this Roald Dahl tale.
#42
Adjusted Score: 51484%
Critics Consensus: Much like the trio of films it follows, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania is middling family viewing — relatively painless, but overall rather uninspired.
#43
Adjusted Score: 51538%
Critics Consensus: Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween offers a handful of treats for very young viewers, but compared to the entertaining original, this sequel is a ding dong to ditch.
#44
Adjusted Score: 46475%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#45
Adjusted Score: 52823%
Critics Consensus: The Addams Family‘s starry voice cast and eye-catching animation aren’t enough to outweigh its saccharine handling of the delightfully dark source material.
#46
Adjusted Score: 51316%
Critics Consensus: Hotel Transylvania’s buoyant, giddy tone may please children, but it might be a little too loud and thinly-scripted for older audiences.
#47
Adjusted Score: 40721%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#48
Adjusted Score: 45744%
Critics Consensus: Harmlessly hokey yet never much more than mediocre, Hocus Pocus is a muddled family-friendly effort that fails to live up to the talents of its impressive cast.
#49
Adjusted Score: 36729%
Critics Consensus: Though Lillard is uncannily spot-on as Shaggy, Scooby Doo is a tired live-action update, filled with lame jokes.
#50
Adjusted Score: 25447%
Critics Consensus: Only the very young will get the most out of this silly trifle.
#51
Adjusted Score: 32952%
Critics Consensus: Altogether ooky, and not in a good way.
#52
Adjusted Score: 10063%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#53
Adjusted Score: 17609%
Critics Consensus: Neither scary nor funny, The Haunted Mansion is as lifeless as the ghosts in the movie.
#54
Adjusted Score: 11365%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.