5 family friendly Halloween movies to watch this October

Movies that will get the whole family into the Halloween spirit

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“It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” was released in 1966 and is a movie that the whole family can enjoy. (Photo courtesy of Lee Mendelson Film Productions)

With Halloween coming up and everyone staying inside, there is a lot more time to spend with family—time that can be used to watch some movies together. Here is a list of five family-friendly movies to watch from now until Halloween.

1. Halloweentown | 1998 | Available on Hulu or Disney+

“Halloweentown” is a Disney Channel original movie that was released in 1998. The movie follows Marnie Piper (Kimberly J. Brown) and her two younger siblings (Joey Zimmerman and Emily Roeske), who want to go out for Halloween, but their mother, Gwen (Judith Hoag), argues against it. Gwen’s mother, Aggie (Debbie Reynolds), arrived and encouraged the kids to go out for Halloween. Gwen and Aggie are both secretly witches and Aggie wants Marnie to go through training to become a witch, because if she doesn’t by the time she is 13, she will lose all of her powers. Aggie reads the children a story about Halloweentown, and then leaves on a magic bus to go back to Halloweentown. Without her knowing, Marnie and her siblings sneak on the bus and go to Halloweentown. Gwen realizes the children are gone and follows them to Halloweentown, where her and Aggie get frozen by a demon. Marnie and her sibling must then get ingredients for a potion to save them.

2. Hocus Pocus | 1993 | Available on Disney+

“Hocus Pocus” was released in 1993, and follows a group of witches (Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Midler and Kathy Najimy) who kill a young girl while trying to steal her youth in 1693. The witches are executed, but one cast a spell that would allow the witches to be resurrected during a full moon on the eve of Halloween. Three hundred years later, Max Dennison (Omri Katz) moves to Los Angeles, and meets his crush Allison (Vinessa Shaw) while out trick-or-treating, where they go to the witch’s house. While investigating, Max lights the candle that brings the witches back to life. Max must stop the witches, who have one night to become immortal.

3. The Addams Family | 1991 | Available on Netflix and Hulu

“The Addams Family” was released in 1991, and follows the Addams family (Anjelica Huston, Christina Ricci and Jimmy Workman), along with cousin Itt (John Franklin) and the grandmother (Judith Malina), who have been reunited with their “Uncle Fester” (Christopher Lloyd). Tully Alford (Dan Hedaya), the lawyer of Gomez Addams (Raul Julia), who is Fester’s brother, owes money to a loan shark. Tully realizes that the loan shark has an adopted son who looks a lot like Fester, and uses him to infiltrate the Addams family home and find the vault, where the Addam’s fortune is hidden. The fake “Fester,” Tully and the loan shark, spend the rest of the movie trying to get to the Addams vault and steal their fortune.

4. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown | 1966 | Available on Amazon Prime Video

“It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” was released in 1966 and is a television special based on the original Peanuts comic strips. Charlie Brown and friends decide to go trick-or-treating, minus Linus, who is trying to find the Great Pumpkin. Linus believes that the Great Pumpkin flies into the air and passes out presents. After trick-or-treating, Charlie is invited to Violet’s Halloween party.

5. The Nightmare Before Christmas | 1993 | Available on Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video

“The Nightmare Before Christmas” was released in 1993, and follows Jack Skellington. In this stop-motion animated film, Jack is tired of the same Halloween every single year, and decides to go into the woods, where he finds Christmas Town. Jack loves Christmas Town and returns back home to get the residents to understand what Christmas is like. Jack wants to bring Christmas to his town, so he gives Halloween style presents to people, which cause trouble, and end in Jack being shot down by the military. Jack finds his joy for Halloween again, but needs to fix the mess he made in town first.