The Halloween season has already begun haunting kids and adults alike with horror movie marathons announced, candy, costumes, and masks being displayed in store windows, and every food item having a pumpkin sprinkled on top for a wonderful seasonal taste. Almost everyone enjoys this time of year, mostly for the number of horror films that are released and aired on television.
Despite popular belief, horror movies aren't just for adults. There are plenty of haunted films geared toward kids.
Hocus Pocus (1993)
It's difficult to believe that Hocus Pocus was released more than 25 years ago. Since then, this witchy film has garnered a strong cult following that has inspired cosplay, conventions, and even an upcoming sequel/reboot. Despite its scary premise of three witches who are hellbent on killing kids to stay young and take over the world, this movie has a surprising amount of charm and wit that casts its spell early on with the performances of its three leading ladies. The film doesn't talk down to its young audience and still manages to thrill and create a comical atmosphere.
Beetlejuice (1988)
Before Michael Keaton turned into Batman for Tim Burton, the actor/director pair made Beetlejuice together that followed the afterlife of a recently deceased couple who are actively trying to haunt new tenants in their rural home with the help of a mischievous demon named Beetlejuice.
The film has some laugh-out-loud silly moments, a couple of musical dance numbers, a giant cartoonish worm, and some excellent scares along the way. The film pokes fun at ghosts, the afterlife while having a good sense of humor about death and mortality. Beetlejuice should have won the Oscar for Best Picture.
The Witches (1990)
In the summer of 1990, Warner Bros. teamed up with Jim Henson (The Muppets) and director Nicolas Roeg (The Man Who Fell To Earth) and made this adaption from the Roald Dahl classic novel The Witches. The film follows a recently orphaned boy who is taken in by his grandmother who both go to a nice hotel for a much-needed vacation. While there, the boy comes across a convention of witches whose goal is to kill all children across the world, led by the amazing Grand High Witch (Angelica Houston). The little boy is turned into a mouse and must convince his grandmother to help him stop the evil witches. The whimsical and fun score paired with a co-starring role for Mr. Bean himself Rowan Atkinson, this film hits all the right notes for a thrilling adventure with kids and witches.
Ernest Scared Stupid (1991)
Just before Halloween in 1991, Jim Varney embarked on his fifth feature film as Ernest P. Worrell in Ernest Scared Stupid, playing his usual variety of wacky characters. Instead of escaping from jail or avoiding shots at camp, Ernest accidentally unleashes an army of slimy, gross trolls that are looking for revenge and trying to kill kids across town. Luckily, drinking one's daily dose of vitamin D of milk and spitting it on the trolls, destroys them. Full of silly laughs, disgusting trolls, and a smattering of Ernest characters, there's nothing quite wrong with this film as the whole family will enjoy this movie.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Henry Selick (Coraline) and Tim Burton teamed up to bring a mix of horror and the holidays in The Nightmare Before Christmas that mixed Halloween and Christmas together in a claymation-style film.
This movie was ahead of its time with some ghastly creatures that weren't mean-spirited and created an entire cult following almost immediately. Loaded with tons of great musical numbers and some impressive animation, this film has stood the test of time and is still one of the greatest horror films with a heart of gold.
The Monster Squad (1987)
The Monster Squad film is basically The Goonies but instead of including pirates, the focus is on Universal Monsters with Dracula, Wolf-Man, The Mummy, Gill-Man, and Frankenstein's Monster. A group of kids who have a horror-monster club realizes that Dracula is amassing an army to take over the world, and it's up to them to stop it. There's much more beneath the surface here though with themes of the Holocaust, friendship, bullying, and dealing with a failing marriage.
The Addams Family (1991)
In 1991, Paramount Pictures took the hit tv (always capitalize "TV") show The Addams Family and brought them to the big screen in a modern-day remake with some of the best casting decisions in cinema history. This included Raul Julia as Gomez, Angelica Houston as Morticia, Christopher Lloyd as Fester, and a young Christina Ricci as Wednesday. This oddball family exuded the meaning of family togetherness, loyalty, friendship, and fun in their own unique way. Through monsters, murder, mayhem, and the Mamushka, this endearing family is the epitome of the American Dream.
Gremlins (1984)
Yet another Christmas-time horror film that captivated audiences around the world with a lovable furry mogwai was Gremlins, produced by Steven Spielberg. This scary tale follows a family at Christmas time who comes into owning a strange creature with three very specific rules.
These rules are broken, thus creating some truly terrifying sequences where this cute mogwai named Gizmo spawns several other creatures that only have evil and mischievous in their souls. It's a fight for survival during the holidays in this family-friendly horror film that will capture the hearts of every child.
Poltergeist (1982)
After Tobe Hooper became the iconic filmmaker for Texas Chainsaw Massacre, he and Steven Spielberg teamed up and made a different kind of horror movie called Poltergeist about a family of five that are terrorized by malevolent spirits in their household that results in their youngest daughter being kidnapped by a ghastly entity to the nether world. There are plenty of genuinely funny-family moments here, along with some coming-of-age sequences with some truly terrifying images, complete with another fantastic musical score that walks the line of horror and peaceful serenity.
Ghostbusters (1984)
Ghostbusters is a fantastic horror-comedy film packed with ghosts, evil demon dogs, possessed women, and a giant skyscraper-tall marshmallow monster. In it, four guys fight the forces of darkness and the supernatural in order to save New York. It's a wonderfully funny film with a great message, memorable characters, excellent dialogue, and a ton of heart that still manages to be scary and fun at the same time for the whole family to enjoy, including kids.