feelsalike.com

Collections / Halloween movies for kids

Halloween movies for kids

The October shelf for a household with kids in it. Ghosts, monsters and pumpkins, but the kind that end well. Roughly sorted from the gentlest at the top to the ones that earn their PG near the bottom, so you can pick by nerve rather than by age rating.

Coraline and ParaNorman are genuinely intense for younger children. Great films, worth a preview first.

Hotel Transylvania
2012 · dir. Genndy Tartakovsky
🍅 45%7animation · comedy · family

Welcome to Hotel Transylvania, Dracula's lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live it up and no humans are allowed. One special weekend, Dracula has invited all his best friends to celebrate his beloved daughter Mavis's 118th birthday. For Dracula catering to all of these legendary monsters is no problem but the party really starts when one ordinary guy stumbles into the hotel and changes everything!

Casper
1995 · dir. Brad Silberling
🍅 59%6.2fantasy · comedy · family

Casper is a kind young ghost who peacefully haunts a mansion in Maine. When specialist James Harvey arrives to communicate with Casper and his fellow spirits, he brings along his teenage daughter, Kat. Casper quickly falls in love with Kat, but their budding relationship is complicated not only by his transparent state, but also by his troublemaking apparition uncles and their mischievous antics.

Goosebumps
2015 · dir. Rob Letterman
🍅 78%6.3adventure · horror · comedy

After moving to a small town, Zach Cooper finds a silver lining when he meets next door neighbor Hannah, the daughter of bestselling Goosebumps series author R.L. Stine. When Zach unintentionally unleashes real monsters from their manuscripts and they begin to terrorize the town, it’s suddenly up to Stine, Zach and Hannah to get all of them back in the books where they belong.

Monster House
2006 · dir. Gil Kenan
🍅 75%6.7animation · comedy · family

Monsters under the bed are scary enough, but what happens when an entire house is out to get you? Three teens aim to find out when they go up against a decrepit neighboring home and unlock its frightening secrets.

The Addams Family
1991 · dir. Barry Sonnenfeld
🍅 67%7comedy · fantasy

When a man claiming to be long-lost Uncle Fester reappears after 25 years lost, the family plans a celebration to wake the dead. But the kids barely have time to warm up the electric chair before Morticia begins to suspect Fester is fraud when he can't recall any of the details of Fester's life.

Scooby-Doo
2002 · dir. Raja Gosnell
🍅 32%5.4mystery · adventure · comedy

When the Mystery Inc. gang is invited to Spooky Island, a popular amusement park, they soon discover that the attractions aren't the only things that are spooky. Strange things are happening, and it's up to Scooby, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, and Velma to uncover the truth behind the mysterious happenings.

The Nightmare Before Christmas
1993 · dir. Henry Selick
🍅 95%7.9fantasy · animation · family

Tired of scaring humans every October 31 with the same old bag of tricks, Jack Skellington, the spindly king of Halloween Town, kidnaps Santa Claus and plans to deliver shrunken heads and other ghoulish gifts to children on Christmas morning. But as Christmas approaches, Jack's rag-doll girlfriend, Sally, tries to foil his misguided plans.

Corpse Bride
2005 · dir. Tim Burton
🍅 85%7.4romance · fantasy · animation

In a 19th-century European village, a young man about to be married is whisked away to the underworld and wed to a mysterious corpse bride, while his real bride waits bereft in the land of the living.

Coco
2017 · dir. Lee Unkrich
🍅 97%8.4family · animation · music

Despite his family’s baffling generations-old ban on music, Miguel dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz. Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead following a mysterious chain of events. Along the way, he meets charming trickster Hector, and together, they set off on an extraordinary journey to unlock the real story behind Miguel's family history.

Ghostbusters
1984 · dir. Ivan Reitman
🍅 95%7.8comedy · fantasy

After losing their university jobs, three parapsychologists start a ghost-catching business in New York City and uncover a supernatural threat that could destroy the world.

Gremlins
1984 · dir. Joe Dante
🍅 86%7.3fantasy · horror · comedy

After receiving an exotic small animal as a Christmas gift, a young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet, which unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous creatures on a small town.

Beetlejuice
1988 · dir. Tim Burton
🍅 83%7.4fantasy · comedy

A newly dead New England couple seeks help from a deranged demon exorcist to scare an affluent New York family out of their home.

Coraline
2009 · dir. Henry Selick
🍅 91%7.8animation · family · fantasy

Wandering her rambling old house in her boring new town, 11-year-old Coraline discovers a hidden door to a strangely idealized version of her life. In order to stay in the fantasy, she must make a frighteningly real sacrifice.

Spirited Away
2001 · dir. Hayao Miyazaki
🍅 96%8.6animation · family · fantasy

A young girl, Chihiro, becomes trapped in a strange new world of spirits. When her parents undergo a mysterious transformation, she must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free her family.

How to Train Your Dragon
2010 · dir. Chris Sanders
🍅 99%8.1fantasy · adventure · animation

As the son of a Viking leader on the cusp of manhood, shy Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III faces a rite of passage: he must kill a dragon to prove his warrior mettle. But after downing a feared dragon, he realizes that he no longer wants to destroy it, and instead befriends the beast – which he names Toothless – much to the chagrin of his warrior father.

Every title above links to its kindred spirits. Find the one you love, then follow the thread. Or browse the mood behind this shelf: whimsical, playful, warm.