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Endorsing scary movies for kids is impossible. What is or isn’t scary for a particular kid is impossible to predict and some movies you wouldn’t think are scary at all can still result in your child having nightmares and wanting to sleep with you after watching them. Then there are movies with monsters and such that kids don’t even blink at. The goal here is to list Halloween-themed movies that (probably) aren’t too scary, but also aren’t Baby Shark or Super Jojo annoying.
Note: This isn’t just scary movies for kids. There are a lot of those. These are Halloween movies for kids. You know, just in case you need to ramp up your kids’ excitement for Halloween.
Hocus Pocus (1993)
This is a classic example of a movie that isn’t too scary, but also involves burning the witches alive in an oven as they scream in pain, centuries after they were murdered by a Puritan witch-hunting mob. Kids seem to not notice the truly horrific premise of the film and most adults don’t either. That’s likely because of how much fun the movie is and the sheer charisma of our main actors Bette Midler (Winifred), Sarah Jessica Parker (Sarah), and Kathy Najimy (Mary). It’s not that the witches are innocent: They are not, what with them wanting to eat the town’s children. All that said, it is a charming film adults and children (maybe not young ones) will love, with the age recommendation here being can the kiddos follow a pretty complex plot. Hyper nerd aside: The zombie Billy is played by none other than Doug Jones.
- Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand)
- Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy (Actors)
- Kenny Ortega (Director) - Mick Garris (Writer) - David Kirschner (Producer)
The Book of Life (2014)
This Day of the Dead movie is kid-friendly, but pretty scary at times. The premise is that there’s a young bullfighter Manolo (Diego Luna) who doesn’t want to carry on his ancestors’ traditions of bullfighting. His best friend and rival is Joaquín (Channing Tatum), who are both courting María (Zoe Saldaña) to be their wife. María is killed by a snake (scary) sent by the evil god Xibalba (Ron Perlman – very scary). Manolo kills himself (very, very scary) and ends up in the Land of the Remembered (where dead people live), which is colorful and welcoming. Everything comes out OK in the end, but there are parts of the movie that might be hard for tiny tots. For adults? The animation is spectacular in style (wooden puppets) and execution. The music is wonderful. Book of Life is a really exceptional movie if your kids are a bit older. Directed by Guillermo del Toro, with other characters played by Ice Cube, Cheech Marin, Christina Applegate, Danny Trejo, Plácido Domingo, and others, this is a tour de force for adults and kids.
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The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Halloween movie? Christmas movie? We say both. Jack Skellington is jealous of Santa Claus and Christmas, so he travels to Christmas Land to visit Sandy Claws and learn about Christmas. The plot is a tad complex for young kids, but there’s music and stop-motion animation that should engage them, so it’s still good for adults and children. Directed by Tim Burton and starring Danny Elfman, Catherine O’Hara, Paul Ruebens (and so on), this movie is not that scary, although you might have some explaining to do concerning Sandy Claws.
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Coco (2017)
Technically, a Day of the Dead movie the day after Halloween, this Pixar movie follows generations of a Mexican family and specifically Miguel, who wants to play the guitar. Through a series of accidents, Miguel ends up in the land of the dead. The plot is a little hard to follow, honestly, but the movie is so colorful and bright and the action is very fun, so this movie will appeal to adults and children, even young ones who might simply like all the movement and color and music. If Monsters, Inc. doesn’t give your kids nightmares, this one won’t either.
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It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
This short (25 minutes) is definitely not scary at all, so it’s an all-ages recommendation. The plot? Linus believes a magical being, The Great Pumpkin, will come on Halloween to… we can’t remember why. To give little girls and boys circus peanuts? It’s unclear. There are many random things that happen and the Great Pumpkin doesn’t show up, but Linus has faith that next year he will. Heresy, we know, but it’s not that good. Still, as a Halloween tradition? Mandatory viewing.
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The Worst Witch (1986)
The Worst Witch (based on the beloved children’s book) is another made-for-TV movie (in this case the BBC), so the production values are television-level. Mildred Hubble (played by a young Fairuza Balk) is the titular Worst Witch at Miss Cackle’s Academy. She’s always late, accidentally knocks over all of her classmates, turns herself and her best friend Maud invisible by mistake, and turns the school bully Ethel into a pig. Things really ramp up when Miss Cackle’s evil twin sister, Agatha (no, not that Agatha, but you can add her to your head canon), shows up with a plan to take over the school. In the end, our hero Mildred saves the day (of course)! Diana Rigg stars as Miss Hardbroom and Tim Curry plays the Grand Wizard who appears on Halloween and sings “Anything can happen on Halloween!”