Not everymoviecentered around Halloween gets the proper recognition it deserves, with many incredible holiday classics falling by the wayside in favor of bigger films. When it comes to Halloween and movies, it’s easy for all discussion to be overtaken by the ubiquitousHalloweenmovie seriesthat began with the John Carpenter movie of the same name. That being said, Michael Myers doesn’t have a monopoly on cinematic Halloween iconography, with plenty of great undersung films themed around the holiday to reach for going undersung.
Being a horror movie isn’t necessarily the same as being a Halloween movie,with the best films that represent the season being themed around or at leasttaking place during Halloween. Halloween movies don’t necessarily need to be scary to be classics either, with some of the best of them being cozy family-friendly films with a heartening Autumnal vibe. Some of the strongest film representatives of Halloween as a holiday have sadly flown under the radar.
It’s rare for an older film to be associated with Halloween, considering the holiday’s more modern sensibilities compared to classics like Christmas.That being said, as far back as the 1940s, a heartening, heartwarming crossover between two classic literary characters teamed up for a Halloween movie hit theaters withThe Adventures Of Ichabod & Mr. Toad.
10 Great Kids Halloween Movies (& The Scenes That Might Still Scare Them)
There are plenty of Halloween movies that are great for kids, with eerie moments and spine-tingling scenes that captivate audiences of all ages.
Combining one half of Frog and Toad fromThe Wind in the Willowsfame with Washington Irving’s iconic short storyThe Legend of Sleepy Hollow.Rather than join forces somehow, Ichabod and Mr. Toad are kept separate during the film, which presents adaptations of both stories as a two-part anthology.
The animation is quite wonderful for the time, and the dulcet tones of Basil Rathbone and Bing Crosby’s narration help tie the two disconnected tales together.An underrated feather in the cap of early Disney,The Adventures Of Ichabod & Mr. Toadis a great calming apéritif for the more chaotic aspects of the Halloween season.
Speaking ofThe Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toadisn’t alone in being a criminally underseen adaptation of the original ghoulish tale.Only under the radar thanks to its proximity to even more iconic Halloween movies in Tim Burton’s filmography, 1999’sSleepy Hollowis a genius re-telling of the tale of the Headless Horseman that pays homage to the iconic British Hammer horror films of the distant past.
Johnny Depp stars as Ichabod Crane, a squeamish constable who becomes entangled in the legend of the Headless Horseman.The best part ofSleepy Hollowis easily its brilliant art design, which earned the film an Academy Award for Best Art Direction the year following its release.
Sleepy Hollowis a feast for the eyes just as much as a loaded satchel of Halloween candy is a feast for the spirit.
Indeed,the cinematography, costumes, and bright pink blood indicative of its Hammer inspiration,not to mention one ofTim Burton’s best movie setsin The Tree of the Dead, all contribute to a ghoulishly fun slasher movie.Sleepy Hollowis a feast for the eyes just as much as a loaded satchel of Halloween candy is a feast for the spirit.
The type of photorealistic animation that briefly attempted to become mainstream in the 2000s employed by films likeMonster Househasn’t aged well, often cited as looking too inhuman or unnatural. But strangely enough,this uncanny valley effect works wonders in an unsettling horror story set during Halloween time.Monster Housetells the story of a trio of misfit friends who become embroiled in the mystery of the neighborhood grumpy old man’s eerie haunted house. It’s soon revealed that the house isn’t just haunted, but alive, terrorizing the neighborhood as a living, breathing entity.
Monster House may be suitable for young viewers, but it stands among a short list of films that manages to walk the fine line between child-friendly and genuinely frightening, thanks in no small part to its creepy-looking human characters.The film is also genuinely funny as well, with timeless jokes that have persisted well into the modern day thanks to circulation as memes.It might be overlooked by many, butMonster Houseis a worthy Halloween film enjoyable by all ages.
The mid-to-late 2000s really understood Halloween well, as dedicated holiday films likeTrick ‘R Treathave established.Directed by Michael Dougherty, who would go on to make a name for himself inLegendary Pictures’ Monsterverse, the horror anthology film introduces several unique stories that all take place on the same Halloween night, tying them together in creative ways to establish a single narrative. At the center of the action is little Sam, the pint-sized supernatural slasher named after the pagan holiday Halloween is rooted in, Samhain.
WhileTrick ‘R Treathas slowly gained more and more recognition over the years, in truth, it deserves to be even more ubiuitous to Halloween than it already is. Not only set during Halloween, but deeply rooted in the holiday’s most iconic qualities and themes,Trick ‘R Treatis scary, funny, and increasingly creative as each of its seemingly separate vignettes masterfully weave into one another. Hopefully,Sam can continue to become an iconic horror villain as synonymous with the holidays as Michael Myers himself.
Pivoting back to less intense Halloween classics,ParaNormanis a masterfully-crafted stop-motion animation film that has been tragically overlooked in its time.The story revolves around the titular Norman, an outcast young boy with the unique ability to communicate with the dead, a power no one in his life believes is real. When his Massachusetts town is plagued by the ghost of a 300-year-old witch, Norman becomes his community’s only hope of surviving Halloween.
ParaNormanbalances a classic outcast coming-of-age tale with an apocalyptic zombie movie between its two halves, combining the two to make something greater.The film is great at subverting classic tropes of the horror genre and the casts of teen characters typical of it,supplementing its story with the beautiful visuals of its incredibly painstaking frame-by-frame animation. A comedy-chiller with a huge heart,ParaNormanhas been rudely missed by even great enthusiasts of Halloween time.
ParaNormanis far from the only stop-motion film to make great use of Halloween themes, with some examples being surprisingly old yet woefully underseen. EnterMad Monster Party?,a rareRankins/Bass holiday specialto take place during Halloween rather than Christmas. Rather than Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, this time around the revered studio used its animation talents to render the likes of Dracula, The Werewolf, Frankenstein’s Monster, The Invisible Man, and more.Though lesser-known than other Rankins/Bass productions,Mad Monster Party?has a dedicated cult following.
The story centers on a mad scientist, Baron Boris von Frankenstein himself, who summons the iconic horror movie monsters, who are apparently all in league with one another as the “Worldwide Organization of Monsters,” to his island lair to unveil his newly-created “secret of total destruction.“A clear love letter to the classic monster movies of Universal Studios, the film is most famous for being horr icon Boris Karloff’s last appearance in a related project, playing Baron Frankenstein.Easygoing movie fare with a friendly, endearing vibe,Mad Monster Party?deserves more recognition.
Despite not technically taking place on Halloween,Ghostwatchstill earns a spot as a dedicated holiday film thanks to its association with the holiday in Britain, where the film first aired on live TV Halloween night. A mockumentary presented as live footage during its first airing,Ghostwatchdrums up scares by presenting a broadcast that attempts to capture paranormal phenomena on-camera,delving into a haunted house supposedly plagued by a poltergeist referred to as “Mr. Pipes”. It isn’t long before the “camera crew” and host of the program are assailed by seemingly-real spirits.
Much like Orson Welles’ infamous 1938 broadcast ofTheWar of the Worldsradio play,Ghostwatchcaused widespread panic during its first airing as many viewers believed the footage to be real.This serves as a testament to the brilliantly creepy direction of the project, which does admittedly appear convincing even today.Since its first airing on a fateful Halloween night in 1992,Ghostwatchhas been spread internationally and on streaming services like Shudder as a secretly venerated holiday classic.
With its title conveying an experience similar to something likeGhostwatch, WNUF Halloween Specialis in fact an American horror-comedy with an emphasis on its titular holiday.Theanalog horror storypresents itself as a recording of an 80s Halloween special, commercials included, clearly inspired byGhostwatch’s initial broadcast.The footage follows television reporter Frank Stewart as he live-broadcasts himself exploring a haunted house alongside four other people, soon learning that his reported demonic incursion was no laughing matter.
Gaining a small cult following in the years since its release,WNUF Halloween Specialshould be better known as a perfectly atmospheric representation of Halloween thrills and chills.
It’s remarkable just how dedicatedWNUF Halloween Specialis to nailing 80s authenticity, being shot on actual vintage tape stock to maintain the illusion.Oozing with nostalgia, the film is representative of a very particular type of Halloween night many viewers might have enjoyed in adolescence. Gaining a small cult following in the years since its release,WNUF Halloween Specialshould be better known as a perfectly atmospheric representation of Halloween thrills and chills.
A shockingly unique Halloween film,Murder Partyis a wonderfully hilarious midnight horror-comedy for those in the know.Taking place on Halloween night, the film follows a lonely man who goes to a publicly advertised party on a whim, dressing up in a homemade knight costume. The poor partygoer is in the for the night of his life as he finds himself kidnapped and at the mercy of a coterie of psychotic, pretentious artists, who debate how to kill him in the most creative and artful way possible.
Despite the fact that he spends the majority of the film bound and gagged, the protagonist ofMurder Partyanchors the highbrow ramblings of its villains as they bicker back and forth on the most meaningful way to torture their victim. The final bloody climax is a welcome payoff to the tense atmosphere, as one of the quieter members of the party goes fully berserk in his dislike for his friends’ taste.A brilliant dissection of the meaning of art disguised as schlocky horror film,Murder Partyis a rare Halloween-themed story with some true substance to chew on.
Tales of Halloween
Cast
Tales of Halloween is a horror anthology featuring ten stories from top directors. Released in 2015, the film explores various supernatural elements, including ghosts, ghouls, monsters, and the devil, as they unleash terror on a suburban neighborhood during Halloween night.
Trick ‘R Treatis far from the onlyhorror anthology filmto take advantage of Halloween’s campfire tale spookiness.While the film fails to interlock its collection of stories with any connective tissue, what it lacks in cohesiveness it more than makes up for in quantity, presenting a staggering ten short stories for expectant horror fans to choose from. Each story takes place during or revolves around Halloween in some way or another, keeping the promise of the title’s premise with every individual tale.
Like any anthology film, especially one with so many separate narratives, some of the stories inTales of Halloweenare better than others. But as a wide sampling of the different horror possibilities opened up by Halloween, it’s hard to beat, casting a wide net of creative concepts from serial killers to demonic witches. Making the most out of a modest budget and shockingly consistent in quality,Tales of Halloweenshould be better known as a fantastic grab-bag of Halloweenmovietreats.
