Got kids in your midst who aren’t quite ready to rip into George Romero’s greatest hits or make Michael Myers’ acquaintance, but who still want to get in the Halloween spirit? Disney+ has a decent selection of kid-friendly flicks we wouldn’t call “horror,” but dip at least a toe or two into the realm of “spooky.”
Disney+ has planned out its own block of October programming, dubbed “Hallowstream,” and you’ll find some of those same titles in this list (watch a Hallowstream teaser here). But we’ve also picked some more out-there ingredients for the cauldron, too.
Yes, it’s about a trio of Salem witches who hunger for children—but somehow, even though the dastardly hags do succeed in preying on a pair of young siblings in Hocus Pocus’ first few minutes, they’re still more goofy than scary, for the most part. Even the zombie is cute, and there’s a talking cat to boot. Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy returned for a sequel in 2022, which you can also stream on Disney+, and there’s a third film on the way somehow—but the 1993 original is your best bet for timeless “new kid in town must defeat local witches after accidentally reviving them” October fun.
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Released in 1998, Halloweentown follows a teen and her younger siblings as they realize they’re descended from witches—Grandma is played by Debbie Reynolds—and visit a parallel-dimension town populated by both friendly and menacing monsters. A string of spooky hijinks lead up to the kids having to save the day; there’s never any doubt that good will prevail, but the setting, sort of “creature-feature lite,” is so endearing it’s no surprise this has become one of the most-beloved Disney Channel Original Movies, spawning a trio of sequels.
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Tim Burton produced and Henry Selick directed this 1993 stop-motion musical that swiftly became a pop-culture phenomenon, and has only seen its fame escalate over time. As a bonus, you can also keep this celebration of multiple holidays on standby for your Christmas movie marathon.
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Something Wicked This Way Comes and The Watcher in the Woods aren’t on Disney+, which is unfortunate, but the lack of those mind-warping 1980s oddities is almost made up for by the fact that this 1975 release, which is more sci-fi thriller than horror, is part of the line-up. Orphaned kids hiding a big secret team up with a Winnebago-driving codger (Eddie Albert) to evade baddies (Ray Milland, Donald Pleasence) as they make their way to you-know-which destination. Now a cult favorite, Escape to Witch Mountain inspired two sequels, a remake, and a Rock-starring reboot.
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While we’re discussing Disney’s weirder moments in history, this 1986 Disney Sunday Movie about a family that moves to a spooky house in “Lucifer Falls,” only to discover it’s haunted by a vindictive ghost, entirely fits the bill. The fact that Mr. Boogedy looks so cheap—and simply that it’s titled Mr. Boogedy, which is more fun to say than it has any right to be—actually adds to the charm.
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Angela Lansbury stars in this 1971 musical blend of live-action and animation about an eccentric woman who agrees to shelter a trio of London kids in her countryside home during World War II—and we soon learn that “eccentric” really means “studying witchcraft so she can use it against the Nazis.” Magical shenanigans ensue in what’s since become a much-loved classic.
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Misunderstood when it was released in 1985, Disney’s dark animated fantasy inspired by Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain novels has since become a cult favorite—which may or may not have anything to do with its occult themes.
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Disney has now tried twice to make films starring human actors based on its popular, ghost-filled theme-park attraction; you can stream the 2003 Eddie Murphy version now, and the 2023 LaKeith Standfield film arrives October 4. Both of those have their moments, but this 2021 Disney+ special proves that Muppet actors are best-suited to the demands of Haunted Mansion-adjacent narratives.
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Very young viewers are not the target audience for this 2022 Marvel special, which clocks in at just under an hour and follows a group of monster hunters who don’t realize at first that one among them is a monster himself. But older kids can dig it, along with anyone who hasn’t kept up with Marvel’s excessively tangled storylines, since Werewolf by Night is for all intents and purposes a standalone tale. If the black-and-white format is a turnoff, Disney+ will begin streaming Werewolf by Night in Color on October 20.
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This 1929 “Silly Symphony” short about a gaggle of skeletons having a dance party one moonlit night is maybe the most classic example of gateway horror ever. Iconic, adorable, and still a little tooth-chompingly chilling no matter how many times you watch it.
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Source: Gizmodo