The leaves are red, the pumpkins are carved and the parties are planned. Halloween is just around the corner, and the time has come to break out the classics. No spooky season is complete without a Halloween movie marathon. Here are four classic family-friendly films to get anyone in the mood for a nostalgic spook-fest.
“The Little Vampire” (2000)
For a cozy take on Halloween media, consider “The Little Vampire.” The movie follows two little boys, human Tony Thompson and vampire Rudolph Sackville-Bagg, who share the friendship of a century. Rudolph and his family long for nothing more than to be human and live in the sunlight and Tony does everything in his 9-year-old power to help his new friend achieve just that. Set in Scotland, the story is riddled with breathtaking views and castles that perfectly accompany the timeless draw of a good vampire tale.
No good Halloween film is without a fitting villain and the one and only Jim Carter answered the call for “The Little Vampire.” He plays the vampire hunter Rookery who is just silly enough in his endeavor to keep the vampires as they are that he fits perfectly alongside the child-lead cast while still keeping viewers rooting for his downfall.
“Coraline” (2009)
This stop-motion animation may be rated PG, but it is definitely eerier than that. Coraline is a young girl, unsatisfied with her living conditions and inattentive parents. She discovers a parallel universe where everything seems wonderful: her parents pay attention to her and cook her favorite meals; it is the perfect life to her. However, one element remains peculiar — her parents’ button eyes. Her “other mother” and “other father” express their wishes to sew buttons in her eyes, and Coraline realizes that the “other world” is a trap.
Her mother is a supernatural being known as the “Beldam”, who captures Coraline’s real parents and the souls of many children. Along the way, she gets help from a black cat and her friend Wybie who must outmaneuver the Beldam in her sinister ways. For an unsettling plot line with a pretty cool film style, watch Coraline this Halloween season.
“Hocus Pocus” (1993)
“Hocus Pocus” is a classic so beloved, it managed to resurrect itself nearly 30 years after the original film was released and it is the perfect story to get into the spooky season vibe. Set in the infamous Salem, Massachusetts, where the veil between real magic and hocus pocus is thinnest, a team of unlikely heroes featuring 3 kids and a 300-year-old cat must band together to save the town from the fabulously evil Sanderson Sisters after one-such kid lights the legendary black flame candle. For many, the Kenny Ortega directed film has become an annual rewatch to be brought out with the decor.
“Beetlejuice” (1988)
Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!
For a movie packed with strange, unusual and laughs in between, “Beetlejuice” is an excellent choice. This all-star cast — Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis — takes the audience through lots of twists and turns. Adam and Barbara Maitland, a happy couple living in Connecticut, get into a fatal car accident and return to their home as ghosts. While attempting to adapt to their new life, the Deetz family moves in.
In a mission to scare the family out of their home, the Maitland’s summon the bio-exorcist Betelgeuse, found inside a diorama upstairs in the attic. Lydia, the “strange and unusual” of Delia and Charles Deetz, befriends the Maitlands, and together they try to get rid of Betelgeuse after realizing that his intentions are not good. The film recently aired a sequel last year in September, where Beetlejuice made his return. For those into more comedic Halloween films, this is it.
