(Photo by Buena Vista Pictures, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros, TriStar, MGM / Courtesy: Everett Collection)

36 Essential Kids Halloween Movies

Looking for a scary movie to watch with the kids and family? Or a horror movie that won’t necessarily send you scrambling beneath the covers, with a 6,000 watt night light plugged in? Then you’ve come to the right ghoulish place with our guide to some of the best children’s movies for Halloween!

There’s something for everyone, from the very young (It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Coco) to the…well, still young, but we bet they think they’re so grown-up (Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, The Addams Family). We’ve got animated funhouses (The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, Monster House), ’80s fantasies and creepfests (The Dark Crystal, Return to Oz, The Monster Squad), and ’90s classics present and accounted for (The Witches, Hocus Pocus, Casper).

But what’s a little mayhem for the young mind without some Steven Spielberg productions like Poltergeist and Gremlins? Or the maestro of palatable twisted dreams: Tim Burton, who’s represented by Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands.

Meanwhile, modern-day fare like Goosebumps and The Addams Family will keep the torch burning well into the years. Whatever scary family movies you’re looking for, the ones you need are in our guide to the essential kids Halloween movies! —Alex Vo