31 Not-So-Scary Halloween Films and Specials

I loved Sarah’s list last week, full of recommendations featuring some of the best horror films that pair perfectly with  the Halloween season. However, while several of her picks are some of my favorites, many of the most-loved horror movies are too scary for the likes of me. Sarah can attest to this, as we took a horror film class in grad school and every week before screenings I had to be talked out of fleeing the classroom before the film even started. Yes, it’s true. I, Bailey Lizotte, am a bona fide, genuine scaredy-cat. Jump scares, creepy faces, disembodied voices, and all other manner of horror elements, tropes, and conventions do indeed have an adverse effect on me. Whenever I’m watching a horror film, my dread of such generic elements prevents me from appreciating the qualities of the film in any respect.  

It’s a marvel that the Halloween season is my favorite time of year and that my favorite thing to do in October is curl up on the couch to watch a Halloween flick. So, for all of you fellow faint-of-heart film fans, here are 31 movies and Halloween specials that are so much fun to watch in autumn, but won’t keep you up at night. Sure, some of these have brief-horror, tense, or frightening moments, but I find these to be nice substitutes to more extreme horror and gory  fare.

In no particular order, here are my suggestions:

1. Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971, Dir. Robert Stevenson)

2. The Witches (1990, Dir. Nicolas Roeg)

3. Double, Double Toil and Trouble (1993, Dir. Stuart Margolin)

4. American Playhouse: “Into the Woods” (PBS, 1991)

5. Casper (1995, Dir. Brad Silberling)

6. Casper Meets Wendy (1998, Dir. Sean McNamara)

7. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966, Dir. Bill Melendez)

8. Two of a Kind: “Nightmare on Carrie’s Street” (ABC, 1998)

9. Monsters, Inc. (2001, Dir. Pete Docter)

10. Halloween is Grinch Night (1977, Dir. Gerard Baldwin)

11. Goosebumps: “Attack of the Jack-O’-Lanterns” (FOX, 1996)

12. Buffy the Vampire Slayer – pretty much the entire television series (The WB/UPN, 1997-2003)

13. Young Frankenstein (1974, Dir. Mel Brooks)

14. Don’t Look Under the Bed (1999, Dir. Kenneth Johnson)

15. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (The Entertainment Channel, 1982)

16. The Addams Family (1991, Dir. Barry Sonnefeld)

17. Coraline (2009, Dir. Henry Selick)

18. Mom’s Got a Date with a Vampire (2000, Dir. Steve Boyum)

19. The Witches of Eastwick (1987, Dir. George Miller)

20. The Harry Potter Series (2001-2011, Dir. Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newell, David Yates)

21. Matilda (1996, Dir. Danny DeVito)

22. ParaNorman (2012, Dir. Chris Butler)

23. Halloweentown (1998, Dir. Duwayne Dunham)

24. Shaun of the Dead (2004, Dir. Edgar Wright)

25. Beetlejuice (1988, Dir. Tim Burton)

26. Freaks and Geeks: “Tricks and Treats” (NBC, 1999)

27. What We Do in the Shadows (2015, Dir. Taika Waititi)

28. Hocus Pocus (1993, Dir. Kenny Ortega)

29. Phantom of the Megaplex (2000, Dir. Blair Treu)

30. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1949, Dir. Clyde Geronimi, Jack Kinney)

31. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993, Dir. Henry Selick) Note: Due to the controversy over whether this is a Halloween movie or a Christmas movie, I tend to watch this and Edward Scissorhands (1990, Dir. Tim Burton) on November 1st, as a bridge between my Halloween and Christmas viewing.

What are your favorite not-so-scary Halloween films and specials? Are you more of a horror buff? Let me know in the comments below, and stay spooky (but not too spooky)!

 Copyright © 2019 Bailey Lizotte