The 16 Best Family Movies To Watch This Spooky Season

There's something about shared fear that cultivates strength and resiliency while bonding audiences. It can be a communal experience, especially for families. So, the Halloween season is the perfect time to dim the lights, pop some corn, and cuddle up for some seasonal frights that are almost guaranteed to bring everyone closer together.

As far as horror films are concerned, this forthcoming Halloween season arrives with the promise of several heavy hitters, among them "Halloween Kills" and "Last Night in Soho," but family-friendly titles are in shorter supply. For those looking to cultivate an appreciation for the horror genre with something appropriate for the entire family, here are 16 of the best family movies to watch this spooky season. Every one of the movies on this list is fun for both adults and children, and will spark either genuine chills or gut-busting laughs — or, in some cases, both. Let's get spooky.

Arguably Pixar's last true classic, "Coco" is a gorgeously animated adventure that broadens Disney's conventionally Euro-centric horizons with a distinctly Mexican story. Inspired by Día de los Muertos, Mexico's Day of the Dead, "Coco" follows Miguel (voiced by Anthony Gonzalez), a young boy in Santa Cecillia who dreams of becoming a musician like his father. His family is more than resistant — they're downright antagonistic. They blame music for his father's absence, reasoning that he prioritized performing over family. On Día de los Muertos, Miguel steals the guitar of deceased superstar Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt) from Ernesto's mausoleum and finds himself transported to the world of the dead.

Miguel is told that he only has until sunrise to return to the world of the living, lest he remain trapped in the land of the dead forever. What follows is a deeply poignant reflection on family, memory, and the way we do (and should) honor the deceased. Children will be enchanted by the bright colors and gorgeously rendered world of the dead, while parents will be susceptible to more than a few tears as Miguel reflects on his lineage and learns the truth about where he came from.

More than just a perennial offering — it often airs on Cartoon Network every October — "The Halloween Tree" is also a bona fide history lesson, as illuminating and probing as it is entertaining. Another Bradbury adaptation, "The Halloween Tree" follows a group of trick-or-treaters and their efforts to save their friend's soul when it's taken by the sinister Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud (voiced by "Star Trek" legend Leonard Nimoy).

Moundshroud promises to return their friend Pip's (voiced by Kevin Michaels) soul if the children agree to join him on a journey to learn more about the history of Halloween. The children agree and travel to Egypt, Stonehenge, and several other famous locales to learn more about Halloween traditions and their costumes' historical roots. The ending is poignant and raw — without spoiling anything, it's realistic and deeply meaningful, and doesn't pull any punches. Ray Bradbury is the master of gateway horror for a reason.

The scariest entry on this list, André Øvredal's "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" had the unenviable task of adapting Alvin Schwartz's perennial Scholastic text to film. While the stories in Schwartz's collection are good, it was the original illustrations by artist Stephen Gammell that cemented the series' legacy. How, then, does one go about adapting that to film? As it turns out, with the guidance of gothic maestro Guillermo del Toro.

In an overarching narrative written for the screen, Zoe Colletti stars as Stella, a young writer who comes into possession of alleged witch Sarah Bellows' collection of horror stories on Halloween. These stories are directly culled from Schwartz's collection, illustrations and all, and within hours, Stella realizes that the tales are coming to life and targeting her friends. 

Genuinely frightening without ever being explicit — "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" is a firm PG-13 — it's the perfect foray into the horror for older kids and teens who want a scare that isn't going to push things too far. With dazzling production design, poignant messages about prejudice and persecution, and some gangbuster scares, "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" is a spooktastic contemporary classic.

"The House with a Clock in its Walls" is another exceptional gateway entry for young horror fans. Though suitably scarier than most of the other films on this list — it's helmed by "Hostel" creator Eli Roth — it's still appropriate for audiences of all ages and boasts a truly heartfelt story to boot. 

Roth's first film to not receive an R-rating, "The House with a Clock in its Walls" follows Lewis Barnavelt (Owen Vaccaro), a 10-year-old left orphaned after his parents are killed in a car crash. He moves in with his eccentric uncle, Jonathan Barnavelt (Jack Black), a warlock living in an old house that has, yes, a clock hidden in its walls. Jonathan and his neighbor, Florence Zimmerman (a beguiling Cate Blanchett), have been searching for the clock every night, eager to discover its purpose, especially since the clock itself was hidden by sinister warlock Isaac Izard ("Twin Peaks" alum Kyle MacLachlan).

Roth wanted to make a family-friendly horror film that didn't skimp on scares, and with "The House with a Clock in its Walls," he delivers. There are monstrous jack-o-lanterns, sentient dolls, and a delightfully menacing performance from MacLachlan. Blanchett and Black provide the requisite heart, and balance it nicely with the finely-tuned scares. Though intermittently juvenile — it is a children's movie after all — "The House with a Clock in its Walls" has plenty of craftsmanship and genuine thrills that should appeal to the entire family.

One's tolerance for Adam Sandler's Netflix hit hinges entirely on their predilection for Sander's silly accents. Fresh off his acclaimed role in "Uncut Gems," Sandler assembled a comedic troupe for the ages with "Hubie Halloween," a goofy, low-stakes story about Sandler's Hubie, who saves his hometown of Salem, Massachusetts from a kidnapper. 

Hubie is routinely ridiculed, both for the way he talks (a riff on Sandler's "Little Nicky" voice that's never explained) and his penchant for being easily scared. He's joined by the likes of Julie Bowen as his love interest and June Squibb as his mother, along with Sandler stalwarts like Kevin James, Maya Rudolph, and several others.

For those who can get past the first five minutes, "Hubie Halloween" is a beautiful love letter to both the town of Salem, where it was filmed, and the season itself. Quite simply, there too few Halloween comedies out there. Families will also be happy to know that, while "Hubie Halloween" has its share of laugh-out-loud moments, it never gets as juvenile or off-putting as some of Sandler's earlier work. It's funny, frightening in spurts, and a grand old time.

Like "Hocus Pocus," "Casper" is a millennial Halloween classic. Just as younger adults are eager to summon the Sandersons with kids of their own, so too are they thrilled at the prospect of introducing the little ones to everyone's favorite friendly ghost. "Casper" stars '90s Gothic icon Christina Ricci and both Malachi Pearson and Devon Sawa as Casper, with Pearson providing his ghostly voice and Sawa embodying his human form. Kat has moved into Whipstaff Manor with her father (Bill Pullman), a paranormal investigator, at the behest of the Catherine Crittenden (Cathy Moriarty), a greedy old woman who's looking to rid the house of ghosts and find its hidden treasures.

What follows is an innocent and sweet, though never saccharine, tale of first love and a ghoulish coming-of-age. Ricci and Pearson have profound chemistry, united by their respective grief and inability to find stability. Though the plot gets fairly dark — there are several deaths — it never gets too scary, and its final message about sacrifice and familial love resonates decades later. "Casper" is a Halloween icon for a reason.

"Frankenweenie" is really, really good. Unfortunately, it floundered at the box office. Despite critical acclaim, the marketing for "Frankenweenie" made it look too juvenile for adults and too scary for children. Neither of those are true. "Frankenweenie" is a love letter to director Tim Burton's Gothic roots, a gorgeously composed stop-motion film about a boy and his resurrected dog. A riff on Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," all of the Burton hallmarks are here, including big eyes, spectacular creatures, Winona Ryder, and a poignancy that balances out the darker elements.

Resurrected dog Sparky is one of the cutest things that Burton has ever conceived, and while children with pets might recoil from his death and revival, there's a lot worth watching for. "Frankenweenie" is a horror-inspired reflection on grief and fear that celebrates our differences and encourages us to come together. The voice cast is sensational, and while watching, families are guaranteed to laugh, cry, and scream together. It's an utter delight.

"Monster House" is very scary. Directed by Gil Kenan (who would later go on to helm the "Poltergeist" remake, another worthwhile family pick), it follows a group of kids who take it upon themselves to investigate the titular monster house, a neighborhood behemoth that literally eats children but becomes inactive whenever adults are present. As more and more neighborhood kids are swallowed up, the trio, led by Mitchel Musso's D.J. Walters, must figure out how to stop the evil abode before they're eaten, too.

The central conceit alone is terrifying, as the house unfurls it carpeted tongue to swallow any child who dawdles nearby a moment too long, and the animation is stellar, with Sony employing the same animated style that made "The Polar Express" so successful (thankfully, "Monster House" spends less time in the uncanny valley). "Monster House" is so scary, in fact, that co-writer Dan Harmon once wrote to a young fan apologizing for just how frightening it was. Nonetheless, for kids who can handle it, "Monster House" is a monstrously good time.