Halloween is so much more than just one day at the end of October. It’s a wonderful time that includes a whole month of seasonal indulgences, Fall-time fabulousness, and an overarching air of whimsy and magic. But beyond the candy and costumes, one of the biggest treats of the season is the assortment of ghoulishly great movies that are sure to get anyone in the holiday spirit.
While many Halloween movies are too scary for younger viewers to enjoy, Netflix has an incredible selection of titles that are suitable for people of all ages. Whether you’re looking for ghosts, garden gnomes, or even destructive giant rabbits, we’ve got you covered with a list of some of Netflix’s top family-friendly Halloween movies enjoyable for kids and parents alike.
Originally released in 1995, Casper remains a Halloween classic that continues to delight audiences with its titular friendly ghost. The supernatural comedy-drama centers on Casper McFadden (Malachi Pearson), a lonely, forever 12-year-old spirit who spends his afterlife in Friendship, Maine’s Whipstaff Manor, along with his poltergeist uncles, the Ghostly Trio.
When paranormal therapist James Harvey (Bill Pullman) moves into Whipstaff with his 13-year-old daughter, Kat (Christina Ricci), Casper sees his chance to make his luck change for the better as he tries to befriend them. But the more Casper and his uncles interact with their human co-habitants, the more complicated life, and afterlife, become for all involved.
Based on R. L. Stine’s legendary book series of the same name, Goosebumps is a 2015 horror comedy film that sees a fictionalized version of young adult horror writer R.L. Stine (Jack Black) as the single father to teenaged daughter Hannah (Odeya Rush), of whom is he extremely overprotective. When their new neighbor, Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette), gets close to Hannah and a classmate named Champ (Ryan Lee), the three inadvertently unleash Stine’s various monsters and imaginings onto their town, forcing them to fight to force the beings back into the books, where they belong.
Nothing promises fun for the whole family like the Wallace and Gromit series, but this Academy Award-winning 2005 stop-motion animated comedy film is especially one to watch this October. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit follows cheese-loving inventor, Wallace (Peter Sallis), and his intelligent loyal dog, Gromit, in a new venture owning a pest control business that leads them into the center of a mystery of local garden sabotage.
As Wallace tries to woo his latest client, Lady Tottington (Helena Bonham Carter), he must not only prevent a giant rabbit from destroying the town’s crops, but also defeat his rival, Victor (Ralph Fiennes), in the battle for Lady Tottington’s affections.
Adapted from Roald Dahl’s 1988 book of the same name, Matilda revolves around a six-year-old child prodigy named Matilda Wormwood (Mara Wilson) who escapes from her parents’ (Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman) neglect into the fictional world of books and imagination. Though she expects school to be a solace, Matilda finds it to be a nightmare under the cruelty of sadistic headmistress Agatha Trunchbull (Pam Ferris). Upon discovering that she has telekinesis, Matilda uses her powers to fight back against her parents’ mistreatment and protect her friends and kind teacher, Jennifer Honey (Embeth Davidtz), from Trunchbull’s tyranny.
Nickelodeon’s The Boy Who Cried Werewolf is a horror comedy starring Victoria Justice as 17-year-old Jordan Sands, a nerdy girl struggling to step up and look out for her father, David (Matt Winston), and troublemaking 14-year-old brother, Hunter (Chase Ellison), after the death of her mother. After struggling financially, the family finds a surprise source of help from a distant relative who wills them his Wolfsberg, Romania-based castle presided over by the imposing and odd Madame Varcolac (Brooke Shields). In this strange new home, it turns out that the supernatural is all around them and poised to take over their lives in ways they could have never imagined.
For a movie more suited towards the older kiddos out there, check out Adam Sandler’s goofy and slightly crude Hubie Halloween. This Netflix Original mystery horror comedy film pays homage to ’80s era campiness with its all-star cast and vibrant sets as it follows Salem, Massachusetts’s eccentric delicatessen employee Hubie Dubois (Sandler).
Though he is ridiculed and harassed by most of his town, he continues to serve the community every year as the self-appointed Halloween Helper. But upon landing in the midst of a murder investigation, Hubie does his best to save Halloween and perhaps even finally earn the respect of Salem along the way.
One of the more recently released family-friendly Halloween movies you should be sure to queue up this month is We Have A Ghost. This 2023 Netflix Original supernatural horror comedy follows the Presley family as they move into a cheap, abandoned house, only to find out that it is haunted by a ghost named Ernest (David Harbour).
The youngest Presley, high schooler Kevin (Jahi Winston), befriends Ernest and resolves to help the ghost investigate his mysterious past, but after Kevin’s dad Frank (Anthony Mackie) posts a video of Ernest that goes viral, their plans are threatened as they become targets of the CIA.
Directed by Coraline‘s Henry Selick, Wendell & Wild tracks the titular scheming demon brothers (Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele) who trick 13-year-old Kat Elliot (Lyric Ross) into summoning them into the Land of the Living by making an empty promise to resurrect her deceased parents. Now free from the underworld, Wendell and Wild are ready to cause plenty of chaos in this unique and eye-catching film that defies the laws of both life and death.
Based on Joe Ballarini’s book trilogy of the same name, A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting fellows Kelly Ferguson (Tamara Smart), a teen stuck with the nickname “Monster Girl” after telling people that she was attacked by a monster as a five-year-old. When Kelly has to skip out on a Halloween party to babysit a young boy named Jacob (Ian Ho), she learns that he, too, is plagued by nightmares and visions of monsters. After Jacob is kidnapped by said monsters while she’s looking after him, Kelly embarks on a quest to do whatever she can to save Jacob from the Boogeyman (Tom Felton) and bring him home.
Led by a stacked voice cast, Igor is a cult classic animated horror comedy film from 2008 that revolves around hunchbacked lab assistant Igor (John Cusack) who aspires to leave the clichéd life of a mad scientist’s assistant behind in order to become a scientist, himself. When his incompetent master, Dr. Glickenstein (John Cleese), is taken out by his own invention, Igor finally gets his chance to step to win the Kingdom of Malaria’s annual Evil Science Fair. Too bad the monster (Molly Shannon) he created seems poised to thwart him by being too… likable.
Produced, written , and directed by Rob Zombie, The Munsters is a 2022 horror comedy that takes the familiar Munster monster family from the 1960s family sitcom of the same name and gives them a brand new origin story. Lily Gruesella (Sheri Moon Zombie) is a “young” 150-year-old vampire who is looking for love. She ends up finding it in the unlikely source of Herman Munster (Jeff Daniel Phillips), a Frankenstein creation with a goofy personality and penchant for hacky stand-up comedy. Unfortunately, Lily’s father, The Count (Daniel Roebuck) doesn’t approve of Herman and is determined to have his daughter live the life he has planned for her, instead.
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