Spooky season for kids: Watch these 7 scary movies this week
Welcome to Halloweentown! This spooky season, we'll be bringing you a fresh crop of scary movies to watch every week – one for every day of the scariest month of the year. This week' we're focusing on kid-friendly flicks.
Not all of these movies are available for free – though several of them are! – but all are available to either rent or stream. We've got classics, cult faves, newer movies and familiar screams alike.
And come back next week for a fresh crop of scares! Next time, we're back to focusing on grown-up scares, this time zeroing in on movies from the last few years.
Read on – if you dare.
ParaNorman (2012) – stream free on Tubi
During the summer of 2012, Laika Studios’ "ParaNorman" burst out of the gate with apparitional force. Directors Sam Fell and Chris Butler’s original, family-friendly horror-comedy family flick is a passionate ode to ’80s horror legends like Stephen King and John Carpenter. But it’s more than a nostalgic tribute: It also found room for a compelling theme of tolerance unlike anything else widely available to kids at the time. Read the rest of film journalist Rendy Jones’ retrospective. Rated PG. 92 minutes. Dir: Chris Butler and Sam Fell. Featuring: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Tucker Albrizzi, Casey Affleck, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, Elaine Stritch, Bernard Hill, John Goodman.
"Paranorman" is streaming for free on Tubi.
Teen Wolf (1985) – stream on The Roku Channel, rent via Prime Video
The ineffable Michael J. Fox charms (and howls) in this endearing '80s comedy, in which a teenager discovers that his family has an unusual little genetic streak — one that he can perhaps use to his advantage. He’s a teen! He’s a werewolf! He plays basketball! Who could ask for more? Rated PG. 91 minutes. Dir: Rod Daniel. Also featuring: James Hampton, Scott Paulin, Susan Ursitti, Jerry Levine.
The Secret of NIMH (1982) – stream free on Tubi
Animal testing, a brutal struggle between rival rat factions, a widowed mom with a sick kid and a potentially lethal housing crisis, plus an extremely creepy owl voiced by legendary character actor John Carradine, all in a movie somewhat inexplicably rated G. It's difficult to know what kids accustomed to the fast-paced digital animation of the 21st century will make of the hand-drawn "NIMH" — though anyone with an appreciation for the classic Disney cartoons might see how it fits just to the side of the Disney canon. In some ways, the movies Don Bluth made in the 1980s, including "NIMH," "An American Tail" and "The Land Before Time," feel like an alternate history of Disney: Here’s what those animators might have gotten up to if they hadn’t been floundering for much of the decade. Read the rest of film critic Jesse Hassenger's retrospective. Rated G. 82 minutes. Dir: Don Bluth. Featuring: Elizabeth Hartman, Dom DeLuise, Peter Strauss, Arthur Malet, Derek Jacobi, Paul Shenar, John Carradine, Hermione Baddeley, Shannen Doherty, Wil Wheaton, Ina Fried.
"The Secret of NIMH" is streaming free on Tubi.
Muppets Haunted Mansion (2021) - stream on Disney+
This should be a no-brainer: Imagine Gonzo the Great and Pepe the Prawn doing a fear challenge in a haunted mansion that’s basically a Muppet version of beloved Disney Parks attraction of the same name, in honor of a famous magician who disappeared from that same mansion 100 years ago. Now imagine that their mysterious "Ghost Host" is played by Will Arnett. It’s one of the best Muppet projects of the century so far. Have fun! Rated PG. 49 minutes. Dir: Kirk Thatcher. Featuring: The Muppets, Will Arnett, Yvette Nicole Brown, Darren Criss, Taraji P. Henson, John Stamos, Ed Asner.
The Boxtrolls (2014) – stream free on Tubi
At one point in "The Boxtrolls," the second film from stop-motion animation studio Laika to appear on this list, 10-year-old Winnie (voiced by Elle Fanning) asks her new acquittance Eggs (Isaac Hempstead Wright) about his friends, the Boxtrolls. Legend has it that these sewer-dwelling trolls are quite fearsome. In reality, they wear cardboard boxes as clothes, steal bits of scrap metal in the night and are actually quite friendly, even merry. But Winnie doesn’t know that yet, and her hopes are high. "Did they eat your family, and did they let you watch?" she asks eagerly. Eggs expresses confusion, and she hastily corrects herself: "I mean, make you watch." She attempts to return her mask of ladylike propriety, but it's clear where her obsessions lie. Winnie’s fascination with the macabre — she’s heard about rivers of blood, and piles of bones from all the babies the Boxtrolls are said to eat — becomes both a funny running gag and a canny bit of characterization in this refreshing, underrated film. Read the rest of film critic Jesse Hassenger's retrospective. Rated PG. 96 minutes. Dir: Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi. Also featuring Ben Kingsley, Jared Harris, Nick Frost, Richard Ayoade, Steve Blum, Dee Bradley Baker, Max Mitchell, Tracy Morgan, Nika Futterman, Toni Collette, Simon Pegg.
"The Boxtrolls" is streaming for free on Tubi.
The NeverEnding Story (1984) - rent via Prime Video and Apple TV
It’s a feeling all book-lovers know well: You get so wrapped up in a story that you lose all track of time, and before you know it you’re hiding in the attic of your elementary school, reading about a hero named Atreyu (Noah Hathaway) who just really wants to get his horse Artax through the swamp, you know? And then all of a sudden you’re somehow part of the story and you need to help save Fantasia from the clutches of The Nothing. We’ve all been there! "The NeverEnding Story" belongs firmly to the fantasy genre, but look at the world the characters encounter through the eyes of a kid and you’ll see the makings of a great (if family-friendly) horror movie. Heck, we’re grown-ups and we’re a little spooked just writing about it. Rated PG. 94 minutes. Dir: Wolfgang Petersen. Also featuring Barret Oliver, Tami Stronach, Moses Gunn, Gerald McRaney, Alan Oppenheimer.
The Wizard of Oz (1939) – stream on Max, rent via Apple TV
Like "The Neverending Story," "The Wizard of Oz" is definitely not a horror movie. But it belongs on every list of spooky movies for kids, based solely on the number of now-adults who remember being deeply unnerved by any number of scenes or images in this classic Technicolor masterpiece. For some, it’s the flying monkeys. For others, it’s Miss Gulch abducting Toto, or Miss Gulch riding her bike inside a tornado, or anything having to do with Miss Gulch, really. Some are freaked out by the Wizard, some by the poppies, some by the sentient and extremely grumpy trees. Don’t be fooled by the beautiful colors, the happy ending or the heartbreakingly beautiful song-stylings of Judy Garland. "The Wizard of Oz" is nightmare fuel – and an immortal kids classic. Not rated. 102 minutes: Dir: Victor Fleming. Featuring: Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton, Frank Morgan.