As soon as the clock turns from 11:59 PM on August 31 to 12:00 AM on September 1, it is officially the Halloween season for anyone who is a lover of the dark and spooky. Stores start putting out new Halloween decor, major coffee shops bring back their fall-inspired drinks, and social media is filled with posts stating that summer is out and fall is in. The unofficial start of fall is considered the best time of year for many since arguably the best holidays follow after the start of the season.
Halloween acts as the kick-off for the holiday season, with Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s following in succession shortly after. Aside from the excitement of what comes after, Halloween is simply a fun holiday that many of us look forward to every year. Spooky season gives us the relief of crisp autumn weather in addition to the plethora of spooky season movies for us to watch.
Whether scream-inducing horror movies are your thing or not-so-scary movies are more your scene, there is a spooky season movie for everyone. Just like Christmas, Halloween typically involves a fair amount of decorating, and most of us like to have something playing in the background while we do this.
Watching terrifying or psychological horror movies in a marathon in the week leading up to Halloween is a tradition for many, but for decorating the house, something less frightening and more fun is ideal. The goal is to put on something that gets you excited for spooky season, but also something that is comforting background noise. So, here are ten of the best spooky season movies to watch while you decorate for Halloween to truly get into the spirit of the season:
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10Coraline (2009)
Coralineactuallyfrightened many children and pre-teenswhen it was released theatrically in 2009 as it does feature some rather disturbing images from the parallel universe that the titular character finds herself in. It follows adventurous 11-year-old Coraline (Dakota Fanning) as she moves into a large old house with her parents whom she feels ignore her. That night, she finds an old passageway to the alternate reality where everyone has buttons for eyes and her parents are attentive and sympathetic. Everything she has ever wanted for herself exists in this universe, but she soon realizes the seemingly perfect world is much more sinister than she anticipated.
The Other Mother is a rather unsettling and dark character and assuredly the reason kids would find the movie to be scary, but there are plenty of fun and creative moments in the movie to make it worth watching and an excellent choice to have on while you decorate.
9Beetlejuice (1988)
Tim Burton’sBeetlejuiceis simply a Halloween classic that should be watched every spooky season. It perfectly blends campy humor, gross-looking monsters, and fantasy elements together to create a wonderfully weird Halloween classic. Barbara (Geena Davis) and Adam (Alec Baldwin) are a happy couple who adore the house they live in and are by all accounts normal, except for the fact that they’re dead.
When a new family moves in and starts changing things around, they summon Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) to help them rid their house of the new family, but he has more in mind than just helping. Keaton is an absolute blast as the titular character, and it’s clear that the entire cast had a blast making the movie. From the elaborate costume design to the outright ridiculous things he makes the couple and the family do, it’s a spooktacular time. It’s such a great combination of utterly bizarre and laugh-out-loud funny that makes it an absolute must-watch during every Halloween season.
8The Craft (1996)
It is not officially spooky season without watching something about magic-wielding witches. Summoning spirits, casting spells, and dancing around a fire are staples of practicing witchcraft, which make them staples of Halloween.A perfectly witchy movie choicefor your day of Halloween decorating would beThe Craft.
It centers around a new student named Sarah (Robin Tunney) who has just started at a Catholic prep school where she is not welcomed by the students. She meets three social outcasts, Nancy (Fairuza Balk), Bonnie (Neve Campbell), and Rochelle (Rachel True), who invite her to join their coven of witches. Together, they cast spells and curses on those who have wronged them. Part teen drama and part fantasy horror,The Craftcombines the two to make a ridiculously entertaining supernatural teen horror flick that is perfect for the Halloween season. It’s spooky, full of magic and spell casting, and also features some of the best ’90s fall fashion.
7Jennifer’s Body (2009)
If you are looking for something that leans a little bit more toward horror but still has plenty of comical moments to get you through decorating,Jennifer’s Bodyshould satisfy that need. It follows reserved bookworm Needy (Amanda Seyfried) and arrogant popular girl Jennifer (Megan Fox) who happen to be best friends despite having little in common.
After going to see a rock band play at a local bar, Jennifer ignores Needy’s protests and decides to go back with the band, where they end up using her in a ritual sacrifice. Jennifer returns home an insatiable succubus who craves the taste of male student’s flesh, and Needy must decide how far she will let her best friend go before she needs to be stopped.
This film is ridiculously funny thanks to the sarcastic interactions between Jennifer and Needy, and the dumbfounded interactions Jennifer has with the boys she eats. Even with the blood and gore,Jennifer’s Bodyis not at all scary and would be a perfect watch while getting set up for Halloween. It’s a great mix of gory violence and youthful humor.
6Corpse Bride (2005)
Halloween might as well be Tim Burton’s holiday at this point considering so many of his films are perfectly fitting for spooky season. His 2005 stop-motion animated filmCorpse Bridetakes place in the late 1800s in a Victorian village where a shy groom named Victor Van Dort (Johnny Depp) must marry Victoria Everglot (Emily Watson) so their families can obtain the lifestyles that they want.
After the wedding rehearsal goes awry, Victor sneaks away to practice his vows, inadvertently does so in the presence of a deceased woman named Emily (Helena Bonham Carter), and becomes married to her. This is a lighthearted watch that is ideal for decorating for Halloween. It has enough spooky elements with the presence of spirits and the living dead to get you into the holiday spirit, but the love triangle keeps it light enough to be on in the background while you sift through bins of decorations.
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5Halloweentown (1998)
This Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) is a nostalgic watch for Millennials and Gen Zs and quite possibly the perfect Halloween movie to watch while decorating the house.Halloweentownfollows Marnie (Kimberly J. Brown), who is completely obsessed with all things related to Halloween, and her two younger siblings as they discover that not only are their mom and grandma witches, but so are they.
Their Grandma Aggie, played charmingly by the beloved Debbie Reynolds, lives in the magical land of Halloweentown, where monsters, creatures, and witches all live peacefully together away from the mortal world. The only time they can visit humans is on Halloween night when the portal opens.
Considering that it was alow-budget made-for-TV movie, it is surprisingly charming and entertaining. It does such a great job of introducing this fantastic and colorful world where monsters and magical beings are not frightening, but rather just like everyone else. The production design of the town is what many aspire to have their own homes look like during spooky season, making it an excellent movie to watch while you put up your best Halloween decor.
4The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
Starring Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Susan Sarandon as three New England witches and Jack Nicolson as a crude and manipulative man with mysterious powers,The Witches of Eastwickis another must-watch for anyone who enjoys witchy media. Alex (Cher), Jane (Sarandon), and Sukie (Pfeiffer) are three divorced women living in the rather conservative coastal town of Eastwick.
Feeling emotionally and sexually repressed, the three friends lament about the lack of suitable men in town and describe the qualities they look for in a man. Shortly after, Daryl Van Horne (Nicholson) mysteriously arrives in town and is able to seduce all three women despite lacking any charm and not being conventionally attractive. After an accident involving one of the town’s leading citizens, the women begin to understand why Daryl can mesmerize them so fully, and begin to experiment with the newfound powers they unknowingly learned from him. If you want a scandalous, wildly entertaining, perfectly witchy movie to watch during spooky season, this is it.
3Hocus Pocus (1993)
Kenny Ortega is known among younger audiences as the director and choreographer behind Disney’s hit High School Musical trilogy, but his 1993 filmHocus Pocusis a certified Halloween classic. Everything about the movie embodies what Halloween is about and why people are so captivated by it.
The movie starts in 1693 during the height of the Salem witch trials where the now iconic Sanderson sisters are hanged by the townspeople for participating in witchcraft. 300 years later, after a new-to-town teenage boy lights the Black Flame Candle, the sisters have but one night to become young and beautiful again and ensure that they stay alive this time.
The sisters, consisting of the commandeering Winifred (Bette Midler), ditzy Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker), and nervous Mary (Kathy Najimi), are absolutely hilarious as they figure out the 20th century and track down the kids who woke them from their eternal slumber. Full of extremely quotable lines, detailed costumes, and enough Halloween and witchcraft lore for every spooky season lover, the film is a staple watch as we prepare to move further into the season.
2Practical Magic (1998)
Sisters Sally Owens (Sandra Bullock) and Gillian Owens (Nicole Kidman) have an extremely close bond with one another despite having completely opposite personalities. Growing up with their Aunt Frances (Stockard Channing) and Aunt Jet (Dianne Wiest) after both their parents passed away in the long-standing Owens family home in their close-minded coastal Massachusetts town, they are the latest in a long line of witches.
The Owens women are under a curse that any man who falls in love with them is doomed. When the curse works its way into the sisters' lives in different ways, the two must use their magic to put an end to the curse.
When someone says they want to watch a witchy movie, something along the lines ofPractical Magicis what they mean. Between the constant presence of magic, rituals, and séances and the picturesque fall scenery of a coastal New England town,Practical Magicis the epitome of modern witch movies. In fact, watching it while you get your home ready for Halloween will probably influence the way you decorate. Plus, just likeThe Craft, it features some truly incredible ’90s fall fashion.
1The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
A movie that could easily be watched during two separate holidays,The Nightmare Before Christmasis an absolute classic Halloween film that has been cherished deeply for the past 30 years. Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon) is the pumpkin king of Halloween Town and is greatly respected by the monsters and creatures who live under his reign. Still, he is bored with doing the same thing each year for Halloween.
After accidentally stumbling into Christmas Town, he becomes so enamored with the snowy holiday that he tries to recruit the resident creatures and spirits of his town to put on Christmas instead of Halloween, but it doesn’t go as planned.
Combining arguably the two biggest holidays of the year into one movie was an ingenious idea that brought together fans of both holidays. Capturing the cheerful magic of Christmas was always going to be difficult for Jack since he is used to a dark and spooky lifestyle, but he and the Halloween Town residents try. Since this movie is about the king of Halloween, it should be required that it is watched while decorating your house for his holiday.
