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If you’re looking for a Halloween movie to watch with your children, but you don’t want to traumatize them with Texas Chainsaw Massacre, here are the best scary-but-not-too–scary flicks you can stream right now. These aren’t toothless pablum; I tried to find movies with enough real horror to be interesting, just not so much that it scars anyone for life. Like everything with children, it depends on your individual kid’s taste and sensibilities.
Coraline (2009)
Based on the children’s book by Neil Gaiman, Coraline leaves kids with a timeless message: Be careful what you wish for. The titular protagonist’s discovery of a strange door in her new family’s new home leads to an eerie mirror world that at first seems better-than-real, but ultimately proves terrifying. It’s not super scary, but it might be too much for kids under 10 (especially those creepy button-eyes).
Where to stream: Roku, Tubi, Apple TV+
The Witches (1990)
There’s a newer, more over-the-top version of The Witches available on Max, but I much prefer the 1990 adaptation. You can’t do much better than the combination of Roald Dahl’s story, Jim Henson’s puppetry, Nicolas Roeg’s direction, and Anjelica Huston’s villainous performance. The Witches strikes a perfect kid-friendly horror tone: It was made for children, but it doesn’t condescend to them or try to sugarcoat horror. Might be too disturbing for children younger than 10, though.
Where to stream: Criterion Channel
Goosebumps (2015)
“Ermahgerd, Gersberms!” This meta take on the insanely popular Goosebumps series of tween horror novels sees the young hero accidentally unleashing all the villains from author R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books into the real world. Kids who read Stine’s books will love seeing representations of the books’ ghouls and monsters, although the movie relies more on slapstick humor and action than the quieter, spookier books. Either way, Goosebumps is a better movie than you’d have any reason to suspect.
Where to stream: Prime
The Corpse Bride (2015)
This tale of a marriage between a living man and a dead woman is all about atmosphere—the goth-o-meter is turned up to 11. It’s very Tim Burton, and Burton’s contagious affection for all things spooky renders even the most gruesome ghoul lovable. In spite of all the skeletons, The Corpse Bride is a story about love and family, and the scariest characters are ultimately the living.
Where to stream: Max
Ghostbusters (1984)
You can’t beat this iconic 1980s comedy/horror flick for Halloween viewing. Watching Ghostbusters is an annual October tradition at our house, and we don’t want to know about any sequels or reboots. The PG-13 rating is well-deserved for some legit frightening parts—the special effects that bring the spooky librarian and hell-dogs to life are still scary—and some fairly adult situations and racy humor.
Where to stream: Starz
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)
The relevant half of this two-in-one feature is the comic re-telling of Washington Irving’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The Adventure of Ichabod and Mr. Toad follows a lanky, superstitious schoolmaster in colonial America as he’s gradually scared out of his wits by a “headless horseman” who may or may not be his romantic rival, Brom. The sequence of Ichabod being chased by the horseman is a classic of horror filmmaking, and the film’s conclusion squares things up in an “everything is fine” way that should reassure the little ones. Plus, Mr. Toad is a great non-scary palate cleanser.
Where to stream: Disney+
Hocus Pocus (1993)
Kids will love this playful take on Halloween haunting, and adults will love watching stars Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy chew the scenery playing three sister witches. Hocus Pocus provides just enough thrills to be fun, but there’s nothing overly scary, and the script’s infrequent double entendres are likely to fly over young one’s heads.
Where to stream: Disney+
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Director Tim Burton is the master of creepy-but-not-too-creepy movies, and this stop-motion ode to the joy of the dark and macabre is his best work. If you’re raising a little goth-in-training, you’re contractually obligated to show them The Nightmare Before Christmas, a delightfully spooky musical in which the holidays of Halloween and Christmas square off.
Where to stream: Disney+
Frankenstein (1931)
If you have a kid with the patience to deal with the slower pace of movies from the early days of talkies, Frankenstein will reward that patience with a deeply relatable central character and some mildly chilling moments. Even though it was made nearly 100 years ago, kids still see themselves in The Monster, because he’s like a child himself—a child who is made of corpses and murders people.
Where to stream: Peacock, Criterion Channel
Coco (2017)
There are a lot of Skeletons in Coco, but it’s not a scary movie. This Day of the Dead story takes viewers (and its main character) across the border from the world of the living to the Land of the Dead, where stylish, sugar-skull skeletons populate a parallel world to our own. Instead of horrifying and tragic, in Coco, death is portrayed as something we should accept without fear, a message adults could probably use as well. Fair warning: since this is a Pixar movie, it will make you cry.
Where to stream: Hulu, Disney+, Fubo