Let’s face it: Halloween is a children’s holiday. College kids may have usurped it as an excuse to throw costumed keg parties, and fortysomethings may use it as an excuse to put pumpkin spice in everything, but at its heart, All Hallow’s Eve is still mostly about tweens and grade-schoolers cosplaying as their favorite superhero, eating candy and allowing themselves a few innocent scares.
That’s why, when thinking about the best movies to watch in the run-up to October 31, you shouldn’t only consider slasher flicks. Kids like to catch a fright, too. But picking a good Halloween movie that works for the whole family is a delicate science. You want something scary, but not so scary that your children will ask to sleep in your bed until they go away to university. And you also don’t want to pick something lame because, well, spooky season is only a month long, and you really can’t afford to waste any nights. These 40 movies, however, should do the trick… or treat.
Written by Hannah Doolin, Allie Early, Danielle Valente, Oliver Strand, Andy Kryza and Matthew Singer
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