Halloween movies for scaredy-cats and childhood nostalgia

It's Fall 2009.

The air is crisp. You just got off the bus and are heading up your driveway, stepping on the fallen leaves with your furry, knee-length Ugg boots. You run to your room and change into the outfit: gauchos and a Justice graphic tee. The smell of those Pillsbury jack-o-lantern cookies fill the air as you log into Club Penguin to check-in on your puffles. You promise your mom that you will finish your science and math homework (remember when our classes were just called “math” instead of titles like MA 4816 Differential Equations?) before tonight’s main events: Disney Channel’s "Monstober" and ABC Family’s "31 Nights of Halloween."

Unfortunately, we’ll never quite get that exact feeling back, but I’ve made a selection of childhood favs to try to emulate it.

October through December is my time to thrive. I am festive to a fault (maybe too embarrassing to post on the internet, but I may tear up a little every year when Christmas season ends). Here is my pick of Halloween movies for scaredy-cats that will take you back to your childhood and won’t make you stay up all night.

1. Hocus Pocus

"Hocus Pocus" flopped in the box office—the people of 1993 did not know what they were missing out on—but has since become a cult-favorite and, in my opinion, the number one, unmatched supreme Halloween movie.

2. Halloweentown(s)

I decided to rank the "Halloweentown"(s) as the number two pick and then rank each movie within the series.

1. Halloweentown High

I get a lot of hate for basically always liking the sequels of movies better than the first

installment (Shrek 2, Cheaper by the Dozen 2, etc.). The third movie gives me the best

vibes and is the best plot-wise—maybe aside from the fourth movie which could’ve taken

number one if Disney didn’t have the audacity to replace Marnie.

2. Halloweentown

The older I get the more I realize how corny the first "Halloweentown" is, but it will still

always be an absolute classic.

3. Return to Halloweentown

Again, could’ve potentially been number one if they didn’t replace Marnie. The actress who

played Marnie said she “never received a call” to reprise her role in the fourth film. She is

still very invested in the "Halloweentown" franchise, however, and has since written

"Halloweentown" books, attended the “Spirit of Halloweentown” festival every year and is

currently running an Etsy gift shop selling her own "Halloweentown" merch.

4. Halloweentown 2: Kalabar’s Revenge

Kalabar and Kalabar’s son taught me that men are trash and can not be trusted.

3. Twitches

1. Twitches Too

Yeah, I picked the sequel again.

2. Twitches

The original queens of astrology.

4. Fun Size

A very underrated Halloween movie starring Victoria Justice, Chelsea Handler, Ana Gasteyer and Thomas Middleditch. Very funny and surprisingly a bit of a tearjerker.

5. Casper Meets Wendy

I had to rank my queen Hillary Duff's version of Casper above the 1995 version.

6. Casper

I want to squish him. "I love this ghost... and I have to have him."

7. Mostly Ghostly

The guy who played Arwin in "Suite Life of Zack and Cody" plays this guy above. Honestly a little unsettling.

8. Nightmare Before Christmas

To be honest, I am not the biggest fan of "Nightmare Before Christmas," but I respect it. Credit where credit is due.

9. The Addams Family

Wednesday Addams forever.

10. Girl vs Monster

Pretty sure this movie has the iconic bop “Calling All The Monsters” by China Anne McClain in it.

11. Monster’s University

Not quite a Halloween movie but it has monsters in it and gives off the fall vibes (would you just look at that tree in the corner.)

Stay tuned later this month for both Halloween TV recs and actually scary TV and movie recs that are so good that even I, an extreme scaredy-cat, can force myself to sit through them.