Is this film really only 80 minutes long? It’s so short and, yet, so satisfyingly full of Halloweeny goodness.

This Halloweentown film is actually one of my favorites. I remembered the most of the action from this one, particularly Gort’s (Blu Mankuma) house where lost things go, and his awesome performance as both normal Gort and Grey Gort. The second film of the honored Halloweentown Universe was directed by Mary Lambert and is available now on Disney+.

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Don’t be surprised that this movie has five stars. It’s a freakin’ treasure, okay?

There are few movies from my childhood that hold such a special place in my heart as Halloweentown. Okay, that’s not entirely true (I’m hypersentimental, folks), but the first movie in the Halloweentown series, directed by Duwayne Dunham, is special because it (and, later, Twitches) encompassed all that I wanted from life: to be a secret witch. You can watch this Halloweason classic on Disney+.

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Who knew that movies based on theme park attractions could be so good?

Sure, it isn’t Pirates of the Caribbean, but Rob Minkoff’s The Haunted Mansion, available on Disney+, makes great use of a simple storyline to generate some kid-friendly scares and give Eddie Murphy some space to be funny and heart-warming (although, arguably, not enough space to make the movie amazing.) Watching it as an adult isn’t nearly as fulfilling as I remember, but I’m still glad Haunted Mansion exists in this world, particularly around Halloween.

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I love a good underdog story, especially when they can talk to the dead.

This little Laika Studios gem has been a favorite of mine since it first graced Cartoon Network back when I was a teenager. It’s a scary-themed but not frightening film intended for younger audiences, but the story is so well done that adults can enjoy it’s feel-good message of friendship and acceptance easily. My biggest critique of this film, directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler and available on Netflix as of this week, is the seemingly shallow understanding of justified rage vs. bullying. But I’ll get into that.

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Ah, a real haunted murder mystery. Let’s get unreliable!

I really enjoyed this one, the first movie in a while that gave me a little scare (although only in the moment) and had a story that didn’t make me want to jump in a canal myself. Directed by Ivan Kavanagh, The Canal is available on Prime Video and features ghosts, demons, murder, crime, and some cool-faux historical film footage.

(Also, I like this movie poster way better than the one they have on Amazon.)

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