Top 5’s in Three Acts: From Halloween creepy to Halloween family

Watching a scary Halloween movie is a requirement of the holiday. But not all of us can watch Freddy or Jason movies for too long without risking nightmares. So, here at T8N, we’ve put together some movies, with some less well-known ones, in three categories that should cover all the bases. Grab your popcorn, trick or treat candy and lock the doors and windows—“Here’s Johnny!”

Five Need-To-Sleep-With-The-Light-On Halloween Movies
• Cabin In the Woods (2012), Kristen Connelly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchinson: Five college friends, two scientists, one spooky cabin in the woods with a few zombies for good measure.
• Wait Until Dark (1967), Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna, Audrey Hepburn: Criminals are after a heroin-filled doll mistakenly picked up by a traveller who brings it home to his blind wife. Her life is at stake when the criminals know she’s alone in the apartment.
• The Changeling (1980), Trish van Devere, Melvyn Douglas, George C. Scott: A composer buys a mansion after his family is killed in a car accident. What he doesn’t know is there’s a small boy’s ghost haunting the place and he’s out for revenge.
• Cube (1997), Nicole de Boer, David Hewlett, Maurice Dean Wint: Long before Saw, this Canadian sci-fi thriller has seven strangers imprisoned in cubic cells, some of which are booby-trapped.
• Nosferatu (1922), Ruth Landshoff, Max Schreck, Greta Schröder: Tall, dark and seductive this Dracula is not. Nothing beats a good, old, black-and-white film, a Transylvanian castle and a gruesome-looking vampire.

Five Happy Halloween Movies
• Young Frankenstein (1974), Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, Gene Wilder: The grandson of the infamous Dr. Frankenstein inherits the castle. When he recreates his grandfather’s experiment, laughter ensues.
• Beetlejuice (1988), Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton: It’s not easy being dead. A young couple die in a car accident and do their very best to get the new people out of their beloved house. They make the mistake of summoning Beetlejuice for help.
• What We Do In the Shadows (2014), Jermaine Clement, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Taika Waititi: This New Zealand horror comedy is a mockumentary of a group of vampires living in Wellington and trying to adjust to modern life.
• Army Of Darkness, (1992), Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz, Marcus Gilbert: Ash is sent back to Medieval times where he has to get the Book of Evil to return him to his time, but things go a bit wrong and he unleashes the Army of the Dead. Oops!
• Shaun of the Dead (2004), Kate Ashfield, Nick Frost, Simon Pegg: An electronics salesman who’s bored with his life gets more than he bargained—zombies, a whole town of them.

Five No-Blood-To-Be-Seen Halloween Movies
• Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Danny Elfman, Catherine O’Hara, Chris Sarandon: What happens when Christmas is taken over by the inhabitants of Halloween Town? Santa’s kidnapped, kids receive unseasonal toys and Rudolph isn’t leading Santa’s sleigh that night.
• Disney’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1949), Bing Crosby, Pinto Colvig, The Rhythmaires: An oldie but a goodie. Catchy tunes sung by legendary crooner Bing Crosby who also narrates Irving Washington’s short story of Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
• The Witches (1990), Jasen Fisher, Angelica Huston, Mai Zetterling: A young boy and his grandmother unfortunately vacation at a hotel where the Grand High Witch is holding a conference on how to rid the world of children by turning them into mice.
• Coraline (2009), Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman: From the children’s book of the same name, a young girl who feels neglected by her parents unwittingly crawls into an alternate reality where her Other Mother tries to keep her there forever.
• It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966), Sally Dryer, Peter Robbins, Christopher Shea: Linus is awaiting the Great Pumpkin in the pumpkin patch while the rest of his friends celebrate Halloween. Will the Great Pumpkin arrive this year?