The best Halloween movies that aren't scary are Hocus Pocus, Casper, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Hotel Transylvania, ParaNorman, Coraline, Ghostbusters, Beetlejuice, The Addams Family, Young Frankenstein, What We Do in the Shadows, Practical Magic, and Arsenic and Old Lace. Each one has the ghosts, witches, and creaky houses you want in October. None of them wants to ruin your sleep.
They're grouped by who's watching, so you can pick fast. If you want a whole evening built around the movie, here's a simple movie night routine.
Halloween movies for the whole family
Hocus Pocus (1993)
A teenager new to Salem lights a candle he shouldn't, and three witches come back from the dead on Halloween night. Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy play the Sanderson sisters and they're having a blast. There's a talking black cat, a zombie with his mouth sewn shut, and a musical number at a costume party. It's been an October tradition for more than thirty years, and Hocus Pocus 2 picks up the story if you want a double feature.
Casper (1995)
A friendly ghost lives in a crumbling mansion with his three rowdy uncles, and he just wants someone to talk to. When a ghost therapist moves in with his daughter, played by Christina Ricci, Casper finally gets a friend. It's sweet, a little sad, and never frightening. The uncles supply the slapstick for younger kids.
Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, gets bored of scaring people and stumbles into Christmas Town. Henry Selick directed it in stop-motion from Tim Burton's story, and every frame looks handmade because it was. The songs are catchy, the monsters are more goofy than grim, and it works any time from October to December.
Hotel Transylvania (2012)
Dracula runs a hotel where monsters can take a vacation from humans, mostly so he can keep his daughter Mavis safe. Then a human backpacker wanders in during her 118th birthday party. Adam Sandler voices Dracula and Selena Gomez voices Mavis. Genndy Tartakovsky directed it with fast, bouncy slapstick, and the monsters are too silly to scare anyone. If your kids love it, there are three sequels.
A few gentle chills, for older kids
ParaNorman (2012)
Norman can see and talk to ghosts, which makes him the weird kid in a town built on witch-trial tourism. When an old curse wakes up the dead, he's the only one who can stop it. ParaNorman is funny and kind, with a surprisingly moving ending. A few zombie scenes might spook kids under 8.
Coraline (2009)
Coraline finds a small door in her new house that leads to a better version of her life, with a mother who cooks and listens. The catch is that everyone there has buttons for eyes. It's based on Neil Gaiman's novella, and it's the creepiest movie on this list. Watch it with kids old enough to enjoy being a little unsettled.
Plan your Halloween lineup
Save every movie here to your Limelight Watchlist and see where each one is streaming in your country. Can't decide? Take the What to watch quiz.
Halloween comedies for grown-ups
Ghostbusters (1984)
Three fired parapsychologists start a ghost removal business in New York, just in time for a Sumerian god to show up. Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis play it straight, Bill Murray doesn't, and that's why it works. The ghosts are more slime than scare, and the finale has a giant marshmallow man stomping down a city street.
Beetlejuice (1988)
A nice dead couple, Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin, can't scare the awful new family out of their house, so they hire a freelance bio-exorcist. Michael Keaton plays Beetlejuice as a sleazy carnival barker, and Winona Ryder is perfect as the goth teenager who likes the ghosts better than her parents. The dinner party where the guests get possessed into singing "Day-O" is one of Tim Burton's best scenes. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice brought Keaton and Ryder back in 2024.
The Addams Family (1991)
A con man claims to be Uncle Fester, long lost brother of Gomez Addams, and the family welcomes him home. Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston make Gomez and Morticia the most romantic couple in any Halloween movie, and Christina Ricci's deadpan Wednesday steals every scene. It's macabre, but it's really about a family that loves each other.
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Gene Wilder plays the grandson of the famous doctor, who wants nothing to do with the family business until he finds his grandfather's notes. Mel Brooks shot it in black and white with the original lab equipment from the 1931 Frankenstein, so it looks like a classic monster movie while it tells nonstop jokes. The monster tap-dancing to "Puttin' on the Ritz" is the scene everyone remembers.
What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
A documentary crew follows four vampire flatmates in Wellington, New Zealand, as they argue about chores and try to get into nightclubs. Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement wrote, directed, and star. It's a comedy about vampires being bad roommates, with some blood for the jokes. This one's for adults, and it inspired the TV series of the same name.
Cozy witches and a classic
Practical Magic (1998)
Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman play sisters raised by their witch aunts, and a family curse means any man who loves them dies young. It's a romance with spells, a big old house, and a kitchen full of herbs. The midnight margaritas scene is why people rewatch it every fall. It's based on Alice Hoffman's novel, if you want to read it first, and Practical Magic 2 brings both sisters back in theaters this fall.
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
On Halloween, a theater critic, played by Cary Grant, discovers his sweet old aunts have been poisoning lonely gentlemen with elderberry wine and burying them in the cellar. Frank Capra turned the stage hit into a screwball farce, and Grant's panic gets funnier with every scene. It's the oldest movie here and one of the fastest.
Where to start
With little kids, start with Casper, Hocus Pocus, or Hotel Transylvania. With older kids, try ParaNorman. For a grown-up night in, pick Ghostbusters or Young Frankenstein. If you want something cozy and a little romantic, Practical Magic is waiting.
Save the rest for next weekend. Limelight keeps your Watchlist in sync across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It shows where each movie is streaming in your country. It also shows which movies started as books, like Practical Magic and Coraline.
Find where every one is streaming
Limelight shows where every title is streaming in your country. Free to download on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Frequently asked questions
Hocus Pocus is the easy answer: witches, a talking cat, and a musical number, with nothing that'll keep you up at night. For adults, Young Frankenstein and What We Do in the Shadows are all laughs.
Casper, Hocus Pocus, Hotel Transylvania, and The Nightmare Before Christmas are the gentlest picks here. ParaNorman and Coraline are better for older kids, around 10 and up, since both have scenes that can frighten younger viewers. What We Do in the Shadows is for adults.
Coraline comes from Neil Gaiman's novella, Practical Magic from Alice Hoffman's novel, and Arsenic and Old Lace from Joseph Kesselring's stage play. The Addams Family started as Charles Addams's cartoons in The New Yorker.
Both. It opens in Halloween Town and ends at Christmas, so it works any time from October to December.
Each title links to a page showing where it's streaming right now. Limelight shows the same for your country, and availability changes by country and by month, so check before you plan a night around one.
