14 Best Non-Scary Halloween Films To Watch This Spooky Season (And Where To Stream Them!)

As the end of October approaches, we’re reaching peak Spooky Season, which means it’s time to get your Halloween watchlist ready.

Unfortunately, if you’re someone for whom your typical horror movie requires a 30-minute pep talk beforehand and a one-hour cool-down afterwards, picking something to watch on Halloween can be… well… frightful.

That’s why we’ve put together this no-tricks, all-tricks list of Halloween-friendly movies to stream now that won’t haunt your nightmares afterwards.

Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy chewing the scenery as a coven in this family-friendly Halloween treat is camp enough as a concept, but when you throw the mix of costumes, wigs and yes musical numbers into the witches’ brew it just makes it even more irresistible.

Hocus Pocus’ legacy feels even more well-earned when you factor in the fact it initially underperformed at the box office, but eventually found a cult audience among home viewers, leading to it becoming valuable property for Disney at this time of year (let’s just not talk about that 2022 sequel, alright?).

Sorry, Jenna Ortega, but Christina Ricci is the one true Wednesday Addams in our eyes.

One of those few sequels that’s actually better than the original, Addams Family Values puts your usual domestic comedy through a twisted lens and the results are not just hilarious, but also suspenseful, spooky, sexy and surprisingly heartwarming.

If you’ve still not treated yourself to this movie, consider the fact it’s currently available on five different UK streaming services as your indication to finally see what the fuss is all about with this Halloween essential.

Stream it on: Netflix, Now, Amazon Prime, Paramount+ and ITVX.

This cult classic send-up of Hollywood B-movies is a tale as old as time.

Boy meets girl. Boy proposes to girl. Boy heads out to share the happy news with their old college roommate. Boy breaks down at the side of the road and seeks shelter in an old castle inhabited by a cross-dressing alien who seduces both of them in a bid to teach the world about indulging in all of life’s pleasures.

It’s just a jump to the left!

What is it about a zombie-fied Goldie Hawn, with a huge chunk of her torso missing, clocking Meryl Streep over the head with a shovel that just says comfort viewing to us?

If that sounds like an unsettling watch, rest assured that Death Becomes Her is all played for laughs, and even at its silliest this satirical black comedy still has plenty to say about our quest for eternal beauty and the lengths some people will go to in order to achieve it.

Come on, it wouldn’t be Halloween without a bit of Tim Burton, would it? When it comes to setting the scene at this time of year, opening numbers don’t come any more perfectly than This Is Halloween, and who doesn’t love a film where both the hero and the villain are deliciously spooky characters?

If you think this one is more of an alternative Christmas movie than an on-brand Halloween one, cool. Good for you, see you in December. For everyone else, happy streaming!

Of course, if you were planning on using the Halloween season to reflect on some of Tim Burton’s best, 2024 would be the perfect year to revisit Beetlejuice, given the sequel is still in select cinemas.

In fact, stream it early enough in your evening and you could easily run out to make it a seasonal double feature.

This game-changing supernatural comedy spawned a thousand spin-offs, sequels and reboots but as with so many franchises, it’s pretty hard to improve on the original, isn’t it?

Good luck getting that iconic theme tune out of your head before Bonfire Night, though…

Stream it on: Netflix (Ghostbusters II and the 2016 reboot are also both available to watch on Now).

You might be wondering exactly what Toad of Toad Hall and The Wind In The Willows have to do with Halloween, and you’re right to question that, because the answer is truly nothing.

However, it’s the second half of this early-years Disney package film we’d encourage you to watch this spooky season, as it tells the story of The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow.

And while people are quick to highlight the nightmare fuel in The Black Cauldron, Pinocchio and Snow White, among others, trust us when we say you’re not quite ready for how eerie this one gets, either.

Already a seasonal staple across the pond, this Peanuts Halloween special is finally available to stream in the UK for Apple TV+ users.

Often celebrated as the pinnacle of Charlie Brown, Snoopy and co’s small-screen offerings, this 25-minute episode is utterly charming and guaranteed to appeal to viewers of all ages.

Off the back of Pirates Of The Caribbean’s success, Disney has tried several times to adapt other park attractions for the big screen, including Jungle Cruise and Tomorrowland.

After past iterations of The Haunted Mansion were met with varying levels of success, who could have known that all Disney would need to really bring the brand to life would be chucking the Muppets into the mix.

Yes, after dominating the festive season for the last few decades, the Muppets turned their attention to Halloween in 2021, and we have to say the results worked surprisingly well.

A film that has aged like a fine wine, this live-action reimagining of the classic Scooby-Doo cartoons boasts an impressive all-star cast, multi-layered humour that all generations can appreciate, gorgeous costumes and an absolute banger of a soundtrack thanks to Allstars’ Things That Go Bump In The Night.

If it’s been long enough now that you don’t instinctively know every twist and turn as it comes, we can’t recommend giving this one a stream enough.

A guaranteed hit if you have sensitive or younger viewers you need to keep entertained for an hour or two this Halloween, but at the very least, Hotel Transylvania makes for a fun guessing game as you try to work out which celebs on the A-list cast have lent their voice to each of the spooky characters.

Stream it on: Netflix and Now

Taking Gilmore Girls and pumpkin spice in general out of the equation, nothing says autumn quite like revisiting Bella and Edward’s infamous love story, right?

And, much like Pringles, even if you think you can just stop at one – Disney+ has the entire Twilight saga available to stream, so good luck not hitting “continue watching” when those credits start rolling and you find yourself in need of another immediate nostalgia hit…

No, Mean Girls probably isn’t your traditional “Halloween film”, but its Halloween party section features so many iconic moments (“I’m a mouse, duh!”) (“why do you look so scary?!” “It’s Halloween!”) (“yeah, but he’s my first cousin…”), we’ve included it on this list.

Besides, who actually needs an excuse to watch Mean Girls? See you again in December when we’re ready to do the Jingle Bell Rock with the Plastics…