12 Family-Friendly Horror Movies To Watch With Your Family This Spooky Season

For horror fans, the autumnal season is the time of year when we all get to be the belle of the ball. For a few weeks each year, our expertise in all things creepy and spooky is valued above all other film fanatics, and we're often tasked with providing as many film recommendations as possible for casual horror fans to cram into a month or two of viewing. Sure, there's bound to be requests for "the scariest movie ever," but as new crops of monster kids grow into their own year after year, there's an evergreen need for horror movies that adults can watch with their little ones.

Family-friendly horror movies are a great way to inaugurate younger viewers to one of the most prolific subgenres in all of cinema, as well as offer a safe outlet to begin processing negative emotions like fear, grief, sadness, and anxiety. It's a lot easier to introduce concepts like mortality when dealing with stop-motion ghouls than it is to wait until a beloved pet or family member dies. We've talked before on /Film about family horror films that scared the daylights out of children in the past, but today we're focusing on horror films that even the smallest viewers can enjoy. Grab a plastic jack-o'-lantern filled with popcorn and get ready to answer some weird questions about ghosts, because here are 12 family-friendly horror movies to watch this spooky season.

Yet another Christina Ricci vehicle, the live-action adaptation of the friendliest ghost you'll know is a phenomenal watch for younger audiences. For the most part, the scare factor of "Casper" is extremely tame, with the true horror existing in metaphors that will likely fly right over the heads of little ones. The excruciatingly '90s film is filled with plenty of silly, farcical hijinks, but is also a deeply existential film about how terribly most people process severe loss. "Casper" is often dismissed as nothing more than a kid's film about an animated ghost trying to find a friend for the afterlife, but few remember how depressing the film actually is, and its deeply examined themes of loss, pain, neglect, and the human's unwillingness to accept the reality of mortality. There's plenty of fun to be had, but this is also a fantastic film to have serious conversations with little ones about life, death, and the greatness of Devon Sawa.

Disney Channel Original Movies (DCOMs) get a bad rap, especially when they're also the home of some of the best family-friendly films on the market. "Under Wraps," "Twitches," "Phantom of the Megaplex," "Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire," "Girl vs. Monster," "The Scream Team," and even "Smart House" are all delightful additions to the kid-friendly horror canon, but the closest thing to a certifiable DCOM horror movie is "Don't Look Under the Bed." 

This criminally underrated kids' horror movie has plenty of slapstick comedy to keep the giggles going, but also features some genuinely terrifying imagery in its Boogeyman design. We even featured this film as one of the best horror movies to check out in the month of September, because it's a spooky movie without being tied to Halloween, making it a great watch year-round. "Don't Look Under the Bed" can help inspire conversations about not stifling one's creativity or imagination, and if you're really feeling frisky, you can explain to your kiddos why the main character being named "Frances Bacon" is a really, really wild choice for a teenage girl.

From the moment Debbie Reynolds uttered "being normal is vastly overrated," the DCOM "Halloweentown" was guaranteed to become a seminal film for generations of kids interested in all things spooky. The most popular DCOM franchise outside of the "High School Musical" films, the four features of "Halloweentown" are all about using monsters and magic as a way to learn about not judging others for their appearances, embracing the differences that make us all unique, and joining forces with your community to take down true evil: the patriarchy and capitalism. 

I know, I know, it sounds like I'm reading too deeply into a movie meant for kids, but part of why the "Halloweentown" films are still so beloved after all these years is because these films were often the first times a lot of these seeds were planted in the minds of younger audiences.

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Also, franchise star Kimberly J. Brown ended up marrying her "Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge" co-star Daniel Kountz, so you can be the cool adult in your kiddo's life when you bust out that fun fact via TikTok.

There aren't a lot of films I'm willing to classify as "perfect," but Frank Oz's brilliant adaptation of the off-Broadway musical (which is based on the 1960 Roger Corman film) "Little Shop of Horrors" is absolutely one of them. Genre favorite Rick Moranis stars as Seymour Krelborn, an awkward employee at Mushnik's Flower Shop who will do anything to keep his job secure and the object of his affections, Audrey (Ellen Greene), safe. After Seymour comes across a mysterious plant following a total eclipse of the sun, all of his problems seem to be solved ... that is, until he realizes the plant requires human blood to stay alive. 

As the alien Audrey II plant grows bigger and more demanding, Seymour must come to terms with the consequences of his actions and save the world from being consumed by the monstrous plant. "Little Shop" is filled with catchy music, goofy physical comedy, and mesmerizing puppetry, which will help offset any of the scares or swears provided by the Audrey II. Better yet, if your little one falls in love with this film (as most tend to do) it opens the doors for the chance to take them to see a live production whenever your local community or high school theater inevitably tries to tackle the material. Da-Doo!

Just as the original book series by Alvin Schwartz and original illustrations from Stephen Gammell did for generations of young readers, "Scary Stories to Tell In The Dark" feels like a horror movie that kids aren't supposed to love, but can't get enough of anyway. While it's impossible to capture the unbridled horror of flipping through Schwartz' book for the first time, the cinematic adaptation gets pretty dang close to it. The film is great for pre-teen viewers (and even seasoned elementary-aged viewers), with its terrifying visuals inspired by the well-known short stories "Harold," "The Big Toe," "The Red Spot," "The Dream," "The Jangly Man," and "The Haunted House." 

If your little one is prone to nightmares, make sure you've got some aftercare prepared for afterward, or else risk being woken up in the middle of the night by a panicked child waiting for The Pale Lady to be waiting around a hallway. It's a good one, but nothing can prepare you for a live-action look at Gammell's monsters.

While this isn't the scariest movie on the list, it is easily the most "mature" — but hey, you want your little ones to think you're still hip and cool, right? Kids love to see themselves as the heroes, and in the Netflix original movie "Vampires vs. The Bronx," street-smart kids are the saviors their community needs against a horde of gentrifying vampires. Every year people recommend "The Monster Squad" as the go-to flick of "kids defeat monsters," and while that film is an undeniable classic, its dated language is extremely off-putting to the younger generations who didn't grow up in a world where people casually dropped the f-slur every 20 minutes. This is why "Vampires vs. The Bronx" is such an important film, because it takes the torch Fred Dekker lit in 1987 and makes it a more accessible story to Gen Z and Gen Alpha, with even stronger themes. The humor is great, the scares are effective, and it comes from a fresh perspective unafraid to call out the proponents of systemic oppression for the monsters they truly are.