Disney’s best movies for Halloween to watch on Disney Plus

Happy Halloween to all who watch scary movies!

This season, we offered a complete host of horror suggestions for you to watch at residence. There are the best horror movies to stream, the best horror movies on Netflix, 5 horror all-timers you may watch for free, all of the a smattering of the most recent horror film releases obtainable on streaming. And should you haven’t checked out the every day updates in our Halloween countdown calendar, properly, try this.

But what about some spooky season watches which are enjoyable for the entire household? We’ve gone by Disney Plus’ Halloween catalog and picked out the best of the best for you and everybody else to get pleasure from at residence.

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

Image: Disney

Few American horror tales are as enduring as Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” the story of a superstitious schoolmaster named Ichabod Crane who’s stalked one night time by the headless ghost of a soldier who died within the Revolutionary War. Disney’s 1949 animated characteristic The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is a perfect kids’s horror movie: one that provides equal quantities of spooky iconic imagery with whimsical animation and charming humor. With narration courtesy of Bing Crosby and Basil Rathbone and a beautiful rating by Peter Pan composer Oliver Wallace, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is a superbly protected film by which to introduce your youngsters to horror with out totally traumatizing them for life. —Toussaint Egan

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Image: Walt Disney Pictures

An unimpeachable traditional from stop-motion professional Henry Selick (who has a brand new Netflix film out), The Nightmare Before Christmas is a Halloween custom for hundreds (myself included) for an excellent purpose: It completely guidelines. Delicately animated by Selick and his crew from an concept by Tim Burton (it was the primary animated film nominated for a Visual Effects Oscar, which it misplaced to Jurassic Park), Nightmare Before Christmas options terrific music from Danny Elfman and is an absolute deal with (no trick) for the senses. This film is so embedded in my head that after I watched it final Halloween, each phrase and picture was like a lyric from a tune I’d by no means forgotten. For me, it’s film consolation meals at its best. —Pete Volk

Don’t Look Under the Bed

Image: Disney

It’s a Disney film with a historical past that appears like an city legend: Don’t Look Under the Bed was reportedly too scary for a Disney Channel Original Movie, a lot so that folks requested the Disney Channel to cease airing the 1999 kids’s horror movie as a part of its annual Halloween programming, a request the community granted. Watch the film — which you’ll be able to stream as we speak on Disney Plus — and it’s straightforward to see why: Don’t Look Under the Bed is definitely fairly scary. It begins as a thriller: Frances Bacon McCausland is the brand new lady in highschool, beginning a yr early and protruding like a sore thumb. Then, she’s framed for a bunch of imply pranks — one thing she doesn’t perceive till a person named Larry Houdini, who claims to be an imaginary pal, tells her that it’s the work of The Boogeyman. Don’t Look Under the Bed is a splendidly eerie journey that takes a sudden detour into spooky fantasy, however in its climatic moments, when the reality is lastly revealed to Frances? It’s scary stuff. —Joshua Rivera

Werewolf by Night

Image: Marvel Studios

It’s the MCU, however spooky!

Marvel’s Disney Plus Halloween particular is a ghoulish and tacky delight, per our evaluate:

Unfolding throughout a zippy 53-minute run time, Werewolf by Night is kind of right here to do what it says on the field: provide fashionable throwback thrills that lean extra kitschy than scary, set in an unexplored nook of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That it’s additionally offered otherwise from most different MCU ventures to this point goes a good distance. Its closest sibling is WandaVision, however with out the broader stakes that present finally took on as well as to its homage. The enjoyable is in relishing the love for outdated Universal monster movies that everybody concerned clearly has, and never within the particular’s MCU connections. Sharp-eyed viewers and Marvel students will discover a number of allusions to comics lore, however nothing right here is admittedly meant to change the MCU establishment — simply to let that hey, there are monsters right here.

Descendants

Photo: Jack Rowand/Disney

Descendants completely took up the mantle from Disney’s musical heyday franchises — besides this film has extra of a nasty streak. It is, after all, written and directed by Kenny Ortega, who gave Disney Channel Original Movie-lovers High School Musical and Cheetah Girls 2. The trilogy stars the youngsters of Disney’s most well-known villains: Cruella de Vil’s son Carlos, Maleficent’s daughter Mal, Jafar’s son Jay, and Evie, the daughter of the Evil Queen (from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.) These poor youngsters have been banished to the Isle of the Lost the place there’s no magic. But the kindly youngsters of heroes, who attend Auradon Prep, have determined these evil teenagers deserve a second probability — particularly an opportunity to attend this magical boarding college for the nice.

Like any wonderful DCOM, it’s pure camp with catchy musical numbers staged like Broadway, beginning with the opening banger, “Rotten to the Core.” Except this time round, it’s a movie for the baddies and misfits — with all of the nostalgia of rising up with Disney movies. The college students at Auradon (all of whom look so awkward rapping) greet their new classmates with a remix of “Be Our Guest.” These goody two-shoes youngsters look so dorky, down to their backyard get together aesthetic. Prince Charming’s jock son is actually named Chad Charming. Importantly, Kristin Chenoweth completely steals the present as Maleficent, significantly in her show-biz ballad “Evil Like Me.” And right here’s an necessary enjoyable truth for Twihards — Jay is performed by Booboo Stewart, aka Seth Clearwater from the Twilight sequence. —Nicole Clark

Frankenweenie (each variations!)

Image: Walt Disney Pictures, Tim Burton Productions

Two eras of Tim Burton are encapsulated by two movies on Disney Plus, each flying beneath one title. Frankenweenie started its life as a brief in 1984, when Burton was however a budding animator at Disney. At 29 minutes, the quick is a scrappy, foolish, black-and-white journey of a science-minded boy and his soon-to-be-undead canine. Bolstered by Shelley Duvall and Daniel Stern, Frankenweenie is ideal for anybody who is perhaps turned off by the Thirties Universal monster movies’ 100-year-old time stamp however wants a gateway.

Burton’s Frankenweenie remake, rendered within the stop-motion animation model of The Nightmare Before Christmas, retains the throwback components of the unique quick whereas increasing the coming-of-age arc of a younger Victor Frankenstein and bringing a complete neighborhood of weirdos to life within the director’s signature model. While not as singularly good as Nightmare, Frankenweenie brings the visible humor and complex crafting to a brand-new story, all whereas sustaining the B&W look — it’s eye-popping and completely beneath the radar 10 years later. —Matt Patches

Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge

Image: Disney

There are 4 Halloweentown Disney Channel Original Movies, and in my skilled opinion, the primary sequel is the best. Halloweentown II seems to have barely extra funds than the primary Halloweentown, however the not-so-great particular results of the early 2000s give this film its allure. Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge picks up two years after the unique. Plucky younger witch Marnie has been residing within the fantastical Halloweentown along with her grandma and meets a good-looking boy whereas visiting the mortal realm. But upon returning to Halloweentown, she learns {that a} mysterious sickness has been affecting its inhabitants… turning them boring and regular. It’s a enjoyable, spoopy romp that acknowledges that the scariest factor on the earth is perhaps shedding what makes you particular. —Petrana Radulovic

Muppets Haunted Mansion

Image: Disney

Muppets and the Haunted Mansion simply make sense. Both are goofy, each are over-the-top, each are stuffed with enjoyable dance and tune. The Disney Plus particular follows Gonzo and Pepe as they spend an evening in a haunted mansion (not the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland/Disney World, however one made by the identical architect — that is confirmed canon) and encounter the mansion’s undead denizens. There’s some splashy movie star cameos and, extra importantly, Muppet appearances. Muppets Haunted Mansion is a pleasant celebration of theme park lore and Muppet shenanigans, and the proper accompaniment to a big bowl of Halloween sweet. —PR

The Alice Cooper episode of The Muppet Show

Image: Associated Television/Henson Associates

The Muppet Show doesn’t have any official Halloween specials, nevertheless it does have the Vincent Price and Alice Cooper episodes, each stocked with “ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night.” But it’s the Cooper episode that takes the Halloween throne, with a really pointed rendition of “Once a Year Day” by which varied monster muppets have a good time the in the future of the yr they get to let free — and that’s other than Cooper’s visitor star subplot, by which he claims that he’s an agent of the satan right here to provide the muppets Faustian contracts for riches and fame. —Susana Polo

The Simpsons, “Treehouse of Horror VI”

Image: Gracie Films/twentieth Television

This yr I’m awarding Favorite Status to “Treehouse of Horror VI,” not as a result of it’s the best episode (that’s “Treehouse of Horror V”) however as a result of it embodies the ethos not solely of the Treehouse of Horror catalog however The Simpsons writ giant. In “Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores,” Homer’s gluttony awakens Springfield’s model of Big Boy and numerous different promotional statues. Naturally, they’ll solely be felled by a catchy Paul Anka jingle and the present’s Gen X strategy to thwarting capitalism. “Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace” spoofs Freddy Krueger, whereas constructing a framework that might quickly encourage seasons of lesser popular culture parody. Then “Homer Cubed” closes the trifecta with Homer stepping by an interdimensional portal in a botched effort to keep away from spending time along with his sisters-in-law.

When the episode debuted, loads of hay was made about this sequence, by which Homer stumbles across the third dimension, his physique rendered in early laptop animation. Treehouse of Horror has chased comparable visible twists ever since, together with this yr’s anime-styled quick. But what I like about “Homer Cubed” and remainder of episode is how the gimmicks buttress huge concepts somewhat than develop into the purpose unto themselves. Marketing will get individuals to watch, however which means will get them to keep. At the tip of “Homer Cubed,” Homer falls by one other dimensional portal, and lands, Roger Rabbit-style, in our world. He’s scared, confused, and really alone. But he’s additionally Homer, an icon of “everything will work out.” So he does what he does best: finds pleasure in an erotic bakery. —Chris Plante

What If… Zombies?!

Image: Marvel Studios/Disney

Marvel’s What If…? animated sequence didn’t pop with the mainstream just like the studio’s movies or live-action TV sequence, however possibly that’s an excellent factor — there was apparently no concern by the present’s creators to go fully ham on the sanctity of the mega-franchise’s iconography. The present’s anything-goes philosophy is not any extra obvious than in a one-off primarily based on the Marvel Comics’ zombies line, by which the world is stricken by a virus, turning many of the Avengers into the slobbering undead. Chadwick Boseman, Mark Ruffalo, Paul Bettany, Sebastian Stan, Evangeline Lilly, Paul Rudd, and lots of extra MCU regulars voice their characters on this horror-tinged half-hour, which was gory and bizarre sufficient to earn the present a derivative — a What If… Zombies?! present was introduced as in improvement final fall. —MP

Return to Oz

Image: Walt Disney Pictures

This film is disturbing in a cute method. Picking up with Dorothy Gale in electrotherapy, the place she’s been since her time spent in Oz, the film is mainly the Terminator 2 of whimsical childhood adventures. When one other evil drive threatens the magical land, Dorothy groups up with Scarecrow, Jack Pumpkinhead, portly automaton Tik-Tok, and a flying mattress with a speaking moose head (his title’s Gump) to save the day. Renowned movie editor and sound designer Walter Murch directed this scary sequel, which I’m so happy to say will probably be in a position to freak the following technology of children out on streaming. —MP

Smart House

Image: Disney

Smart House was certainly one of my absolute favourite DCOMs, and it’s no shock as to why. I used to be born a sci-fi lover and I stay a sci-fi lover. Throw in a splash of social horror and also you’ve obtained a winner. In Smart House, a widowed dad and his two youngsters win a “smart home” which features a digital assistant named PAT (Personal Applied Technology). In 1999, earlier than “smart home” know-how was actually A Thing, Smart House confirmed a rampant AI gone haywire.

At first, PAT is enjoyable. She can immediately make any of the meals the youngsters and their dad need. She helps the youngsters throw a giant get together, full with a boy band dance get together, after which cleans up the mess for them. But when Ben, the 13-year-old star of the movie, sees his dad courting once more, he freaks out and applications PAT to be a Fifties-esque housewife in an try to persuade his dad that he doesn’t want to change the mother of their life. PAT then begins to obsessively mom everybody, finally locking the entire household inside for their “safety,” earlier than spawning quite a few holographic variations of a human type for herself. As a child I used to be completely riveted, and would watch this any time it got here up on cable. With streaming, I can now relive that nostalgia anytime. —NC