The 25 Best ‘90s Halloween Movies to Satisfy Your Nostalgia

From candy corn and spooky decor to horror movie lineups, Halloween is my happy place. I love curling up on the couch and watching hordes of terrifying movies all October long. But of course, not all scary movies are created equal. And if you ask me, I prefer to revisit '90s Halloween movies that satisfy my nostalgia, from Halloweentown (Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble!) to The Witches (that wig scene!).

As for why I have an affinity for these throwbacks, I just love that they take me back to simpler times—when door-to-door trick-or-treating was all the rage and Power Rangers costumes were still a thing. And let's not forget that the '90s was a big decade for special effects and CGI advancements, which explains why movies like Casper and The Frighteners still hold up today.

Of course, this isn't to say there's a lack of great scary flicks now. (There's The Babadook, Sinners and Get Out, just to name a few.) But there's just something about revisiting timeless classics that never get old. Whether you're drawn to nail-biting suspense films that keep you up at night or feel-good, family-friendly movies that limit the jump scares, this list has something for you. Many of these films are available via Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max and Paramount+, in addition to free platforms like Tubi and Pluto TV. So, allow me to re-introduce 25 of the best ‘90s Halloween movies, from Hocus Pocus to The Halloween Tree.

• Cast: Debbie Reynolds, Kimberly J. Brown, Judith Hoag, Joey Zimmerman
• Rating: TV-PG
• Director: Duwayne Dunham
• Run Time: 84 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 83% | IMDb 6.5/10

It's the Disney Channel classic that made us all wish we could secretly take up residence in Halloweentown. It follows Marnie (Brown), who not only learns that she's a witch, but also discovers the magical world of Halloweentown, complete with vampires, witches and other mythical creatures.

"It stands the test of time while also being a hilarious capsule of the 90s—the costumes, the lingo and the now archaic technology make this such a fun rewatch," says Gallery Media Group associate producer Julia Hess, who cites this as one of her favorite Halloween movies. "Kalabar is the perfect villain, and Marnie is the likeable, unstoppable teenage witch every girl wants to be. I'd give anything to get to rummage through Grandma Aggie's whimsical house and her bottomless purse."

The movie spawned three sequels: Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge in 2001, Halloweentown High in 2004 and Return to Halloweentown in 2006. Creator Sheri Singer told E! News she would love to try for a fifth installment. She said, "I'd have to get Disney Channel to get on board, but I would like to. I have ideas of how I would do it. There was some talk about a year and a half ago but then it didn't happen."

• Cast: Christina Ricci, Bill Pullman, Cathy Moriarty, Eric Idle, Malachi Pearson (voice)
• Rating: PG
• Director: Brad Silberling
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 52% | IMDb 6.2/10

 “Did you even grow up in the ‘90s if you didn’t have a crush on Devon Sawa as Casper?” says PureWow Vice President of Editorial Candace Davison. “Bill Pullman and Christina Ricci are superb, and it strikes just the right balance of spooky and funny so it provides thrills without terrifying kids.”

The plot centers on Casper, a friendly young ghost, who is in for quite the adventure when a ghost therapist and his daughter Kathleen (Ricci) move into the mansion where he lives. He immediately falls for Kat, but their budding relationship proves difficult to navigate, especially with his mischievous uncles.

Surprisingly, when Ricci appeared on WTF with Marc Maron, she admitted she wasn't impressed by her performance in Casper. She said, "I was 13. There was a lot going on in my life. Everything was very difficult. I was just always annoyed, and I just don’t think I tried very hard, to tell you the truth. Embarrassingly, I have to say, I don’t think I tried as hard as maybe I should have."

• Cast: Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Stockard Channing, Dianne Wiest, Aidan Quinn
• Rating: PG-13
• Director: Griffin Dunne
• Run Time: 104 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 25% | IMDb 6.3/10

Two sisters (Bullock and Kidman) who also happen to be witches are devastated to learn that their family is under a cruel spell that causes the men they fall in love with to be killed. Desperate to undo this curse, the duo goes to extreme lengths to save the latest victim, but this quickly backfires.

Earlier this year, the cult classic finally got its long-awaited sequel, with Bullock and Kidman returning as the Owens sisters and newcomers Joey King and Maisie Williams joining as the next generation who must journey to England and break the family curse once and for all. PureWow Senior Commerce Editor Stephanie Maida raved, "What I didn't prepare for were the many, many tears I ended up shedding throughout the movie. Wary as I was going into it, the sequel ultimately won me over not by appealing to my nostalgia—or even my love of whimsical fashion and interiors, of which there is both in droves—but by capturing the emotions that come with the changing phases of one's life, family and sense of self, as well as the bonds that stay strong through it all." Sounds like a double feature is in order, stat.

• Cast: Drew Barrymore, David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard
• Rating: R
• Director: Wes Craven
• Run Time: 101 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 78% | IMDb 7.4/10

In this classic slasher film, a serial killer in a ghost mask begins to terrorize a group of high school students in a small town. The clever satire brilliantly balances horror with humor, poking fun at classics like Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street. It has spawned numerous sequels, with Scream 7 having premiered in February of this year.

“They’re funny, they’re smart, they’re scary," PureWow Vice President of News and Entertainment Philip Mutz wrote of franchise. "And unlike a lot of other horror films that feature a masked killer such as Jason Voorhees, each Scream is also a whodunnit—which makes them so much fun to watch."

• Cast: Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd, Christina Ricci, Jimmy Workman
• Rating: PG-13
• Director: Barry Sonnenfield
• Run Time: 99 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 67% | IMDb 6.9/10

Oh, what I'd give to have dinner with this delightfully bizarre family. The black comedy centers on the Addams Family, who reunite with a man who claims to be a long-lost relative. Unbeknownst to all of them, this mysterious visitor is actually a stranger with ulterior motives. As it turns out, the cast wasn't a fan of the film's original ending, so they decided to workshop it together—and Ricci played a key role in that process.

"The Addams Family has just the right touch of macabre and great fashion (all credits to Morticia), blended with a touch of the fantastical and dramatic, for me to keep coming back," says PureWow lifestyle editor Marissa Wu. "While I'd say my vibe is more Pride and Prejudice, there's something about Morticia and Gomez that I really love, and they also provide a lot of the comedic elements that make what could be a spooky, kooky movie feel light with humor."

• Cast: Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, Omri Katz, Thora Birch
• Rating: PG
• Director: Kenny Ortega
• Run Time: 96 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 41% | IMDb 6.9/10

A teenager’s seemingly innocent gesture on All Hallow's Eve leads to the resurrection of three villainous witches from the 17th century—and they waste no time in creating chaos. TBH, no Halloween is complete without at least one viewing of this classic.

Former PureWow fashion editor Abby Hepworth is a major fan, saying: “Hocus Pocus might just be one of my top three favorite movies ever, not just Halloween movies. It’s exactly the right level of camp and the cast is just spectacular. Truly such a fun movie for people of all ages.” 

The sequel, Hocus Pocus 2, was released in September 2022 and a third film is currently in development. In his rave review of the second film, former PureWow entertainment editor Joel Calfee said, "Hocus Pocus 2 will please fans of the original, as well as any newcomers who may have recently discovered the ’90s hit. And while it may tread the same ground as the first installment, it provides enough laughs to keep viewers entertained, thanks to its winning leading ladies and a few surprises along the way."

• Cast: Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, Casper Van Dien, Christopher Lee
• Rating: R
• Director: Tim Burton
• Run Time: 105 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 70% | IMDb 7.3/10

This movie was inspired by Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which Wu has read and loved.

"The actual book is a quick read; I remember it being less than 100 or 150 pages," she says. "It was mildly creepy in the way old tales are, but I'm really keen to see the movie this fall, in all honesty it sounds like it has much more action and an actual resolution to the mystery surrounding the headless horseman."

In the film adaptation, Ichabod Crane (Depp) travels from New York to the village of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a number of murders by the elusive Headless Horseman during the 18th century. The Oscar-winning movie blends suspense with supernatural elements and romance, making it all the more compelling.

In '99, while speaking with Bobbie Wygant about his decision to join the cast, Depp said, "I was very excited initially, I was excited about putting on the long snipe nose and the prosthetic ears...and doing the traditional Ichabod Crane. Paramount wasn't particularly enthused about that idea. They didn't want prosthetics....[but] we were able to take Ichabod Crane and sort of bend him around a bit."

• Cast: Fairuza Balk, Robin Tunney, Neve Campbell, Rachel True
• Rating: R
• Director: Andrew Fleming
• Run Time: 105 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 57% | IMDb 6.4/10

Maida credits The Craft as her major fashion inspiration growing up, saying "This film inspired me to buy a ‘Wicca for Teens’ book and influenced my taste in fashion to this day. The whimsigoth looks! The truly chilling nightmare sequences! Fairuza Balk! It’s a defining film for any angsty, would-be teenage witch complete with its fair share of jump-in-your-seat moments."

The plot centers around three outcasts and aspiring witches who discover that their new classmate, Sarah (Tunney), has telekinetic powers. They team up and use their combined skills to practice witchcraft, which comes with its fair share of negative consequences. The movie developed a cult following, and the sequel, The Craft: Legacy, was released in October 2020.

Little-known fact: Tunney wore a wig while filming because she shaved her head for a previous role in the 1995 film, Empire Records. Production on that project had wrapped just a month before she started working on The Craft.

• Cast: Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara, William Hickey, Ken Page
• Rating: PG
• Director: Henry Selick
• Run Time: 85 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 95% | IMDb 7.9/10

Join Jack Skellington, aka the Pumpkin King of Halloweentown, as he tries to fill Santa Claus’s shoes by taking over the colorful Christmastown for the first time ever. Naturally, things go awry as Jack tries to apply his Halloweentown sensibilities to the cozy, snow-capped village. This spooky, yet festive classic marked Henry Selick's directorial debut and the story was created by Tim Burton.

“I understand that maybe my 3-year-old shouldn’t have been shown The Nightmare Before Christmas just yet...but the girl loves scary things and can’t get enough of Jack Skellington as well as the music," says former PureWow executive editor Dara Katz. "‘This Is Halloween!’ is chanted regularly throughout our house.”

• Cast: Bruce Willis, Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, Isabella Rossellini
• Rating: PG-13
• Director: Robert Zemeckis
• Run Time: 104 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 55% | IMDb 6.7/10

Helen’s (Hawn) life is turned upside down when her fiancé leaves her to marry her frenemy, Madeline (Streep). But after she spends a few years at a psychiatric hospital, it appears that Helen hasn’t aged a day. Curious to know her secret, Madeline learns that it’s all because of a magical potion. But little does she know that it comes at a great cost.

"Death Becomes Her is the definition of iconic," Wu says. "Meryl Streep? Goldie Hawn? THE Isabella Rossellini? This movie has spawned a musical and numerous fashion references, and is unbeatable, truly."

• Cast: Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest, Anthony Michael Hall
• Rating: PG-13
• Director: Tim Burton
• Run Time: 105 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 90% | IMDb 7.5/10

If you’re not too keen on watching scary flicks that make you want to sleep with all the lights on, then this feel-good fantasy just might do the trick. Depp stars as Edward, a humanoid with scissor-blade hands who gets taken in by a kind suburban family. While it’s not at all scary, it definitely has a Halloween vibe (especially since Edward has inspired plenty of amazing costumes).

“Is it a Halloween movie? Is it a Christmas movie? Who can say! All I know is it’s Tim Burton at his best, with a creepy/funny vibe that paved the way for The Nightmare Before Christmas," says PureWow’s editor-in-chief, Jillian Quint. Edward Scissorhands won the British Academy Film Award for Best Production Design, and it received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Makeup.

• Cast: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Anne Heche, Freddie Prinze Jr., Ryane Phillippe
• Rating: R
• Director: Jim Gillespie
• Run Time: 101 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 46% | IMDb 5.9/10

"I Know What You Did Last Summer is one of my favorites—pure '90s slasher nostalgia with an all-star cast of our favorite teen heartthrobs," raves Gallery Media Group vice president Amy Choi. "The most iconic scene is SMG as Helen Shivers in that chase—the department store, the window, the alley. It was everything."

The 1997 flick stars Hewitt, Gellar, Heche and Prinze Jr. as four friends bound by a dark secret that happens on a drunken summer night. When they reunite the summer following their first year of college, the group finds themselves targeted by a mysterious and murderous entity claiming to know their secret. Though it has a dismal Rotten Tomatoes rating, it's now considered a cult classic today.

• Cast: Anjelica Huston, Mai Zetterling, Rowan Atkinson
• Rating: PG
• Director: Nicolas Roeg
• Run Time: 91 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 94% | IMDb 6.8/10

After his parents pass away, young Luke (Fisher) is sent to stay with his grandmother in Norway. But during his stay, he spies on a group of witches and learns that they plan to get rid of all children by turning them into mice. Worse yet, they manage to capture and put their spell on him, making it even harder to stop their evil plans.

While it's impossible for me to imagine anyone but Huston as the Grand High Witch, she wasn't the only actress considered for the villainous role. Per ScreenRant, Helen Mirren, Sigourney Weaver, Linda Blair, Jodie Foster, Liza Minnelli and Cher were all considered for the part. Fortunately, Roald Dahl—who wrote the children's novel that inspired the film—approved of Huston as the final choice.

• Cast: Adam Wylie, Mario Yedidia, Clara Bryant, Ken Campbell
• Rating: TV-G
• Director: Greg Beeman
• Run Time: 95 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 59% | IMDb 6.5/10

Three kids are tasked with saving the life of a playful mummy when he comes to life and manages to escape his coffin. Seeing Harold’s misadventures with his new friends just never gets old.

Bryant, who played Amy, told iHollywoodTV in 2022 that she's a fan of the remake, which was released in 2021. In the following year, Disney released Under Wraps 2, and she said, "I can already see they are having more diverse casting, and I think that is so important. Representation matters tremendously to children's self-esteem, to their ideas of where they fit in the world, and so I love it."

• Cast: Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Owen Wilson, Lili Taylor
• Rating: PG-13
• Director: Jan de Bont
• Run Time: 125 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 17% | IMDb 5/10

A group of guests are invited to a mysterious, secluded mansion to participate in a study. But what these visitors don’t know is that Dr. Marrow (Neeson) intends to use them to study fear. Worse yet, there’s an evil spirit lurking in the home that’s out to get every one of them...

While discussing his approach to the film, director Jan de Bont told Collider, "I really didn’t want [The Haunting] to be a remake, because, number one, we had no rights to the other movie. We had rights to the book, which was more important, of course. I was totally not interested in remaking the old movie, because I liked it. I liked it a lot. It's definitely more of a drama. And this is more like a movie about an innocent, young woman, who actually is not so afraid of what's going on in that house."

• Cast: Erin Chambers, Eric "Ty" Hodges II, Robin Riker, Steve Valentine
• Rating: TV-PG
• Director: Kenneth Johnson
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 68% | IMDb 6.6/10

In this Disney Channel classic, Frances (Chambers) gets framed for pulling several dangerous pranks in her hometown, and she refuses to believe that a supernatural force might be to blame. This changes, however, when she discovers that the Boogeyman is very real.

Fun fact: the Boogeyman was originally supposed to look way scarier than it turned out to be—and it had a serpent's tongue. Director Kenneth Johnson told Entertainment Weekly, "In the early concept drawings, it was really dark and [had] quills sticking out. It was nightmarish. I said, 'Why don't we take him more Victorian and let's have his dialogue be limerick-like and make it a little bit lighter."

• Cast: Leonard Nimoy, Annie Barker, Alex Greenwald, Edan Gross, Kevin Smets
• Rating: 7+
• Director: Mario Piluso
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 84% | IMDb 7.7/10

Based on Ray Bradbury's fantasy novel of the same name, The Halloween Tree is the story of a young boy who is mysteriously whisked away by an unknown force while trick-or-treating with his friends. The kids then cross paths with a stranger who takes them on a magical journey to explain the origins of Halloween. (BTW, this movie won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program.)

• Cast: Mary-Kate Olsen, Ashley Olsen, Cloris Leachman, Meshach Taylor
• Rating: NR
• Director: Stuart Margolin
• Run Time: 93 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 56% | IMDb 5.8/10

The Olsen twins star as Kelly and Lynn, two clever young sisters who learn that their Aunt Sophia (Leachman) has been cursed and imprisoned by her twin sister for over seven years. Will Kelly and Lynn break the curse before their aunt is sent to the netherworld?

Shakespeare fans will recognize this title as the famous line from Macbeth, where, in Act IV, Scene I, the three witches say, "Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble." Also, this movie received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Composition for a Miniseries or a Special (for composer Richard Bellis).

• Cast: Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz, Marcus Gilbert
• Rating: R
• Director: Sam Raimi
• Run Time: 96 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 69% | IMDb 7.4/10

In part three of the Evil Dead series, Ash Williams (Campbell) accidentally time travels to the medieval era. While there, he learns that the only way to return to the present day is to retrieve the magical Book of the Dead—but not without battling a few demons along the way.

Campbell said in a previous interview, "I was at a screening in New Orleans and a guy...he'd get really tormented because he didn't know whether he should scream or laugh, and it was the weirdest thing watching this guy. He didn't know what to do, and I thought, 'Ah that's good, we really tormented him.' Because Sam [Raimi]'s theory, only he can really expound on this, is you must punish the audience."

• Cast: Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, Peter Dobson, John Astin
• Rating: R
• Director: Peter Jackson
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 66% | IMDb 7.1/10

Think Ghostbusters, but with a twist. A young man named Frank (Fox) tricks people into thinking that he’s an exorcist when he develops the ability to communicate with ghosts. But his lucrative business comes to a halt when the ghost of a murderer surfaces to attack both the dead and the living. Can Frank put a stop to this?

Director Peter Jackson, who's best known for Lord of the Rings, delivered a solid comedy horror that blends mystery elements with just enough jump scares to keep fans on edge.

• Cast: Corbin Bernsen, Rosalind Cash, Rusty Cundieff, David Alan Grier, Clarence Williams III
• Rating: R
• Director: Rusty Cundieff
• Run Time: 98 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 58% | IMDb 6.5/10

Welcome back to the 'hood of horrors! This thought-provoking anthology revolves around Mr. Simms, a mysterious funeral director who tries to scare a group of teenagers away by telling them a series of scary stories. These horrifying tales touch on issues that specifically impact the Black community, from gang violence and racism to domestic abuse.

When asked if he would consider turning this film into a television series, director Rusty Cundieff told IndieWire, "We have been diligently trying to do that for years. It looks like maybe we might finally have a shot. We’re in talks with Universal. It’s still far from a done deal. Darin [Scott] and I have both wanted to do this as an ongoing series for many, many years. Emphatically yes."

• Cast: Virginia Madsen, Tony Todd, Xander Berkeley
• Rating: R
• Director: Bernard Rose
• Run Time: 88 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 79% | IMDb 6.7/10

Madsen stars as Helen Lyle, a grad student who learns about an evil spirit known as the Candyman. Feeling skeptical of the urban legend, she decides to take her chances and summon the terrifying spirit, unleashing a malevolent series of events that somehow have Helen at the center. Candyman was followed by two sequels: Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995) and Candyman: Day of the Dead (1999). It also led to a 2021 remake, directed by Nia DaCosta.

Regarding the remake, Todd, who plays the legendary monster, told The Guardian, “I’ve seen it and it’s brilliant. It definitely has a feminist touch. I know that Nia [DaCosta] is a fan of body horror—you know, disfigurations à la The Fly.”

• Cast: Heather Donahue, Michael Williams, Joshua Leonard
• Rating: R
• Director: Eduardo Sánchez, Daniel Myrick
• Run Time: 78 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 86% | IMDb 6.5/10

Before you ask—no, it's not based on real events, but the found-footage technique does offer a "true story" angle that makes this film all the more terrifying. It revolves around Heather, Michael and Joshua, three film students who hike into the Black Hills to investigate a local myth. The three of them mysteriously disappear, and all that's left is their equipment, which contains footage of what happened.

• Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Adam Arkin, Michelle Williams, Adam Hann-Byrd
• Rating: R
• Director: Steve Miner
• Run Time: 86 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 56% | IMDb 5.8/10

Considered one of the best sequels in the Halloween franchise, this seventh installment follows Laurie Strode (Curtis), a former babysitter turned school headmistress who’s been in hiding for 20 years after surviving a terrifying massacre. Unfortunately for her, the killer tracks her down and intends to finish what he started.

• Cast: Kristy Swanson, Donald Sutherland, Luke Perry, Hilary Swank, David Arquette
• Rating: PG-13
• Director: Fran Rubel Kuzui
• Run Time: 85 minutes
• Reviews: Rotten Tomatoes 36% | IMDb 5.7/10

While it isn't the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series all of us are familiar with, this original 1992 film lives in the hearts of many '90s Halloween movie lovers. The film follows the eponymous Buffy as she discovers she’s a born vampire slayer in what winds up being goofy but engaging movie. As Buffy comes into her powers, she must also prepare to face Lothos, a vampire plotting to resurrect his coven. Along the way there is plenty of action, witchery and perhaps a little bad acting, but it's still very much worth the watch.