Sabienna Bowman
No other holiday invites you to be a kid again quite like Halloween. The candy, the costumes, the endless movie marathons — October is all about tapping into that feeling of getting hyped for trick or treating. Just because you spend your Halloween handing out candy or, perish the thought, working now doesn’t mean you can’t indulge in some serious nostalgia. The best place to start is by revisiting the shows and movies that kept you up at night as a kid.
The following 13 Halloween episodes and movies are guaranteed to take you back to your childhood — and maybe even send a few shivers down your spine in the process because, come on, you know you’re still terrified of Anjelica Huston.
- The Witches — Amazon Video
Here’s a short list of things this movie made you afraid of: strangers, chocolate, witches, and getting trapped in paintings. Oh, and Anjelica Huston, especially when she rips her “face” off.
2. “Stevil,” Family Matters — Hulu
Remember that time Family Matters turned into an actual nightmare featuring a walking, talking, murderous puppet? Yes, that actually happened, and it’s still disturbing on every level.
3. The Addams Family — Netflix/Hulu/Epix/Freeform
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyyJYyIexq8
Rewatch this classic to remind yourself why Wednesday Addams is and always will be your life hero.
4. “Treehouse of Horror V,” The Simpsons — FX Now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLQUkk0qAd8
OK, so any of the early “Treehouse of Horror” episodes will take you back to the Halloweens of yore, but the fifth installment might just be the best. With “The Shinning,” “Time and Punishment,” and “Nightmare Cafeteria,” every segment is a classic.
5. Hocus Pocus — Freeform
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t05xT1D5VpI
The Sanderson Sisters remain an integral part of the holiday season. Is the movie a little hokey? Sure, but your love for it will never fade.
6. Halloweentown — Disney
Nothing sounded cooler than a town where it was always Halloween when you were growing up. This Disney Channel original movie remains a wonderful source of wish-fulfillment.
7. “Arnold’s Halloween,” Hey! Arnold — Hulu
This episode of Hey! Arnold is almost certainly your first exposure to The War of the Worlds radio show panic.
8. “The Haunted Mask,” Goosebumps — Netflix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OQm_qVxNGw
Goosebumps is full of freaky moments, but nothing could ever top the horrifying living mask from the Halloween episode.
9. The Nightmare Before Christmas — Netflix/Freeform
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPblZa10_Pk
No other movie straddles the Halloween-Christmas divide better than this one. The Nightmare Before Christmas gets trotted out during two different holidays because it’s just that good.
10. “And Then There Was Shawn,” Boy Meets World — Hulu
No, it’s technically not a Halloween episode, but this Scream spoof has become a holiday classic nonetheless.
11. “Candy Bar Freak Show,” Rugrats — Hulu
If you grew up in the ’90s, then you fully understood the babies’ need to get their hands on a Reptar bar — no matter how scary the haunted garage was.
12. “Good Will Haunting,” Sabrina the Teenage Witch — Hulu/CBS All Access/Amazon Video
Talking dolls are never not distubing, even when they’re on silly sitcoms.
13. Gremlins — Netflix
Just because it’s set during Christmas doesn’t mean Gremlins is a Christmas movie. Gizmo is cute, but he’s also the gateway to a total horror show that terrified you when you when you were a kid.
Now go grab some candy and watch one of these nostalgia inducing picks to get you into the Halloween spirit!
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