Best throwback Halloween movies and where to stream them
On top of being the creepiest, spookiest and most bewitchingly magical time of the year, Halloween is also the season many of us recall the days of our trick-or-treating youth.
Be it filling up those plastic, pumpkin-shaped candy buckets or trading sweets with friends, some traditions stay with you forever, as do those throwback Halloween movies.
You know the ones. Where they were meant to be more fun than freaky, more heartwarming than horrific. However, our young minds still got plenty of jump-scares and adrenaline rushes from those films. Those certainly were the days…but what were those Halloween movies, again?
Cue childhood nostalgia with these throwback Halloween movies
To help jog your memory of those classic movies from days of Halloween nights long past, here’s a list of the best throwback Halloween movies and where to stream them.
Don’t worry, Halloweentown isn’t the first on our list.
1. Don’t Look Under the Bed
Let’s kick off our list of throwback Halloween movies with the story that made every child in America afraid to look under their bed. Don’t Look Under the Bed stars Erin Chambers as Frances Bacon McCausland, a skeptical girl rooted in life’s logic who has her world shaken when she’s terrorized by the “Boogeyman.”
With the help of her brother and his imaginary friend Larry, Frances aims to put a stop to the chaos that the Boogeyman is releasing on her town. But it’s not long until Frances discovers that she might have had a part to play in the Boogeyman’s creation.
Where to stream: Disney+
2. Now You See It
Though not strictly a Halloween movie, there is plenty of magic and mystery in this documentary-styled Disney Channel classic. Aly Michalka plays the character of Allyson Miller, an aspiring film producer who signs up to head a new reality show series to find the country’s best kid magician.
When Allyson comes across Danny Sinclair, the young filmmaker believes the boy is mostly full of himself. But, as more and more unexplained magic begins to happen around Danny, Allyson chooses him as the star of her show. However, Danny’s powers are more than an illusion and his gifts soon put him and Allyson in unforeseen danger.
Where to stream: Disney+
3. Tower of Terror
Out of all the films on our list of throwback Halloween movies, Tower of Terror is perhaps one of the most elusive. The film was not replayed often of Disney’s networks, but it harbors a legacy as the first film to be based on one of Disney’s theme park attractions and the only one produced for television.
Buzzy Crocker–played by Steve Guttenberg–is a disgraced journalist looking for a break back into the business. When a mysterious, aged woman shows up on Buzzy’s door with a story about how she personally witnessed a group of people mysteriously vanished via witchcraft at Hollywood Tower Hotel nearly 60 years ago, the former journalist is skeptical but curious. As Buzzy pursues the story with his niece (Kirsten Dunst), he discovers the real terror of tortured souls.
Where to stream: YouTube