With Halloween a few days away, everyone is getting ready for the holiday by buying costumes, carving pumpkins, and watching festive movies that fit the season.

There are many Halloween-appropriate movies out there, but it can be hard to decide which ones to watch.

Ranging from horrific slasher films to family-friendly movies, viewers have plenty of options to choose from.

But there are five family movies that should be watched this Halloween.

“Halloweentown”

The first movie I suggest is “Halloweentown” (1998). This movie tells the story of a girl that, after learning she is a witch, helps save Halloweentown, a town full of supernatural creatures.

Marnie (Kimberly J. Brown), Dylan (Joey Zimmerman), and their sister Sophie (Emily Roeske) are visited by their grandmother Aggie (Debbie Reynolds) on Halloween.

Aggie and the children’s mother Gwen (Judith Hoag) end up arguing, and the children are sent off to bed.

Marnie then eavesdrops on her mother and grandmother’s conversation, overhearing that she is a witch and must start her training by her 13th birthday or she will lose her powers forever.

The children then end up going to Halloweentown with their grandmother without their mother’s knowledge so Marnie can start her training.

Soon after, Gwen comes to take them home.

But with an evil lurking in the town and attacking their mother and grandmother, Marnie is put up to the challenge of saving Halloweentown with the help of Dylan and Sophie.

They end up overcoming their obstacles and the evil force, restoring Halloweentown to its glory.

It is directed toward a young audience, but people of all ages can enjoy this film. The storyline may be cheesy, but it is worth the watch.

“The Nightmare before Christmas”

Another great movie to watch during the Halloween season is “The Nightmare before Christmas” (1993).

The movie follows Jack Skellington (voiced by Chris Sarandon), king of Halloween town, as he grows bored of always throwing Halloween. So, instead, he tries to get the town to help him put on a Christmas celebration.

He comes by the concept of Christmas when he mistakenly enters into Christmas town and meets Santa. Throughout the course of the movie he tries to adapt Christmas to fit the interests of the citizens in Halloween town.

This creates many issues that Jack must figure out how to fix in the end.

“Hocus Pocus”

The next movie I advise everyone to watch is “Hocus Pocus” (1993).

On Halloween night, three witch sisters are resurrected, wreaking havoc on Salem, Mass. It is then up to two teenagers, a young girl and an immortal cat to put an end to the witches for good.

Winifred (Bette Midler), Mary (Kathy Najimy) and Sarah Sanderson (Sarah Jessica Parker) were executed for practicing dark magic, draining the life force out of young Emily Binx (Jodie-Amy Rivera) and turning her older brother Thackery (Sean Murray) into a cat.

When they are resurrected 300 years later by Max Dennison (Omri Katz) and his crush Allison (Vinessa Shaw), they set out to stay by hunting down children to use for their next spell.

With the help of Thackery the cat, Allison and Max save Max’s little sister Dani and stop the evil trio for good.

This movie is one to watch with the family and possibly a tear jerker near the end for some young viewers.

“Casper”

The fourth movie I recommend is “Casper” (1995).

In the movie, a widower and his teenage daughter move into an abandoned house that is haunted by three ghosts that are always up to no good, and one that is simply looking for a friend.

Hired to exorcise the ghosts from the house, the afterlife therapist Dr. James Harvey (Bill Pullman) and his daughter Kat (Christina Ricci) move in to get the job done quickly.

After moving in, Kat meets Casper (voiced by Malachi Pearson), the friendly ghost of a young teenage boy, and his mean uncles, who are also ghosts.

The movie circulates around how Dr. Harvey and Kat deal with the death of her mother, and how they ultimately help all of the ghosts cross over to find peace.

This film is also a possible tear jerker at certain points, but worth watching.

“The Haunted Mansion”

Another family movie to watch around Halloween is “The Haunted Mansion” (2003).

In the movie, a realtor, his wife, and two children are asked by the owner of an elaborate, old mansion to look at his property.

The realtor, Jim Evers’ (Eddie Murphey) wife Sarah (Marsha Thomason) is mistaken for the deceased love interest of the mansion’s owner, Master Gracey (Nathaniel Parker).

After learning what happened to Gracey’s past lover, Jim must save his wife from the same fate.

Jim and his two children embark on a journey all in one night in order to save Sarah and learn the importance of family along the way.

Other family-friendly Halloween movies

Some more of my personal favorite Halloween movies include “Corpse Bride” 2005), “Beetlejuice” (1988), and “Coraline” (2009).

All of these movies deserve recognition and are worthy of the whole family sitting down and enjoying a movie together.