While many people like to celebrate Halloween with heart-racing titles full of gore, jump scares, and psychological thrills, there are plenty of others who would rather ring in the season with something a little less terrifying. If you fall into the latter group, we’ve got just the list for you!
Sure, Halloween is a great time for haunts and horrors, but it is also the perfect occasion for enjoying comforting and nostalgic Autumnal movies and TV shows. So as Fall weather, flavors, and vibes are in their prime, bask in it all with cozy movies that are full of enough seasonal figures and themes to make them more “treat” than “trick”.
Without further ado, here are the 11 coziest movies to watch this Halloween:
Some alien movies are scary, but this one is nothing but good vibes, fuzzy feelings, and fantastical adventures, in large part due to its lovable, Reese’s Pieces-loving titular alien, E.T. E.T. The Extra Terrestrial is a sci-fi film about the friendship that blossoms between 10-year-old Elliott Taylor (Henry Thomas) and E.T., a gentle alien who is newly stranded on Earth.
Though Elliott, his older brother Michael (Robert MacNaughton), and younger sister Gertie (Drew Barrymore) try to keep E.T.’s existence a secret, the government is aware of an increasingly ill E.T.’s existence and wants to take him away. It’s up to the kids to save E.T.’s life and help the alien leave Earth to return home before it’s too late.
Where Nora Ephron goes, Fall coziness often follows, and that’s certainly the case with her fantasy romantic-comedy film Bewitched. In it, narcissistic actor Jack Wyatt (Will Ferrell) hits a rough patch in his career and so when he is offered the role of Darrin in a remake of the 1964 sitcom Bewitched, he insists that an unknown actress should play Samantha in order to make himself look better.
But when real-life witch Isabel Bigelow (Nicole Kidman) earns the role, she’s ready to put her powers and talent to the test to prove that she is not to be easily overshadowed or trifled with.
Get your tissues ready because this vibrant and infinitely charming animated musical fantasy film from Pixar is about to take you on an exceptional, emotional ride this Halloween season. Coco is set in the fictional town of Santa Cecilia, Mexico where 12-year-old Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) lives with his parents, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Coco (Ana Ofelia Murguía).
All Miguel wants is to become a musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt), but he’s held back by his family’s generations-old ban on music. Determined to chase his dreams and prove his musical talent, Miguel embarks on a journey to the Land of the Dead, where he joins forces with a charming trickster named Héctor (Gael García Bernal) and learns more about himself and his family history than he ever could have imagined.
Few things are as cozy and seasonal as the Harry Potter series, especially this first movie that kicked off the story of the wonderful wizarding world. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone follows a young boy named Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) who lives with his neglectful and cruel aunt (Fiona Shaw) and uncle (Richard Griffiths) and their spoiled, bratty son (Harry Melling).
But upon his eleventh birthday, Harry gets a visit from half-giant Rubeus Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) informing him that not only is he a wizard, but that he also has gained admittance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. What ensues is an incredible, fantastical tale full of whimsy, adventure, and of course, plenty of magical moments as Harry, Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) work together to find their places in wizarding society and to save the day from terrible threats led by dark wizard Lord Voldemort.
Raised by their eccentric aunts Frances (Stockard Channing) and Jet (Dianne Wiest) in a small Massachusetts town, Sally (Sandra Bullock) and Gillian Owens (Nicole Kidman) are born into a magical family but have complicated relationships with their heritage and powers. An ancestral curse dooms any man loved by an Owens woman, turning Sally into a young widow and making her give up on magic.
She’s forced to break that vow, however, when the unexpected death of Gillian’s vicious boyfriend, Jimmy Angelov (Goran Visnjic) spurs the sisters to use difficult, forbidden magic that sets off a chain reaction of chaos and change that will impact their lives forever.
When you’re looking for a classic and comforting Halloween movie, who’re you gonna call? Ghostbusters! This supernatural comedy has it all: ghosts, an incredible cast, and a giant Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man (he’s devilish AND delicious).
After losing their jobs as parapsychology professors at Columbia University, scientists Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), and Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) start up “Ghostbusters,” a brand new business dedicated to investigating and eliminating paranormal threats. As their popularity grows, they add Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) to their team before gearing up to help free cellist Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) from demonic possession and prevent the apocalypse.
Bask in the sweet, sweet nostalgia of Hocus Pocus, a fantasy comedy film that begins on October 31, 1693 in Salem, Massachusetts, where witchy Sanderson sisters Winifred (Bette Midler), Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker), and Mary (Kathy Najimy) are hunted down and killed by the people of Salem, but not before casting a curse that will resurrect them when the right conditions are met. That day comes centuries later on Halloween 1993, when teenaged Los Angeles transplant Max Dennison (Omri Katz) accidentally lights a candle that brings them back to life.
Now, it’s up to Max, his little sister Dani (Thora Birch), his crush Allison (Vinessa Shaw), and immortal talking black cat Thackery Binx (Sean Murray/Jason Marsden) to stop the Sandersons from draining the life forces of Salem’s children before it’s too late.
One of the most iconic Halloween titles that still lives on as a cozy seasonal must-watch is this animated TV special based on Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown follows the various children of Peanuts through their Halloween festivities with particular focus on Linus Van Pelt (Christopher Shea) as he waits all night in the pumpkin patch in hopes of spotting the legendary Great Pumpkin.
Matilda is a sweet, nostalgic fantasy comedy film about a gifted six-year-old named Matilda Wormwood (Mara Wilson) who is mistreated and neglected by her father (Danny DeVito), mother (Rhea Perlman), and older brother (Brian Levinson). Matilda wishes more than anything to sate her thirst for knowledge and desire for connection by attention school, but there she quickly finds a new enemy in tyrannical principal Agatha Trunchbull (Pam Ferris).
However, upon awakening psychokinetic powers, Matilda finds a way to fight back and decides to dedicate herself to using her newfound abilities to stand up for herself, her friends, and her kind teacher, Miss Honey (Embeth Davidtz) against her family and Miss Trunchbull.
This Academy Award-nominated stop-motion animated musical dark fantasy combines the familiar warmth and fuzziness of Christmas with some of the more grotesque, bizarre, and humorous parts of Halloween, making for an oddly quite cozy and timeless holiday classic.
Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas takes place in the magical, monster-filled world of Halloween Town, where Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon) is tired of leading the same old scary season traditions as the beloved “Pumpkin King”. But when Jack stumbles upon the jolly and bright Christmas Town, he hatches an idea to replace Santa Claus (Edward Ivory), bring Christmas to Halloween Town, and share his version of the holiday with the rest of the world… whether they want it or not.
Lastly, you should do yourselves a favor by checking out this underrated Autumn cult classic film. Based on the beloved board game of the same name. Clue is a mystery comedy that follows six guests that have been invited to a remote mansion by an unknown man who knows a dark secret about each one of them. But when their host is murdered, everyone becomes a suspect, leading to a wonderfully whacky investigation to catch the culprit before anyone else can be made a victim.
Between the immense fun it radiates and the overall commitment to complete and utter campiness that remains delightful and entertaining even all these years later, Clue is truly a cozy title you’ll want to make time for this Halloween season.
Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
