What To Watch With The Kids on Netflix For Halloween 2019

Tim Colman What's on Netflix Avatar

Halloween is now deeply ingrained in many cultures as a night of fun. Given it’s roots in all sorts of pagan nastiness, it’s odd that it’s perfectly acceptable to wish someone a Happy Halloween. And because Halloween is fun these days, it’s as much about the kids as anything. Here are a selection of movies that are completely family friendly and can be watched in safety from the comfort of a warm home while the ghosts and ghouls are at work outside…


Monster Family -2017

Directed by: Holger Tappe
Starring: Emily Watson, Jason Isaacs, Nick Frost
Running time: 1 hr 33mins

Whatever life throws at you and how ever many problems you might have, family life is the most important thing you have. Or so Moster Family would have you believe. Frankly, there are better ways of learning this lesson than watching Monster Family. But the kids will enjoy it.


Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween – 2018

Directed by: Ari Sandel
Starring: Wendi McLendon-Covey, Madison Iseman, Jeremy Ray Taylor
Running time: 1hr 30mins

After the success of Goosebumps, it was ineviable that there should be a sequel. The star of the movie is, undoubtedly, the ventriloquists dummy and the cheesy humour works for the younger audience. Look out for the surprise cameo just beofre the titles. No parental guidance required here.


Igor – 2008

Directed by: Tony Leondis
Starring: John Cusack, Eddie Izzard, Steve Buscemi
Running time: 1hr 27mins

Igor is a pleasant departure from the current tidal wave of comic book superheroes. The cast is an excellent blend of US and UK talent; a strong taleent at that. The idea that the mad scientists apprentice wants to be the mad scientist works well and the overall result is a highly entertaining movie.


Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation – 2018

Directed by: Genndy Tartakovsky
Starring: Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez
Running time: 1hr 37mins

What started life as a Summer Vacation, the subtitle was changed to be a bit more, er, scary. This isn’t a scary movie. The characters are well formed, the story hangs together and the comedy works for adults and kids alike. Of course, it has a moral to deliver but that’s pretty much unavoidable these days.


Little Monsters – 1989

Directed by: Richard Greenberg
Starring: Fred Savage, Howie Mandel, Daniel Stern
Running time: 1hr 40mins

With more mature content than the other offering in this list, Little Monsters is a much underated movie. There’s a creepy atmosphere to the film which is approprate fopr Halloween and the cruel under current might not be enitrely appropriate for the very young. Otherwise, this is a highly watchable movie.


Dreamworks Spooky Stories – 2009

Directed by: Patrick Graham and others
Starring: Mike Myers, Dean Edwards, Cameron Diaz
Running time: 1hr 7mins

This is a collection of four animated short stories starring the wonderful ogre Shrek and other characters from the Dreamworks series. A second batch was released in 2012. And, being shorts, there’s no concern about attention spans.


The Dark Crystal – 1982

Directed by: Jim Henson, Frank Oz
Jim Henson, Kathryn Mullen, Frank Oz’Starring:
Running time: 1hr 33mins

Jim Henson was the genius creator of the Muppets and Sesame Street. The Dark Crystal is set in an imaginary world a long time ago (sound familiar?) and, while a strong movie in it’s own right, has enjoyed added credibility after the Success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. At the highest level, it’s a story of Good versus Evil but there is plenty of depth beyond that.


Spookley the Square Pumpkin – 2005

Directed by: Bernie Denk
Starring: Sonja Ball, Craig Francis, Rick Jones
Running time: 0hr 45min

Spookley the Square Pumpkin is short enough to keep your kids attention but long enough to deliver it’s message. Never judge a pumpkin by it’s looks! Actually, the message is important and a good one for kids to learn. There are very few films aimed at the under 5s and this movie deals with the spooky idea of halloween with no fear factor at all.


Super Monsters – 2017

Created by: Avi Arad
Starring: Erin Mathews, Alessandro Juliani, Vincent Tong
Running time: 3 seasons, 38 episodes

Super Monsters is definitely one for the pre-schoolers and is delivered in bite size chunks. The idea is clever and the theme tune is a complete ear-worm. The monsters are decidedly not scary and their adventures are decidedly fun. It would be nice if this series keeps coming and coming.


A Witches Ball – 2017

Directed by: Justin G. Dyck
Starring: Morgan Neundorf, Joey Fatone, Karen Slater
Running time: 1hr 30mins

You can’t beat a little bit of gentle toilet humor when it comes to entertaining kids. A Witches Ball has a running (sorry) toilet joke but there’s none of the violence or scariness that you would normally associate with witches. Whoever heard of talking animals?

Written by

Tim helped co-found What's on Netflix with Kasey back in 2013 after a career in publishing covering both the skiing and the scuba diving sectors. Tim loves the older movies and cult classics which shines through in his features and top movies list. Tim also maintains the central database for What's on Netflix driving the A-Z library. Tim resides in Norwich, UK.