It’s officially – as the kids say – spooky season.

There’s nothing I love more than watching festive movies at the appropriate times of year. For example, I reserve November and December for Christmas movies, and September and October are reserved for Halloween-style films.

This year, I’m getting a late start, as it’s been a whirlwind over here at Reminder Publishing. With the preparation for the launch of our latest newspaper, the Holyoke Reminder, I haven’t had too much free time on my hands. I do, however, have a bit of vacation time to burn and within it I am determined to binge watch a few of my Halloween movie favorites.

Many of mine, however, are perfect for the whole family – kids included. I’m not much of a scary movie fan, so these are great to gather the kids, sit down by a cozy fire and indulge in some fun – and sometimes hokey – films.

“Halloweentown,” “Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge,” “Halloweentown High,” “Return to Halloweentown”

One of my favorite – if not my number one – Halloween series is the “Halloweentown” movies; they bring me straight back to my childhood.

Originally released by Disney, the Halloweentown movies involve two worlds: our mortal world on Earth, and the land of Halloweentown, which is host to witches, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, warlocks, mummies, ogres, zombies and more. The fantasy creatures live in Halloweentown, separating themselves from those on Earth who are fearful of the creatures and treat them poorly.

The movies follow a young girl named Marnie Piper (Kimberly J. Brown) as she navigates the human world. In the first film, “Halloweentown,” we quickly learn that Marnie loves Halloween, and doesn’t understand why her mother, Gwen Piper, has such strong feelings against the holiday.

The story unravels when Marnie’s grandmother – Gwen's mother – Agatha Cromwell (Debbie Reynolds) arrives in town. While it would appear that Agatha is simply stopping in to visit her grandkids, it’s clear that she has other reasons for her visit in mind. As it turns out, Gwen has been keeping a secret from Marnie and her other two children, Dylan (Joey Zimmerman) and Sophie (Emily Roeske) – they come from a family of witches.

Though I won’t give away too much more, the first “Halloweentown” movie, which was released in 1998, follows the children as they learn about their powers, their strong ties to the mythical, magical world and they subsequently, secretly travel to Halloweentown.

The second “Halloweentown” film, “Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge,” was released in 2001. It features a slightly older Marnie who has somewhat adjusted to learning more about her powers, however she is easily tricked by an angry warlock named Kal (Daniel Kountz) who steals her grandmother’s magic spell book and has plans to turn humans in the mortal world into the costumes that they’re wearing at midnight on Halloween.

In the third film, “Halloweentown High,” which was released in 2004, Marnie manages to organize a student exchange program between her mortal school and Halloweentown High. The students from Halloweentown are given disguises that make them look like humans, and they are shown attempting to adjust to the mortal world while they get an education. They learn quickly of the prejudices that the mortals hold against witches, warlocks, ogres and more – all while a curse is being brewed up against the Halloweentown residents.

Finally, in “Return to Halloweentown” which was released in 2006, Marnie Piper is not reprised by Kimberly J. Brown – instead Disney moved forward with a new actor, Sara Paxton. This offers a bit of confusion and a lack of continuity for those who are invested in the series, as every other character is played by the same actor with the exception of Marnie. Scheduling conflicts were blamed for this recasting, however Kimberly J. Brown has said that this is not true.

In any case, the fourth film shows Marnie Piper and her brother Dylan arriving at Halloweentown University, known as Witch U. We watch the siblings struggle at their coming of age, heading to college. However not only do they experience the struggles of a teen away from home for the first time, they’re also in a completely different realm of the universe – and there is a prophecy that, unbeknownst to Marnie, she is there to fulfill.

I know that those four movies sound like a lot – but they’re truly such a wonderfully wholesome Halloween series for children (and apparently adults holding onto their younger years, like myself.) The movies can be streamed on Disney+, however for those of our readers who may not have Disney+, they can be purchased/rented on iTunes or purchased/rented on Amazon Prime Video.

“Hocus Pocus”

Another classic Halloween movie by Disney – “Hocus Pocus.” The film was released in 1993, and stars Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy as the Sanderson sisters – three crazy witches from 17th century Salem.

“On October 31, 1963, near Salem, Massachusetts, Thackeray Binx sees his little sister, Emily, spirited away to the cottage of three witches. There, the Sanderson sisters cast a spell on Emily to absorb her youth and regain their own, killing her in the process,” the movie plot explained. In turn, Binx confronts the witches, who turn him into an immortal black cat that lives forever. The townsfolk, led by Binx’s father, end up capturing the witches. Before their hanging, Winifred Sanderson’s spellbook casts a curse that will resurrect the witches on a full moon on All Hallows’ Eve when any virgin lights the black flame candle. As he could not convince his father that he was now a cat, Binx is left to guard the cottage that the black flame candle and spellbook are in, to ensure that the witches are not summoned back to earth.

Hundreds of years later, when Max Dennison (Omri Katz) moves to present-day Salem from Los Angeles, CA, he finds himself in a slump. He’s having a hard time making friends at his new school, and doesn’t want to socialize. His parents ask him to take his younger sister Dani (Thora Birch) trick or treating on Halloween. As the pair trick or treat, they run into Max’s love interest, Allison Watts (Vanessa Shaw). Allison explains that her family owns the Sanderson sister’s former cottage, which is a museum.

In an effort to act cool and win Allison’s favor, Max winds up – you guessed it – summoning the witches. The three witches are then alive, and in order to stay alive, they must suck the souls of every child in Salem or they will disintegrate. Max, Dani and Allison are reunited with Binx, where the four then set off on the rest of the movie running from the Sanderson sisters while simultaneously attempting to kill them so that they will not suck the souls from all of Salem’s children.

The plotline of this movie is slightly more adult than the Halloweentown series’, however it is still rated PG and is suitable for a younger audience, in my opinion. Parents – use your judgment on this one!

This movie has plenty of quippy humor, coupled with the festive, spooky Halloween vibe that I desire. I consider this another Halloween classic, and I make a point to watch it every year. “Hocus Pocus” is available on Disney+, and again can be rented or purchased on iTunes or Amazon Prime Video.

Other kid–friendly favorites of mine:
• “Casper”
• “Ghostbusters”
• “The Addams Family”
• “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown”
• “Monster House”
• “Scooby-Doo”
• “Twitches”
• “Twitches Two”