(Credits: Netflix)

Finding a family-friendly movie during Halloween can often feel like rocket science with all the mental hoops you have to jump through to land on something that works for everyone.

You want a film that fits the spooky mood but isn’t too scary that it ruins bedtime, and if kids are involved, you know you can’t pick something gruesome. The best Halloween movies for families should give you just enough mystery, adventure, and a few well-placed jumpy moments to make the night feel festive, without being overtly terrifying. But also, just because you have kids doesn’t mean you have to whittle down your edge to pick an appropriate tale that you feel tepid towards.

So before you jump to the seemingly impossible task, the good news is that Netflix has a bunch of titles that get the formula just right, so you don’t have to do the crazy math.

As you dip into your candy stash, queue these films up and kick back with the fam for a fun-filled fear fest involving glowing pumpkins and clever adventures with a few supernatural surprises tossed in to get you into the Halloween spirit.

10 family-friendly Netflix movies to watch

A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting (Rachel Talalay, 2020)

Halloween movies are particularly designed to bring in the chaos of normal life so that they seem more relatable. That is exactly what happens in A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting. A babysitter expecting a quiet night suddenly ends up chasing actual monsters through secret tunnels and magical portals. It sounds mad, and it is, but it’s also the kind of story that makes you feel like being brave could be fun.

It’s got that old-school adventure heartbeat where kids are figuring things out on their own, grown-ups are being no help at all, and monsters that look both terrifying and cool. It doesn’t overthink itself. It just lets you run with it, and before you know it, you’re right there in the middle of the madness, rooting for her to win.

Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness (Ben Stassen and Benjamin Mousquet, 2022)

Do you know that at times, the best stories are the ones that sound ridiculous when you try to explain them? Chickenhare, who is half-chicken and half-hare, wants to be a hero, but he can’t even walk into a room without people staring. So he sets out to prove himself, and it turns into this surprisingly big-hearted adventure with treasure maps and villains.

The beauty of this Netflix film is that it doesn’t care how absurd it is. The movie leans right in, full of colour and speed, and it has a weird amount of emotion for something with feathers. It’ kind of brave in its own silly way, exactly what a good family movie should be.

The Curse of Bridge Hollow (Jeff Wadlow, 2022)

If Halloween decorations ever came alive, they would probably cause as much mayhem as this movie does. When Sydney moves to a town where every house looks like a Halloween shop exploded, she accidentally wakes up an old spirit that brings decorations to life. Imagine your plastic skeletons and jack-o’-lanterns suddenly walking around. She and her dad (played by Marlon Wayans) have to stop the madness before the town gets completely taken over.

The best part about it is how self-aware it is. It knows it’s ridiculous, and it owns it, just like Chickenhare. The jokes are silly, and the scares are soft. But what makes it perfect for Halloween is that it somehow nails that feeling of a town that loves Halloween a little too much.

Hubie Halloween (Steven Brill, 2020)

You would think a movie about a grown man obsessed with Halloween safety would be boring, but here you might be wrong. In fact, Hubie turns out to be the most entertaining weirdo in the neighbourhood. Everyone makes fun of him and calls him paranoid, and then the one year he’s right, the whole town loses it. The fun is in watching him take it all way too seriously and somehow save the day anyway.

Moreover, you can’t have Halloween without at least one Adam Sandler movie. The movie is ridiculous in all the right ways, full of silly humour and warm moments that will make your Halloween movie-watching experience wholesome.

Mr Harrigan’s Phone (John Lee Hancock, 2022)

Okay, let’s slow things down for a bit. This one’s quieter and an amazing watch for older kids who like stories that make them think. A teenager gifts his elderly friend a smartphone, and even after the old man dies, the messages between them don’t stop. It’s more emotional than scary. It’s a ghost story that’s really about connection and the weird ways technology gets into everything. Like a Halloween-themed, kid-friendly Black Mirror.

It’s the sort of story that makes you check your phone twice after it ends. It’s less about ghosts and more about how hard it is to let go of someone who used to answer when you called. Not your usual Halloween pick, but maybe that’s why it is a must-watch.

Nightbooks (David Yarovesky, 2021)

If you’ve ever loved fairy tales that feel just a little dark, this is your pick. Our protagonist Alex loves writing spooky stories, but when a witch traps him in her enchanted apartment, he has to write one every night to stay alive. It’s creepy but creative, with magic, clever twists, and a great lesson about embracing what makes you different.

The best thing about it is how it turns creativity into power. You start thinking it’s just another spooky kids’ movie, and by the end, it’s basically saying that your weirdness might be the one thing that saves you. If you have kids in your house, it is the perfect film to watch, as that’ll have kids imagining what story they’d tell to get out.

The Spooky Tale of Captain Underpants Hack-a-Ween (Peter Hastings, 2019)

Talk about a movie with a longer name! In The Spooky Tale of Captain Underpants Hack-a-Ween, when Halloween is cancelled, best friends George and Harold decide to make their own version of it, and it’s just as funny as you’d expect. There are pranks, costumes, and lots of those jokes that make kids giggle and adults pretend they’re not laughing too.

You don’t watch this for the story; you watch it because it’s impossible not to smile at how over-the-top it all is. The humour’s dumb in the smartest way possible. This family-friendly movie is only 45 minutes long, but it’s packed with fun.

Troll (Roar Uthaug, 2022)

If you’re in the mood for something bigger, literally, Troll is your movie. When a giant creature wakes up inside a Norwegian mountain, it straight away takes the path to the city. It’s less horror and more adventure.

The scale of this film is massive, but it’s not just about destruction. If you think about this film deeply, you will realise that the monster’s not even angry. It is just confusing that the world’s moved on without it. You start off laughing at the mess, and somewhere along the way, you realise you kind of feel bad for the troll.

We Have a Ghost (Christopher Landon, 2023)

You know how most haunted house stories are about running away? This one is the opposite. A family moves into a house and finds a ghost named Ernest. But instead of freaking out, they film him and go viral. But what starts as a funny internet story turns into something surprisingly touching.

You see, the unexpected thing about loneliness is what it means to be seen by someone when you’ve been invisible for too long. You start laughing at the absurdity of a YouTube-famous ghost, and by the time the film ends, you have got that soft ache in your chest, the same way it happened for Troll. So if you love these emotional ghost stories, We Have a Ghost is a really good pick.

Wendell & Wild (Henry Selick, 2022)

And finally, one for animation fans. This stop-motion gem comes from the same mind behind The Nightmare Before Christmas. It follows two demon brothers, Wendell and Wild, who convince a girl named Kat to help them escape the underworld. But the twist in the story comes when the brothers are plagued by her.

It’s the rare kind of animated film that’s not trying to be safe or cute. It’s messy, political, heartfelt, and spooky – everything all at once. You can tell Henry Selick poured everything he’s ever loved about weird stories into this, and the result is something that feels alive.