5 Halloween films to make millennials nostalgic

It’s that time of year again. We’re in the countdown, it’s just over a week until Halloween, so now is the perfect time to get into the spirit of things. If you haven’t decorated your house or flat with spiders and cobwebs, then at least you have them lurking around crawling in through your bathroom window, like me.

October is quite possibly my favourite month of the year, and I’ve always been slightly bitter that my birthday didn’t fall into one of these 31 days. It’s the prettiest month, the leaves look amazing, you’re not freezing cold (but getting there) and it’s a season filled with my best colours – oxblood, dark greens, black. It also maybe has something to do with the fact that it’s OK to buy bags of Halloween candy to keep about the house – finishing one after the next because you don’t have the luxury of Trick or Treating anymore, but you do have the luxury of adulthood and eating chocolate for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

But enough aboout the love for the month, we’re talking about the love for Halloween films, specifically the ones that’ll make my fellow (OK, I’m borderline millennial anyways) gasp with excitement. To be fair, these are pretty epic ones, so they’ve actually loved by everyone.

Here’s my top five Halloween films to make millennials nostalgic:

1. Hocus Pocus

Released in 1993 (OMG), this Disney classic starred this incredible trifecta featuring Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker. Yep. We didn’t know what Sex & The City would go on to become and hey, didn’t it take you a little too long to reflect and remember that it’s Sarah Jessica Parker as well, Sarah Sanderson? And realising the epic stardom of Bette Midler? Went RIGHT over our little heads. Until years later, of course. With such female powerhouses, it’s no wonder that Max the (hero – and virgin who lit the candle – seriously, he was the first one in all that time to light the candle? There were no other teens trying to impress back in the day?) ended up out of acting and now working as a hairdresser in L.A. haunted forever each October by his once upon a time film successes.

2. Halloweentown

This film was groundbreaking in Disney film history. It was the year of 1998 and you wanted to be Marnie and discover you had witch heritage. It was basically the first sort of film version of what we would eventually see on a larger scale with the magic of Harry Potter. We all wished to be Debbie Reynold’s granddaughter and have her whisk us away to Halloweentown. It was all too good, quirky and fun, taking us on a journey from the normal realm into another one, where it’s Halloween every day. Of course, there’s romance and former flames involved and three sequels, Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge, Halloweentown High, Return to Halloweentown (this one didn’t have Kimberly Brown as Marnie though, so meh).

3. Double Double Toil and Trouble

If you weren’t a Mary Kate and Ashley fan, did you even live in the 90s? I was obsessed with their shows. Literally. Every. Single. One. I owned them all on VHS (lol) and would watch them repetitively. Of course, their Halloween film from 1993 was a winner too. Double Double Toil and Trouble saw the girls running around their city with reckless abandon trying to free their aunt Sophia from being trapped in a mirror (obviously) by her sister. Such a clear reminder of why these two should go into acting again. Sigh.

4. I Know What You Did Last Summer

I had to throw in one that was actually scary. At this point was I even really old enough to watch this? It was 1997. Probably not. But I remember it anyways and it stays as a classic staple for letting me know that I truly would never be the type of person to love scary movies. And also a life lesson that it’s best to pay attention when driving. In cute news, what started as a horror movie ended in happily ever after for Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. PS. I have to say, I haven’t watched any of the sequels.

5. The Nightmare Before Christmas

Another Halloween Town for us and another released in 1993. What a year for Halloween films! A slightly tweaked version to our previous Halloween Towns –  we all loved Jack’s enthusiasm for Christmas and honestly, I can’t hep but get excited when I realise this is on TV. Within the stop motion animated land, Tim Burton brought together two holidays that have absolutely nothing in common and made us all fall in love.

So… I don’t know about you but with a week left to get in all your movie watching, it’s time to get started. Whether you’re a millennial or not, these are must haves in your Halloween film lineup.

Kelly xox