The 15 best Halloween movies to stream this year for peak '90s nostalgia
Gabbi Shaw
- These Halloween movies released in the 1990s are still beloved 30 years later.
- They star '90s icons, including Christina Ricci, Neve Campbell, and the Olsen twins.
As any '90s kid knows, fashion, TV shows, movies, video games, and pop culture in general were all peaking in the '90s.
That goes for Halloween movies as well — from kid-friendly classics like "Hocus Pocus" and "Halloweentown" to iconic slasher films like "Scream" and "H20: 20 Years Later," the '90s were a great time for Halloween.
Here are 15 of the best '90s Halloween films to stream this year, plus two bonuses from the late '80s that couldn't be left out.
The 1998 fantasy film "Practical Magic" stars Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as a pair of witchy sisters.
"Practical Magic" tells the story of the Owens sisters, Sally (Bullock) and Gillian (Kidman), who grew up in a small Massachusetts town with their magical aunts played by Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest.
When they learn that the women of their family are cursed in matters of love, Sally and Gillian deal with their fates differently: Sally closes herself off from love and magic, and Gillian jumps from guy to guy.
But when one of Gillian's abusive boyfriends ends up dead, the two must return to their witchy roots to save each other.
"Practical Magic" is streaming on Hulu.
"Hocus Pocus," released in 1993, is probably the most well-known '90s Halloween classic.
"Hocus Pocus" stars Kathy Najimy, Bette Midler, and Sarah Jessica Parker as the Sanderson sisters, a trio of witches who were banished in the late 1600s after trying to drain the life force of the children of Salem, Massachusetts, a famously spooky spot.
But when new Salem resident Max Dennison lights the black flame candle on Halloween in 1993, he inadvertently brings back the Sanderson sisters. He must team up with his little sister, his new crush, a talking black cat named Binx, and a zombie named Billy to bring them down.
"Hocus Pocus" has gained such popularity over the years that a legacy sequel was released in 2022 on Disney+ titled "Hocus Pocus 2."
"Hocus Pocus" is streaming on Disney+.
After it was released in 1993, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" spawned a debate: Is it a Christmas or a Halloween movie?
"The Nightmare Before Christmas" is a beautiful stop-motion animated movie that combines the spookiness of Halloween and the whimsy of Christmas.
Jack Skellington — the Pumpkin King, the star of Halloweentown, and the inspiration for many a goth teen — feels depressed after celebrating yet another Halloween. He visits Christmastown, a land of eternal snow, presents, and Santa Claus, and decides he wants to bring Christmas to the residents of Halloweentown.
However, the witches, warlocks, vampires, and monsters of Halloweentown don't truly get the Christmas spirit, leading to some hilarious misunderstandings.
"The Nightmare Before Christmas" is streaming on Disney+.
Any '90s kid remembers the magic of 1998's Disney Channel original movie "Halloweentown."
If you were born after 1990, chances are you knew Debbie Reynolds not as the delightful heroine of "Singin' in the Rain," but as the witchy Grandma Aggie in "Halloweentown."
"Halloweentown" takes place in a world where Marnie, a normal teenager, discovers that she's descended from witches and is actually from a secret land called Halloweentown, where all manners of spooky creatures are real and it's always Halloween.
But when Marnie's mom and grandma are incapacitated by a spell cast by a secret enemy, she and her siblings must band together to save their new home.
"Halloweentown" was so successful that it spawned three sequels: "Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge" (2001), "Halloweentown High" (2004), and "Return to Halloweentown" (2006).
"Halloweentown" is streaming on Disney+.
"Scream" is the ultimate '90s horror film. It was released in 1996.
"Scream," directed by horror icon Wes Craven, totally changed the game when it was released. "Scream" played with the conventions of classic horror films by making its characters aware of those conventions, like the killer always being someone you know, how you should never wander off by yourself, and how you should never have sex when a killer is on the loose.
The film stars Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott, a typical teen who, along with her friends, becomes the target of a serial killer wearing a creepy mask (now called Ghostface). While trying to solve the case, she also deals with Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox), an aggressive journalist who called out our obsession with true crime decades before podcasts like "Serial."
"Scream" is streaming on Paramount+.
The sequel "Scream 2" was released the next year, in 1997. It doubled down on everything that made the original great.
"Scream 2" is perhaps best known for its iconic opening scene and first kills, starring Jada Pinkett Smith and Omar Epps as a couple on a date to watch "Stab," an in-universe film based on the events of "Scream." During the scene, they discuss how Black characters usually die first in horror films — and, sadly, they don't go against the trope in this film.
"Scream 2" is filled to the brim with iconic '90s stars — besides Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Pinkett Smith, and Epps, the film also has appearances from Jerry O'Connell, Timothy Olyphant, Liev Schreiber, Rebecca Gayheart, Portia de Rossi, Heather Graham, Tori Spelling, Laurie Metcalf, Joshua Jackson, Luke Wilson, and Sarah Michelle Gellar.
After "Scream 2," there were four more films: "Scream 3" (2000), "Scream 4" (2011), "Scream" (2022), and "Scream VI" (2023), with at least one more on the way, Deadline reported.
"Scream 2" is streaming on Paramount+.
"Sleepy Hollow" squeaked in just under the wire with its November 1999 release date.
"Sleepy Hollow" is one of the multiple collaborations between director Tim Burton and Johnny Depp.
This film is a loose adaptation of the famed 1820 short story, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," by Washington Irving.
In this version, Depp stars as Ichabod Crane, a quirky police constable who is summoned from New York City to the quiet upstate town of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of mysterious decapitations — the town believes it's the work of an evil spirit called the Headless Horseman.
Christina Ricci also stars as Ichabod's love interest, Katrina, and it won't be her last appearance on this list.
"Sleepy Hollow" is streaming on Max.
"Death Becomes Her" is a 1992 camp classic.
Meryl Streep and and Goldie Hawn star as two frenemies who literally die in pursuit of eternal youth and beauty, with some truly iconic '90s-era CGI and a very fun supporting performance from Bruce Willis as the object of their shared affections.
While it might not technically be a "Halloween" film, this movie deals with the supernatural and has inspired many a Halloween costume, so we're counting it.
"Death Becomes Her" is streaming on Freevee.
For a more family-friendly movie, try 1995's "Casper," which also stars Christina Ricci.
Ricci plays a young girl named Kat who, after losing her mother, meets a friendly ghost named Casper, who doesn't remember how he died.
The two bond over trying to figure out the history of Casper's life, while Kat's father James (Bill Pullman), a ghost therapist, tries to help an heiress clear Casper and his poltergeist uncles out of her mansion.
"Casper" is streaming on Peacock.
"The Craft," released in 1996, is a must-see for any witchy teenager ... or former teenager.
When Sarah Bailey (Robin Tunney) moves to a new school, she befriends a group of fellow outcasts, Bonnie (Neve Campbell), Nancy (Fairuza Balk), and Rochelle (Rachel True), who are rumored to be witches — and they are.
As "The Craft" progresses, the four girls bond and become more powerful. But when one becomes a little too power-hungry, the other three must decide if they want to continue down this magical path.
"The Craft" is streaming on Hulu.
You might not know that The WB show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is actually loosely based on the 1992 film of the same name.
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" stars Kristy Swanson as Buffy (the role later made iconic by Sarah Michelle Gellar), a typical Valley Girl teen who discovers that she's actually the one true Slayer with superhuman abilities to track down and kill vampires.
Come for the quippy dialogue, stay for iconic supporting performances from Luke Perry, Rutger Hauer, Donald Sutherland, and Paul Reubens.
And if you like the film and somehow missed out on the show, you have seven seasons of that to watch, too.
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (the movie) is streaming on Max, and the show is streaming on Hulu.
Jamie Lee Curtis returned as Laurie Strode in 1998's "Halloween H20: 20 Years Later."
After exiting the franchise in 1981 after "Halloween II," Curtis returned to the "Halloween" universe 17 years later to once again face off against her brother-turned-serial-killer Michael Myers.
Ignoring all the films past "Halloween II," "H20" picks up with Laurie living in fear of Michael and trying to protect her son John, played by Josh Hartnett in his film debut.
"H20" was followed by "Halloween: Resurrection" (2002), "Halloween" (2007), "Halloween II" (2009), "Halloween" (2018), "Halloween Kills" (2021), and "Halloween Ends" (2022).
"Halloween H20: 20 Years Later" is streaming on Paramount+.
"Wes Craven's New Nightmare" is another return to form for a horror franchise. It was released in 1994.
After leaving the franchise behind after the first "Nightmare on Elm Street" in 1984, director Wes Craven returned for "Wes Craven's New Nightmare," the sixth installment starring dream demon Freddy Krueger.
Like "Scream," Craven's other iconic franchise, "New Nightmare" is deliciously meta — Heather Langenkamp, the star of the first "Elm Street" film, plays herself. And when Langenkamp starts having dreams of her fictional nemesis, she might learn that Freddy is realer than she thinks.
There have only been two "Nightmare" sequels since: 2003's "Freddy vs. Jason" and 2010's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" remake.
"Wes Craven's New Nightmare" is streaming on Max.
Christina Ricci's third appearance on this list, 1991's "The Addams Family," is a classic.
The movie was based on the cartoon strip and the '60s TV series of the same name, introducing a whole new generation to Gomez (Raul Julia) and Morticia Addams (Anjelica Huston), their kids Wednesday (Ricci) and Pugsley (Jimmy Workman), Gomez's brother Fester (Christopher Lloyd), and their butler Lurch (Carel Struycken).
"The Addams Family" was followed by "Addams Family Values" in 1993, which is simultaneously a summer and Thanksgiving classic. Then, in the 2010s, there was the animated adaptation "The Addams Family" in 2019 and the 2021 sequel "The Addams Family 2" — plus the 2022 Netflix series "Wednesday."
"The Addams Family" is streaming on Paramount+.
"Double, Double, Toil and Trouble" is one of many '90s classics starring the Olsen twins. It was released in 1993.
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have starred in multiple movies and TV shows over the years, including this 1993 classic, in which they play twins Kelly and Lynn.
On Halloween, the sisters must fight against their evil Aunt Agatha (Cloris Leachman), a witch who imprisoned her own twin sister.
As Kelly and Lynn make friends along the way, they use their sisterly bond — and a little bit of magic — to save the day.
"Double, Double, Toil and Trouble" is available to rent on Amazon Prime.
BONUS: "Beetlejuice," a Halloween classic, was released in 1988.
"Beetlejuice" is another Tim Burton film, this time starring Michael Keaton as the demon Betelgeuse, who is summoned by new ghosts Barbara and Adam Maitland, played by Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin.
The Maitlands, who want to keep their Connecticut vacation home to themselves (even though they're dead), call upon Betelgeuse to help scare the new (living) owners of their home: disaffected father Charles Deetz (Jeffrey Jones), his eccentric second wife Delia (Catherine O'Hara), and his goth daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder).
Seances, ghosts, demons, skeletons, and creepy crawlies abound in "Beetlejuice" — and it's only two years removed from the '90s, so it deserves a bonus spot.
Plus, a "Beetlejuice" sequel starring Keaton, Ryder, and newcomer to the franchise Jenna Ortega, is imminent, as reported by Deadline. Jump in the line and re-watch this classic.
"Beetlejuice" is available to rent on Amazon Prime.
"The Witches of Eastwick" is another '80s movie that fits the '90s vibes we're looking for.
We couldn't make a vintage Halloween movies list without adding "The Witches of Eastwick," which stars Cher, Susan Sarandon, and Michelle Pfeiffer as three best friends living in Eastwick, Rhode Island, who are unlucky in love. They decide to combine their feminine wiles and magic to summon their ideal man.
The only problem? The man they summon, Daryl Van Horne (played by Jack Nichsolson), may or may not be the devil incarnate.
"The Witches of Eastwick" is streaming on Max.
Popular Right Now
Popular Keywords
Advertisement