Pulp Ranked: Top 10 Halloween Movies If You're A Fkn Scaredy Cat
By Maria Gil
10. Corpses Bride (2005)
This Tim Burton film (again) is a stop-motion beauty that follows the story of Victor and Victoria, who are set to get married because their families believe the other is wealthy (they are both poor). Victor is nervous about the wedding, so he decides to practice his vows in a forest and places the wedding ring on what he thought was a branch but SURPRISE! It's actually a hand, and he is dragged to the land of the dead where the dead bride Emily wishes to marry Victor. Now Victor must return to the land of the living to get to Victoria. This is another one of those movies that catch you by surprise and makes you cry even though it is supposed to be a dark fantasy film that leaves yours with goosebumps.
9. Frankenweinie (2012)
This stop-motion, dark, fantasy, horror-comedy was directed by the king of the genre, Tim Burton. Loosely based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, we follow the story of a young science nerd and overall school outside Victor Frankenstein. Victor doesn't mind being alone because he has his dog, Sparky. But one-day tragedy takes Victor's life, and Sparky dies! So he does the only logical thing and sciences Sparky back to life. Everything is great until one of Victor's classmate steals his secret and starts resurrecting other monstrous dead animals. This black and white movie will make you hug your pets a little bit closer.
8. Coraline (2009)
Another unforgettable stop-motion film by studio Laika. Coraline is based on Neil Gaiman's novel of the same name. It follows the story of Coraline as she discovers a secret door in her new home. This door leads to a world that closely mirrors her own, but it is so much better! That is until Other Mother tries to keep her in the Otherworld forever. This spooky tale will make you regret ever wishing for a different set of parents during your childhood.
7. The Addams Family (1991)
When you're an Addams, you have to have a lot of passion. When you're Addams, you have a zombie-Frankenstein and hand butler, loving parents, a murderous sister, a strange brother, a witch of a grandmother and a missing uncle. If you haven't heard of the Addams Family, then you are a criminal who lives under a rock. This version of the Addams Family story is best next to the late 2010 Broadway Musical version. Here Gomez was trying to find his brother Fester after a bad fall-out 25 years ago. Then why day Fester returns..except he is marriage…and doesn't look all that Fester like and oddly interested in the Addams family fortune. Keep your sunshine and keep your glee because the Addams Family are dancing into your none gothic life.
6. Paranorman (2012)
This beautifully crafted stop-motion ghost story has more heart than undead. It follows the story of Norman — he can see ghosts— who prefers the company of the dead more than the living (cause living people can be jerks). Still, one day he finds himself needing to save his small town with the help of his sister, a not so bright quarterback, Norman's best friend, and Norman's bully. It's perfect for those who like the aesthetic of the spooky season but not the actual scary that comes with it. Will the zombies make you cry? Probably
5. Beetlejuice (1988)
Who's your favourite strip-suit villain? Beetlejuice. After Barbara and Adam die in a car accident, they find themselves stuck haunting their old residence and unable to scare the new inhabitants of their former home. This attracts the help of Beetlejuice, and soon Barbara, Adam and teenage Lydia (Wiona Ryder) find out that the "help" is more dangerous than helpful. This fantasy-comedy-horror film was directed by Tim Burton, the man behind so many not so scary Halloween classic. BEETLEJUICE!
4. Over the Garden Wall (2014)
This is not a movie per se, but the whole series clocks in around two hours so I could count as a movie (and I am counting it). This short animated series is the perfect Halloween storybook autumnal vibe condensed down into a beautiful horror-comedy-drama that will allow you to sleep at night. The adventures of Wirt and Greg who get lost in the Unknown — a strange forest lost in time — does some legitimate scary scenes. Still, it was a Cartoon Network show, so it depends on how easily you frighten.
3. Hocus Pocus (1993)
I'll put a spell on you with the black candlelight by a virgin. Hocus Pocus is set in Salem, Massachusetts, where Max accidentally frees a coven of evil witches who want to live forever by stealing the souls of young children. Nothing says Halloween like inadvertently causing possible death of hundreds of kids in silly costumes. If you haven't seen the Sanderson sisters in action, I am more in you than Thackery Binx is of Max.
2. Halloween Town (1998)
This late 1990s classic follows the story of Marnie and her siblings when they discover that their grandmother (played by Debbie Reynolds) is actually a witch from a peculiar place called Halloweentown. Before you roll your eyes at a Disney Channel movie, Marnie's story is actually enjoyable as you fall in a world of continual orange pumpkins, caramel apples and endless candy.
1. Nightmare Before Christmas (1994)
This beautiful stop-motion film is a cult classic that follows the story of the Pumpkin King Jack Skellington as he tries to find newfound meaning in his life after so many Halloweens. Some people say this film is a Christmas movie. Don't trust those people. They are criminals. This is clearly a Halloween film because the only time Disney releases new merchandising for the story of Jack's Lament is when the season of This is Halloween is creeping around the corner. After all, what sort of movie Kidnaps Mr Sandy Claws? A spooky one. That's right.