Spooky season is here! Nothing says “spooky season” quite like snuggling and watching a scary movie with someone you are comfortable frightening half to death. (Also, what are our other options this year?) Disney has you covered, for every age range and demographic. These are our very favorite Disney Halloween movies, TV shows, and specials for every ghoul, ghost, or goblin in your house. Many of these are available on Disney+ or DVD, but if there’s a title you want to check out and it’s not there, you may have to, er, get creative with how you watch. But we trust you. Do the right thing. Mickey is watching. No pressure.
Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)
A low-key, often forgotten Disney classic,Something Wicked This Way Comesshould be added immediately to your annual Halloween rotation. (There’s a DVD that’s still available.) British directorJack Claytonhad wanted to turn theRay Bradburystory into a movie since the late 1950s, whenGene Kellybecame interested in the property (presumably in playing the villainous Mr. Dark). The project became available once more in the early 1980s, and Clayton jumped at the chance to finally see the project through. Bradbury wrangled his unruly screenplay, about a demonic presence (eventually played by a youngJonathan Pryce) that brings a mysterious carnival to a small New England town, to a more manageable length. What’s even more miraculous aboutSomething Wicked This Way Comesis that it survived a particularly brutal post-production process that saw the movie delayed by 2 years, expensive reshoots conducted, and a new score (by the greatJames Horner) implemented (the original score byGeorges Deleruewas eventually released and is also very awesome). For all of that behind-the-scenes trouble, the movie is still a super creepy blast. And, for bonus Disney trivia, the town square that you see at the end of Muppet*Vision 3D in Walt Disney World is actually the set fromSomething Wicked This Way Comes.
Hocus Pocus (1993)
A movie that deserves to be on every Halloween must-watch list, Disney or otherwise,Hocus Pocusis the little movie that could. It started out as a pitch from horror directorMick Garris(who called itDisney’s Halloween House) and was at one point going to be a co-production withSteven Spielberg’s Amblin. By the time the movie reached theaters, ten years after it was originally purchased, the tone had softened and stocked with Disney stalwarts like directorKenny Ortega(who would go on to shepherd theHigh School Musicalfranchise) andBette Midler(who starred in atonof movies for the studio in the 1980s and 90s). Released in July, to take advantage of kids being out of school, it was a box office bomb – it debuted in fourth place and by the second weekend was out of the top 10 altogether. Which is a shame, because the movie is really great and weird and funny (yabos remains a euphemism for breasts we have not heard before or since). Its story about a trio of witches who return on Halloween and runamok, amok, amokmakes for an oddly timeless Halloween favorite. (It also helps that it’s gorgeously shot byThe RocketeercinematographerHiro Narita.) And in the years since its release, it’s become a full-on powerhouse, led largely by annual Halloween airings on Disney Channel and ABC that have blossomed into a full-blown cornerstone of Freeform’s 31 Days of Halloween programming schedule. There’s even a full-on stage show at the Magic Kingdom’s hard ticket Halloween event every year (not this year obviously). Like the witches in the movie,Hocus Pocusmight have been prematurely put to rest but they’re back and better than ever baby.
Gravity Falls (2012-2016)
Alex Hirsch’s wonderful original animated series (which ran on Disney XD and Disney Channel) might be set in a seemingly endless summer vacation, but its emphasis on the otherworldly and its generally spooky (if not outright scary) tone make it a perfect Halloween watch.Gravity Falls, if you’ve never seen it, follows twins Dipper (Jason Ritter) and Mabel (Kristen Schaal), who go to visit their weird great-uncle Stan (Hirsch) for the summer at his wacky roadside oddities museum. While the museum itself is filled with fake nonsense, they soon realize that the town ofGravity Fallsis much stranger. The show is full of hidden symbols and elaborate mythology that never gets in the way of the storytelling. And occasionally it’s very freaky. Watch season 2 opener “Scary-oke,” about a zombie outbreak at a karaoke party, to see just how far they could push things. Also, they managed to fit in an actual Halloween episode in with the terrific “Summerween” from season 1. But really, just watch the whole series – it’s on Disney+! – what Hirsch and his collaborators were able to accomplish in just two short seasons is pretty stunning. This kind of complex, multilayered, highly emotional storytelling has become a hallmark of Disney Television Animation in recent years, and it all started withGravity Falls.
Toy Story of Terror! (2013)
In the years following the release ofToy Story 3, the characters were kept alive through a series of “Toy Story Toons” and a pair of holiday specials, all of which helped keep the franchise alive before their return in last year’s excellentToy Story 4.Toy Story of Terrorwas the first holiday special and it is awesome.
Paying homage to the “spooky motel’ subgenre of things likePsychoandVacancy(and saddling Jesse with a Hitchcockian fear of enclosed spaces), the special concerns the toys being stranded in a motel for a night after Bonnie’s mom’s car gets a flat tire. Something mysterious starts abducting the toys one by one, and it’s up to the survivors to figure out what is going on. It’s a ton of fun and the first half of the special (or so) has some genuinely creepy moments as an unseen force makes off with our beloved characters. Written and directed by Pixar vetAngus MacLaneand featuring all of the voice actors from the movies (includingTom HanksandTim Allen), it’s a perfect burst ofToy StoryHalloween fun. It is also fairly important in theToy Storymythos for turning Combat Carl and Combat Carl, Jr. (both voiced byCarl Weathers) into an actual character (the Combat Carl, Jr. gag inToy Story 4is a scream).Toy Story of Terroris still aired pretty regularly on ABC. If it pops up this year, don’t miss it.
“Runaway Brain” (1995)
One of the harder things on this list to find is “Runaway Brain,” a brilliant 1995 theatrical short that played in front ofA Kid in King Arthur’s Court(internationally, it played beforeA Goofy Moviethe following year) and one that made people so uncomfortable that Mickey wouldn’t return to the theatrical short space until “Get A Horse” nearly 20 years later. In the short Minnie is tired of Mickey sitting around and playing videogames; she implores him to do something and so, to pay for a vacation for the two of them, he volunteers to work for a mad scientist named Dr. Frankenollie (Kelsey Grammer, the character named after two of Walt’s Nine Old Men –Frank ThomasandOllie Johnston). Mickey’s brain winds up being placed in a brutish, monstrous body while the monster’s brain goes inside Mickey turning into a snarling fiend (see above). Beautifully animated (in part by the Walt Disney Animation outpost in Paris), the short has a wonderful sense of manic energy and comic timing. But the short’s darker tone, complete with a reference toThe Exorcist, and a sequence where it could be construed that Mickey (with the monster brain) is trying to, er, rape Minnie, quickly got it sequestered in the Disney Vault. (It was released on home video, once, as a collection of Mickey Mouse color shorts. The DVD is now long out of print.) It is a shame that it has been treated so unfairly. It’s brilliant and very, very fun and should probably be on Disney+ with the appropriate disclaimer about outdated material. 90s Mickey deserves it.
Tower of Terror (1997)
While most will reach forEddie Murphy’sThe Haunted Mansionwhen it comes to Disney-movie-based-on-a-theme-park-attraction-but-also-is-a-Halloween-movie, but we suggest you seek outTower of Terrorinstead, a made-for-TV movie that fits all of that criteria but is way more fun. Based on the recently opened attraction at what was then Disney-MGM Studios, part of the sprawling Walt Disney World complex outside of Orlando, Florida, the film originally aired as part ofThe Wonderful World of Disneyon June 15, 2025. Stocked with a surprisingly starry cast, led bySteve Guttenbergas a tabloid journalist andKirsten Dunstas his daughter, who are tasked with investigating the mysterious disappearance of aShirley Temple-style child star in a spooky Hollywood hotel. (The original attraction, later replicated at Disney California Adventure, Disneyland Paris and Tokyo DisneySea, had a connection toThe Twilight Zone; that tie is missing here.) Spookier than you’d probably expect,Tower of Terroralso has the unique distinction of filming inside the attraction that it’s based on, something that none of the other theme-park-to-film-adaptations can claim.
True, only half ofThe Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad(the half that adaptsWashington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”) is applicable for Halloween. But what a half it is. “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” section, narrated and voiced byBing Crosby, which gives it a jazzy campfire (or maybe it’s Las Vegas lounge with a fireplace) feel, is iconic and totally Halloween-y. From the fall-in-New-England setting to the unforgettable sequence of the Headless Horseman chasing poor schoolteacher Ichabod Crane across the covered bridge, flaming pumpkin in hand.
And if the movie looks like people were killing themselves over it, they were. Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston said that a handful of Disney animators quit after production concluded, fed up with how demanding Walt was. (No shit.) In the years since it was originally packaged with “The Wind in the Willows,” “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” segment has aired on television and become packaged as part of various annual Disney Halloween specials. Plus, the Headless Horseman has become a huge part of the seasonal celebrations at the Disney Parks (not this year, of course) but the spirit of a demonic, decapitated hellion still gallops through our heart.
Frankenweenie (2012)
Back when Tim Burton was a bored animator, working on uninspiring Disney films likeFox and the HoundandThe Black Cauldron, he busied himself with “extracurricular activities” sanctioned by Disney but far outside of what he was supposed to be doing. All of these projects are worthy of Halloween, whether it’s the stop-motion marvel “Vincent” or his Kung Fu version of “Hansel and Gretel” that was so profoundly bizarre that it was only aired once, on the Disney Channel, on Halloween night at 10:30 pm. But easily the most Halloween-friendly isFrankweenie, a 30-minute live-action featurette about a young boy who resurrects his beloved dog.
When Disney got the finished film, they didn’t know what to do with it, intending to pair it first with a re-release ofThe Jungle Bookand later a re-release ofPinocchio. Both planned releases were subsequently canceled, and it only saw the light of day after Burton became a Hollywood bigshot with the success of films likeBeetlejuiceandBatman. And most improbably, just like Victor’s beloved pooch, it returned to life as a black-and-white stop-motion animated feature, directed by Burton with an expanded script byJohn August. (Both versions are available on Disney+.) The newFrankenweenie, utilizing some of the same puppets from Burton’s similarly fabulousThe Corpse Bride, wisely elaborates on the original featurette, giving Victor’s classmates their own pets and the means to bring them back from the great beyond, which gives the entire movie an unhinged, manic energy that the short was lacking. This one is just the right amount of intense for the younger viewers.
“DTV Monster Hits” (1987)
DTV, for those too young to remember, was a series of “music videos” played during the early days of The Disney Channel, when it was a premium station and therefor needed shorter, filler content to go where commercials normally would. Essentially they would be short montages of classic Disney animated shorts, reconfigured and set to the beat of a popular song (either of the moment or more “classic”). These actually aired until 2002. And while there were several holiday specials (including a dog-centered Valentine’s Day episode) – “DTV Monster Hits.” The special originally aired on August 13, 2025 and was a compilation of Halloween-adjacent pop songs set to the usual assortment of classic Disney clips. If you’ve ever thought,You know, classic Disney animated short “Lonesome Ghosts” would be way more entertaining ifRay Parker Jr’sGhostbusterstheme was playing in the background, well, this hour-long special is for you.
Hosted by the Evil Queen’s Magic Mirror (played byJeffrey Jones), “DTV Monster Hits” is notable for bringing back voice acting legendJune Forayto play Witch Hazel from the famous Huey, Dewey and Louie short “Trick or Treat” and for the occasionally insane choice of clips to accompany certain lyrics, like “I hear a-hurricane’s a-blowin’” fromCreedence Clearwater Revival’s “Bad Moon Rising” using footage from classic Mickey cartoon “The Band Concert.” It’s also fun to see them play clips from more recent Disney fare from the period (includingThe Black CauldronandThe Great Mouse Detective). If Halloween parties were an actual thing this year, this would be a fun one to put on and let play. It’s full of Hallo-bangers and awesome clips. What a blast.
Halloweentown (1998)
Halloweentown, which spawned a veritable franchise of Disney Channel Original Movies, has become an annual must-watch (it was just announced as part of the Freeform 31 Days of Halloween programming line-up). And it is perfect for the season – just look at the name. It’s the tale of some young kids who follow their witchy grandmother (played by a very gameDebbie Reynolds) back to an alternate Halloween-ified reality where everyone is a ghoul, ghost, or creature (also the cab driver is a talking skeleton so they’ve got that going on). It is arguably the DCOM equivalent ofHocus Pocus– one that is so synonymous with the holiday that you justhaveto watch. But also let this fill in for your favorite Halloween-adjacent DCOM, whether it’sThe Scream TeamorTwitchesorInvisible SisterorZombiesorGirl vs. Monsteror … The list, in other words, goes very long. They’re all sweet-and-cheesy delights. Just choose wisely. And start withHalloweentown.
