Counting down the days to Halloween? These Instant Videos should help!
Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (rated PG, 4.75/5 stars, currently priced at $1.99 to rent and $9.99 to buy) – Jack Skellington, The Pumpkin King, is tiring of his annual Halloween duties. When he happens upon Christmastown, he decides to give “Sandy Claws” the night off on Christmas and gets everyone in his home of Halloweentown to pitch in—with disastrous results! A stop-motion animated family classic.
Hocus Pocus (rated PG, 4.75/5 stars, currently priced at $1.99 to rent and $9.99 to buy) – You’re in for a devil of a time when three outlandishly wild witches return from 17th-century Salem after they’re accidentally conjured up by some unsuspecting pranksters! This family comedy stars Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker.
Mad Monster Party (not rated since it originally aired on television, but this is a family classic; 4.5/5 stars, currently priced at $1.99 to rent and $6.99 to buy, and currently FREE for Amazon Prime members to view) – Baron Von Frankenstein (voice of Boris Karloff) has decided to retire as the head of the Worldwide Organization of Monsters. But first, he must inform the other monsters about his plans. How to deliver the news? How else – through a MAD MONSTER PARTY!
It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (not rated since it originally aired on television, but this is another family classic; 5/5 stars, currently priced at $9.99 to buy) – As the Peanuts gang gets ready for trick or treating and a Halloween party, Linus prepares to spend Halloween night in the most “sincere” pumpkin patch he can find, hoping to meet The Great Pumpkin at last. Charlie Brown’s little sister Sally forgoes her first opportunity to go trick or treating so she can meet The Great Pumpkin too, but as the night wears on, she begins to have doubts.
This timeless classic from Charles M. Shultz and Bill Melendez is remastered and features many heartwarming scenes. Also included are the bonus episodes It’s Magic, Charlie Brown and Lucy Must Be Traded, Charlie Brown.
The Haunted Mansion (PG, 3.75/5 stars, currently priced at $1.99 to rent) – Eddie Murphy stars as a workaholic real estate agent. When he and his family are called to spend the weekend in a huge—if a little creepy—mansion, his family thinks they’ll have a chance to reconnect at last, but he’s only thinking this could be the listing of a lifetime. It’s not until they discover the house is haunted, and the resident ghostly owner of the mansion has designs on Mom, that the family pulls together to save her and lift the curse from the house.
The Addams Family (PG-13, 4.75/5 stars, currently priced at $2.99 to rent and $9.99 to buy, and currently FREE for Amazon Prime members to view) – When long-lost Uncle Fester (Christopher Lloyd) reappears after twenty-five years in the Bermuda Triangle, Gomez (Raul Julia) and Morticia (Anjelica Huston) plan a celebration to wake the dead.
Coraline (PG, 4/5 stars, currently priced at $2.99 to rent and $6.99 to buy) – An adventurous girl finds another world that is a strangely idealized version of her frustrating home, but it has sinister secrets.
This animated treat comes from Henry Selick, the same director who brought us The Nightmare Before Christmas, and it’s based on the children’s novel of the same name by Newbury Award -winning author Neil Gaiman.