Spooky But Kid-Friendly Movies For Friday the 13th

Spilling salt.

Picking up a penny on tails.

Walking under a ladder.

Breaking a mirror.

Opening an umbrella inside the house.

Having a black cat cross your path.

Friday the 13th.

Although most people consider Friday the 13th to be unlucky, the day has always been a lucky one for me. (This is one of only a few things I have in common with Taylor Swift, but I digress.) I have associated the number 13 with good fortune since middle school when I won a large, bear-shaped container of animal crackers by having a ticket with the number 13. Also, many moons later, I would become engaged to my husband on Friday the 13th.

In addition to an appreciation for the number 13, I have always loved scary movies. I was raised on classic horror films like Carrie, Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Friday the 13th. Growing up in my family, days like Halloween and Friday the 13th were a time for fun and togetherness. Ironically, the scary movies associated with these days have always given me feelings of warmth and coziness, sort of like my own twisted sense of hygge.

This Friday the 13th, join me, dear friends, in putting down the pitchforks and putting away any lingering feelings of triskaidekaphobia. Instead, check out these sometimes funny, oftentimes spooky, but entirely kid-friendly movies.

G: General Audiences

  • Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
  • Monsters, Inc. (2001)
  • Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
  • Spooky Buddies (2011)

PG: Parental Guidance Suggested

  • Young Frankenstein (1974) available on disc at Amazon
  • ET (1982)
  • Poltergeist (1982)
  • Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) available on disc at Amazon
  • Ghostbusters (1984)
  • The Neverending Story (1984)
  • Gremlins (1984)
  • The Goonies (1985)
  • Beetlejuice (1988)
  • Little Monsters (1989)
  • The Witches (1990)
  • Hocus Pocus (1993)
  • Casper (1995)
  • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
  • The Haunted Mansion (2003)
  • Corpse Bride (2005)
  • Monster House (2006)
  • The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)
  • Coraline (2009)
  • Frankenweenie (2012)
  • Hotel Transylvania (2012)
  • ParaNorman (2012)
  • The Boxtrolls (2014)
  • Goosebumps (2015)

PG-13: Parents Strongly Cautioned

  • Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
  • The Monster Squad (1987)
  • Edward Scissorhands (1990)
  • The Addams Family (1991)
  • Ghostbusters (2016)

Most titles are available for $2.99 on Prime Video (unless otherwise noted). Additional information about the films, including movie descriptions, can be found at Common Sense Media.

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