RSS
Home
Family friendly Halloween movies
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
.jpg)
"Abbott and Costello Meet Franksenstein" Photo: Universal Studios (c) 1948
Halloween is a great time for scary movies. It’s also a great time for little kids. However, "Zombieland," a very good movie, deserves its R rating. The two don’t always go well together. "Saw," "Hostel" and "Drag Me to Hell" don’t necessarily go over well with the grade school crowd, either. If you’re planning a Halloween movie marathon for après trick-or-treating, you might want a few family-friendly movies for the younger set.
"Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" was made in 1948, and yes, they’ll have to live with the fact that’s it’s in black and white. The classic comedy duo are teamed up with a trio of the classic Universal Studios horror characters: Dracula, The Wolf Man and Frankenstein’s monster. Bela Lugosi reprises Dracula, and believe it or not, it’s only the second and last time he played the role on screen. (He played it thousands of times on stage.) Lon Chaney, Jr. plays Lawrence Talbot, aka The Wolf Man, and like Lugosi, plays the part straight. Director Charles Barton had the sense to have the monsters play straight men to Abbott and Costello. Glenn Strange rounds out the monsters as Frankenstein’s monster. Boris Karloff had left the role behind years ago, and Strange had played the role already in "House of Frankenstein" and "House of Dracula." The whole thing is about scary as an episode of "Scooby Doo" and your children would have to be very timid indeed for this very likeable comedy to frighten them.
_03(1).jpg)
Cary Grant, Josephine Hull and Jean Adair Photo: Warner Brothers (c) 1944
"Arsenic and Old Lace," based on the hit Broadway play, is also in black and white. Glorious black and white, frankly. The soundstage Brooklyn exteriors that were added to the story are just gorgeous. Tell them to suck it up and get used to it. Cary Grant stars as theater critic and confirmed bachelor Mortimer Brewster, who’s just married his next-door neighbor, Priscilla Lane. Before he can tell the maiden aunts who raised him (Josephine Hull and Jean Adair, respectively, who played the roles on stage), he finds out that the nice, old ladies have been poisoning lonely, old men who come to inquire about the room for rent. Just to be nice, you understand. Mortimer’s brother, homicidal maniac and fugitive from the law Jonathon arrives home at the worst possible moment, with his accomplice, alcoholic surgeon Dr. Einstein (Peter Lorre) in tow. Jonathon was played on stage by horror legend Boris Karloff who couldn’t do the movie because he was still doing the play, so Raymond Massey stood in. Frank Capra, director of such classics as "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" and "It’s a Wonderful Life" directed. The movie is not scary, it’s very funny, and the kids will howl with laughter when brother Teddy, who thinks he’s Teddy Roosevelt, yells “Charge!” and storms the living room stairs.
http://www.impawards.com/1993/posters/hocus_pocus.jpg
If they must have one in color, try Disney’s 1993 movie "Hocus Pocus," starring Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy and Sarah Jessica Parker hanged for witchcraft in seventeenth century Salem who come back to life in the nineties on Halloween. The logline sounds like a straight horror movie, but is really quite family-friendly. The movie was a critical and commercial disaster in 1993 but has become a cult favorite since. The production is handsome and the movie is actually quite cute, despite a few moments that younger children might find slightly frightening. It’s directed by Kenny Ortega who choreographed "Dirty Dancing" and directed "Newsies" and "High School Musical."
Three is good to start. If the kids are up longer than three movies, you let them eat way too much candy.
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
