Day 1 of Freeform's '31 Nights of Halloween' Is a Millennial Dream: 5 Freaky Films You Can Watch Today

Grab your popcorn and pumpkin spice: Creepy season is upon us, and Freeform has the perfect deal for Day One.

The network recently unveiled its “31 Nights of Halloween” schedule, kicking off Oct. 1 with fan-favorite films from the ’90s and early 2000s that will get a certain segment of the population feeling all the nostalgia.

Halloween kicks off the seasonal celebration, with the franchise’s first film airing at 1 p.m.

Joey Zimmerman, Emily Roeske, Debbie Reynolds, Kimberly J. Brown in “Halloweentown.” Disney

A Disney Channel Original Movie it first premiered on October 17, 1998 and has been a favorite ever since. The film and its three sequels star the late Debbie Reynolds as matriarch Aggie Cromwell — the witch. She is joined by Kimberly J. Brown, who plays her quirky granddaughter Marnie Piper, plus Judith Hoag as Marnie’s mother Gwen Cromwell Piper, Joey Zimmerman as Marnie’s brother Dylan Piper, and Emily Roeske as Marnie’s sister Sophie Piper.

The original followed Halloweentown II: Calabar’s Revenge (2001), Halloweentown High (2004) and Back to Halloweentown (2006).

At 90s Con in Daytona Beach, Fla., last month, Brown told PEOPLE that fans “literally every day” ask her about another movie, adding that the “possibilities are endless.”

Dina Waters, Wallace Shawn, Eddie Murphy, Marc John Jefferies, Aree Davis in “The Haunted Mansion”.

Walt Disney/Courtesy of the Everett Collection

Next, audiences will be treated to a broadcast of the original at 3 p.m Haunted palace. The Eddie Murphy film, released in 2003, is based on the Disney theme park attraction of the same name. It stars Murphy alongside Marsha Thomason, Wallace Shawn, Jennifer Tilly and Dina Spybey-Waters.

The film tells the story of two real estate agents, Murphy and Thomason, who are trapped in a haunted mansion in a Louisiana bayou with their two children.

Twenty years later, Disney remade the film with a slightly spookier approach. The new film stars Rosario Dawson, LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Jared Leto and Jamie Lee Curtis. There’s also a 2021 take on the story starring the Muppets.

31 Best Non-Scary Halloween Movies to Stream

“The Nightmare Before Christmas”.

Touchstone/Kobal/Shutterstock

Then, at 17:05, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas will hit Freeform. The celebrated stop-motion film was directed by Henry Selick, and coincidentally, it celebrates its 31st anniversary this October.

The film follows Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon, with the singing voice of Danny Elfman), the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, who becomes obsessed with Christmas Town and recreating it in his home world. With the help of ragdoll Sally (Catherine O’Hara), he learns the importance of being true to himself, as well as the true meaning of the Christmas spirit.

Michael Keaton in ‘Beetlejuice’ from 1988.

Warner Brothers /courtesy Everett

Another film by Tim Burton follows at 18:45, when the director’s original bug juice will be broadcast. The film premiered in 1988 and follows a recently deceased couple (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) who now “live” as ghosts locked in their home. They contact Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton), a slimy ghost who “helps” haunt the house, but soon becomes a danger to the couple and the resident’s daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder).

Along with Baldwin, Davis, Keaton and Ryder, the film also stars Catherine O’Hara. The final three returned for the sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuicewhich premiered last month and also stars Jenna Ortega and Justin Theroux.

31 Best Halloween Movies to Stream

Kathy Najimy, Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker in the movie ‘Hocus Pocus’.

AJ images / Alamy

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Kathy Najimy, Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker will round out the evening with a broadcast at 8:50 p.m Hocus pocus. In the 1993 original, three actresses play three haunted witches, also known as the Sanderson sisters. The women return to Salem 300 years after their deaths hanging around looking for some young souls to devour.

The Sanderson sisters reunited for a sequel in 2022, breaking streaming records on Disney+ when Hocus pocus 2 debuted. The third Hocus pocus the film was announced in June 2023.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education