Halloween Movies for People who Don't Like Horror

I'm not a huge horror movie fan, but here are some of my favorite movies to watch on Halloween that can appeal to non-horror fans:

Fright Night

Campy fun, doesn't take itself too seriously.  Roddy McDowall is great as the Late Night Creepshow host/Vampire Hunter....

Cabin in the Woods

Joss Whedon has some meta-textual fun with the 'teen slasher' film genre.  Best Scene:  the discovery of the 'menagerie' filled with horror movie archetypes.

Young Frankenstein

A spoof of the classic universal horror films but, as Mel Brooks was a big fan of horror movies, it is one that is done with love.

The Sixth Sense

Admittedly, this film loses something after the first viewing but, still, it is an interesting and compelling story.  Also, take out some of the gore, and it's actually a pretty good family friendly film (as are most of Shamylan's earlier films).

Scream 

When all is said and done, Scream is just a slasher film but it's probably one of the most clever slasher films ever made.  It introduced the idea of deconstructing the genre that Cabin in the Woods would play off of years later, but it did it in much more accessible way that didn't go over the heads of the average horror fan (as Cabin in the Woods kinda did).

Shaun of the Dead

The brilliance of the Wright/Pegg/Frost collaborations (this is also true of this year's World's End) is the fact that you forget that you're watching a genre film (in this case, a Zombie movie) and you get caught up in the stories of the people involved.  Too often, zombie movies are about the zombies, Shaun of the Dead is definitively about Shaun and his friends.

Grind House: Planet Terror and Death Proof

Looking for a double feature?  Look no further! I have already covered this in more detail on this blog, so I will just say that Planet Terror is pure fun--- it might be a bit too gross for the squeamish but is a perfect homage to classic low-budget zombie movies.  Death Proof is a bit more difficult but, the best part, are the phony trailers between the two movies (available on the Blu-Ray edition).

Ghostbusters

My personal choice for Halloween viewing, Ghostbusters is a great comedy with just enough scares to qualify it as a genuine horror movie rather than a spoof and, on top of all that, it's also a big budget action blockbuster!  What more could you want?