While recent teen shows like Wednesday handily deliver on frights and delights, the Disney Channel seemed to churn out quality original movies weekly when it came time for Halloween back in the late ’90s and early aughts. If you’re wondering which ones still hold up and are perfect for conjuring those spooky season vibes without too many scares, check out these five films that are nostalgic gems for millennials and still hold up for new viewers, too. They span every sort of mystical creature and monster associated with the season, from witches to mummies to vampires, and lucky for us, they’re all streaming on Disney+.
5) Twitches
Tia and Tamera Mowry were both already major stars in the teen sphere thanks to their hit sitcom Sister, Sister, and other made-for-TV film forays like Seventeen Again; therefore there was already a lot of hype for Twitches when it premiered on Disney Channel in 2005. The Mowry sisters play Alex Fielding and Camryn Barnes, orphaned twins who were separated at birth when they were adopted by separate families. However, fate brings them together on their 21st birthday when their magic emerges. Alex and Camryn are then tasked with saving the otherworldly kingdom they hail from and their birth mother with their nascent powers. Twitches is one of Disney’s more lush fantastical films in its lineup, while also delivering a healthy dose of girl power and teen wish fulfillment too. Plus, it was popular enough to launch a sequel, Twitches Too.
4) Mom’s Got a Date with a Vampire
image courtesy of disney.
Mom’s Got a Date with a Vampire boasts a clever premise and a surprisingly stacked cast for a Disney Channel Original Movie. The film follows the three Hansen kids, Chelsea, Taylor, and Adam, who will do anything to get their mom, divorcée Lynette, out of the house so they can attend their respective social engagements despite being grounded. Yet when they realize they may have inadvertently set Lynette up with a blood-sucking monster, it’s up to the Hansen kids to save her. Not only does the cast feature 90s sitcom royalty with Caroline Rhea of Sabrina the Teenage Witch playing Lynette and Charles Shaughnessy from The Nanny as her vampiric suitor, but Mom’s Got a Date with a Vampire is also one of Laura Vandervoort’s first credits, who played Supergirl on the WB/CW show Smallville.
3) Don’t Look Under the Bed
IMAGE COURTESY OF DISNEY.
Disney pushed the boundaries of its programming with Don’t Look Under the Bed in crafting a truly creepy film that’s the closest to a full-on horror flick on this list. In it, a precocious teenager Frances, finds herself framed for a string of pranks in her small town by none other than the Boogeyman. To stop him, she must accept the help of Larry, an imaginary friend, and their supernatural, scary adventure teaches Frances that her childhood sense of wonder is worth retaining as she barrels toward adulthood. The film’s scares hold up, and it also includes non-binary representation well ahead of its time.
2) Under Wraps
In Under Wraps, monsters are real, but they’re not here to terrorize us; in fact, they’re actually in search of love and eternal rest. Three young friends accidentally revive a mummy, and if they don’t return him and his love to their resting place before midnight on Halloween, their new embalmed friend will cease to exist entirely. Under Wraps is full of silly setpieces as the trio attempts to keep the mummy, whom they name Harold, from being discovered by the adults in their town, and it is ultimately a heartwarming Halloween-themed caper that’s retained its popularity so well that Disney was compelled to reboot the film and make a sequel to it over twenty years later. However, if you’re looking for the nostalgia factor, the newer Under Wraps films can’t compare to the original.
1) Halloweentown
image courtesy of disney.
For us, Halloweentown is a yearly rewatch come spooky season. Marnie Piper may constantly clash with her straight-laced, overprotective mother, Gwen, but she’s seen and encouraged by her eccentric grandmother Aggie, who only ever visits the family on Halloween. When Marnie learns she is, in fact, a witch and at risk of losing her powers if she doesn’t begin her training immediately, she sneaks out and follows Aggie back home to the enchanted town of Halloweentown with her younger siblings Dylan and Sophie in tow. Together, the siblings uncover a sinister plot plaguing the town and learn to channel their magic as a family to save their loved ones and Halloweentown. The movie is the very best of magical wish fulfillment and a relatable story about family rifts, which is perhaps why it’s become a classic DCOM and spawned three sequels after its debut in 1998.
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