Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
Happy Halloween from everyone at Long and Short Reviews!
Go pop some popcorn and grab some of your favorite Halloween candy, because today we’re talking about Halloween films based on books and other bookish things.
The first five entries on this list are family friendly. The last five are more appropriate for teens and adults.
Most of these films are not gory because I prefer psychological horror to other types of frights.
1. The Witches
Based on The Witches by Roald Dahl
2. A Series of Unfortunate Events
Based on A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
3. Coraline
Based on Coraline by by Neil Gaiman
4. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
Based on the Charlie Brown comic strip by Charles Schultz
5. The Nightmare Before Christmas
Based on the poem “The Nightmare Before Christmas” by Tim Burton
Based on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
7. I Am Legend
Based on I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
8. Frankenstein
Based on Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
9. It
Based on It by Stephen King
Based on The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
What are your favorite Halloween films based on books? Which books do you think would make fantastic films for the spooky season in 2023 and beyond?
Practical Magic has to be my favorite book to movie Halloween themed adaptation. But you have a few great ones today. I haven’t read all of them, but at least a few.
Have a fun Halloween!
Elza Reads
Thank you, Mareli. I’ve never actually seen Practical Magic, but I’ve heard it’s a good story.
I am not one who watches a lot of scary stuff. I love Charlie Brown 🙂 Have a great day!
No worries there. Charlie Brown is a great alternative to the scary stuff. 🙂
There’s something about halloween movies from kids books that just hits different. Coraline and The Witches (the older version for me personally) are top halloween movies.
Yes, absolutely!
Sleepy Hollow is a nostalgic favorite of mine, and yay for Great Pumpkin! Reminds me I need to watch that before Halloween.
I hope you like it, Greg.
Great list.
Thank you!
A great list.
I don’t know that The Nightmare Before Christmas was a poem. I need to investigate that further!
Have a great week!
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
https://budgettalesblog.wordpress.com/2022/10/25/top-ten-tuesday-halloween-freebie-books-to-read-at-halloween/
It’s actually something I learned as I was researching ideas for this post. Isn’t it neat? 🙂
A great list!
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/12-books-with-black-covers-pick-a-color/
Thank you.
The 90s version of The Witches is still scary, but when I was a kid that movie made me scared of paintings. I haven’t seen the remake, or read the book, but in the 90s version, the Grandma tells a story about how one of her childhood friends went missing but was later seen in a painting in her parent’s house and was trapped in there by Witches for the rest of her life. I was around 5 or something when I saw the movie.
Marie @ Pages to Explore
Good to know! Thank you for sharing.
What a clever idea! I agree with Mareli about Practical Magic, though it’s not scary, just good fun (well except for the boyfriend coming back to life 🙂
Thanks for the visit.
Terrie @ Bookshelf Journeys
You’re welcome, and thank you for sharing.
I’ve seen a couple of these, I much prefer the Netflix ASOUE to the film, as it’s much more faithful to the books. I think I liked Coraline, but it’s been a long time since I last watched it, so I can’t really remember!
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2022/10/25/top-ten-tuesday-391/
I haven’t seen the Netflix version yet. I’ll have to check it out!
Nice twist. The only one of these that I’ve seen is the Charlie Brown one. LOL
Thanks for visiting my TTT this week this week is a Top Thirteen of songs that can be played at Halloween.
You’re welcome.
Isn’t the Charlie Brown film great? 🙂
I think I started to watch or did watch one of the more recent adaptations about Frankenstein, but cannot remember. Guess that means a re-watch. And of course this year I finally watched Coraline. Thanks so much for visiting my website on this week!!!
Great topic this week and I love all of the movies!
To be honest, I hadn’t really seen any of the movies or specials you mentioned, although I am pretty curious about Coraline 🙂
I’ve seen the Series of Unfortunate Events movie, but I’ve never read the books. That’s unusual because I almost always read the books first.
This is a great list! I really enjoyed Series of Unfortunate Events but never read the books. I might do that when my kid gets to that age!