1979 The Halloween That Almost Wasn't and 1978 Witch's Night Out

A Halloween night VHS recording of 1979's The Halloween That Almost Wasn't and 1978's Witch's Night Out, back to back, as they originally aired on the Disney Channel every year from 1983 up to the late 1990s. Also included, in the middle, a shortened version of the first Silly Symphony animated short 1929's The Skeleton Dance. Happy Halloween!

1992 Ghostwatch

Ghostwatch is a British 90-minute reality–horror/mockumentary television movie, first broadcast on BBC1 on 31 October (Halloween), 1992. Despite having been recorded weeks in advance, the narrative was presented as 'live' television. The original broadcast received a huge audience and resulted in an estimated 30,000 calls to the BBC switchboard in a single hour. It caused so much controversy that it led the BBC to place a decade-long ban on the programme ever being repeated after its initial broadcast. Although this has now been lifted, it remains unlikely that it will ever be shown again on British television.

As yet, Ghostwatch has only ever been repeated on television outside the UK – on stations such as the Canadian digital channel SCREAM for Halloween 2004, and the Belgian channel Canvas in 2008. In 2002, the British Film Institute released a 10th Anniversary edition on VHS and DVD. In 2011, 101 Films released Ghostwatch on DVD in the UK. Here's the synopsis:

The BBC gives over a whole evening to an 'investigation into the supernatural'. Four respected presenters and a camera crew attempt to discover the truth behind 'The most haunted house in Britain', expecting a light-hearted scare or two and probably the uncovering of a hoax. They think they are in control of the situation. They think they are safe. The viewers settle down and decide to watch 'for a laugh'. Ninety minutes later the BBC, and the country, was changed, and the consequences are still felt today.

2001 Gahan Wilson's The Kid - The Witch

The Kid is an animated show based on three stories from Gahan Wilson's comic strip "Nuts," about a 10-year-old boy with an overactive imagination. Gahan Wilson is a prominent cartoonist and contemporary artist since the early 1990s, and was known for his uniquely edgy and confrontational style. The show first aired on Showtime in 2001 and is rated TV-MA for crude humor, language and nudity and is intended for mature audiences only.

Three episodes were created titled "The Cat", "The Waitress" and "The Witch." Each cover a variety of topics and learning lessons that the kid and his friends must deal with and face. Topics such as mortality, animal rights, creepy teachers, impressing the opposite sex, pornography, sexism, peer pressure, urban legends and monsters.

The Halloween themed episode is called The Witch. Looking to impress his friends, the kid faces his worst fear and goes trick or treating at the house of a reputed witch, who turns out to be just a kindly old woman who enjoys having visitors. WARNING: THIS VIDEO CONTAINS MATURE CONTENT, VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED! Rated TV-MA. Although this does deal with some childhood lessons, I would urge caution with kids - the language is pretty rough.


Watch Gahan Wilson The Kid: The Witch in Entertainment  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

You can watch the other two episodes at this Veoh playlist.

1996 Scholastic Presents Halloween Tales

The characters from 3 popular kids story books titled, THE BIGGEST PUMPKIN EVER by Steven Kroll, and MONSTER MANNERS and BONY LEGS both by Joanna Cole, come to life in this 1996 fun and spooky Halloween video produced by Scholastic and performed by The Reader's Theatre Project: Wil Bowers, J. Stephen Brady, Denise Carlson, Greg Dolph, R. Miguel Lee, Janice Terukina. This VHS is currently selling for $50 on Amazon.com but occasionally shows up on ebay.com for much less.

1993 The Elvira Show

The Elvira Show is a hilarious 1993 CBS pilot that starred Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (Cassandra Peterson) and Katherine Helmond of "Soap" and "Who's The Boss" fame as Aunt Minerva. The show's premise is very similar to the "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" series, 2 witches in a big old house, a talking black cat, a teenage girl that is the niece, and a laugh track, but CBS found the comedy and innuendo too 'racy' for television and passed on a full season. Here is the synopsis from IMDb.com:

Elvira has moved to Manhattan, Kansas, with her wacky aunt Minerva and their talking cat. Elvira is working as a fortune teller and selling love potions on the side! Everything is going just swell until Elvira falls for a hunk named Chip who is actually an undercover cop there to bust her for a phony love potion that put one of her poor customers in the hospital! Elvira also learns about her long lost niece, Paige, who has just showed up on her door step and plans on staying for a while.

1989 George's Island

George's Island is a 1989 Canadian family adventure film that was shot in and around Halifax, Nova Scotia. Never officially released to DVD in the US, but you can find the film on VHS, laserdisc and on a Polish Region All DVD at Amazon and eBay. A screening copy, taken from an old VHS, of the full film is on Youtube. More about the film's plot below.

It's a tale about 10-year-old George who lives with his old eccentric sea captain Grandfather and loves the eerie mysteries of the local pirate legends. When George's meddlesome schoolteacher forces him into a foster home, he escapes on Halloween with the help of his Grandfather who takes him to George's Island, once known as Oak Island where Captain Kidd buried his treasure and was killed. On the island, the legend comes to life.

2004 The Hollow

A 2004 horror film that tells the story of Ian Cranston (Kevin Zegers), a high school teen who just found out he's the descendant of Ichabod Crane. With the help of his girlfriend Karen (Kaley Cuoco), a local bully named Brody (Nick Carter), and the old cemetery caretaker Claus Van Ripper (Stacy Keach), Ian now must stop the newly resurrected Headless Horseman on Halloween.

The film is rated R but when it premiered on the ABC Family Channel, on October 24, 2004, it was trimmed slightly to eliminate the violence of the Headless Horseman's attacks, and several of the lines had to be re-dubbed to eliminate promiscuous references and graphic profanity. Another version of the film shown on the Syfy Channel was sparingly cut and remains almost completely intact.

The Hollow is a silly campy film that's obviously aimed at a young audience. It's definitely not as good as Tim Burton's and Johnny Depp's Sleepy Hollow, but it is an entertaining film for what it is, a low budget straight to DVD release. Just grab some popcorn and enjoy it.

Here's a Youtube Playlist of the whole film:

1995 Tiny Toons' Night Ghoulery

In this Halloween Special, Babs Bunny plays the part of host as she and the Tiny Toons gang tell 9 scary tales that spoof various Halloween movies, shows and stories, including Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Cuchulainn and the Hound of Ulster, the 1971 film Duel, the short story and film The Devil and Daniel Webster, Abbot and Costello, the 1968 film Night of the Living Dead, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and the Twilight Zone episode called Nightmare at 20,000 Feet. The title is a parody of the series, Night Gallery, starring Rod Serling. Originally intended to premiere in October of 1994, but ended up airing on Fox on May 28, 1995. This was the final appearance of the Tiny Toon Adventures gang on TV. Released on VHS, but there's no official DVD release.

Part 1:


Part 2:

1999-2013 Cartoon Network/Adult Swim Halloween Bumpers and Wraparounds

Halloween Nood Bumpers 2008-2009:


Halloween CHECK it Bumpers 2010-2011:


Halloween Coming up Next CHECK it Bumpers 2010-2011:


Spooky Halloween Episode every Monday in October 2011 Promos:


Halloween themed promos from 2013 for Cartoon Network shows: Adventure Time, Regular Show, The Looney Tunes Show, MAD, The Amazing World of Gumball, Ben 10 Omniverse, Annoying Orange, and Uncle Grandpa:


Cartoon Network Sweden Halloween Bumpers Compilation 1999-2013:


Adult Swim Halloween Wraparounds from the 2003 Aqua Teen Hunger Force Marathon of Horror hosted by The Tall Man from Phantasm, Angus Scrimm:


Adult Swim Halloween Wraparounds from 2003 hosted by Brak's Dad:

2012 Mockingbird Lane

Mockingbird Lane is a 2012 TV special developed as a re-imagining of the 1960s CBS sitcom The Munsters. It was written and executive produced for NBC by Bryan Fuller as a one-hour drama with "spectacular visuals." It explored the origins of the Munster family and was darker and edgier, while retaining plenty of humor. The costumes and make-up for the characters were heavily toned down to have them more closely resemble humans. The cast included Jerry O'Connell as Herman Munster, Portia de Rossi as Lily Munster, Charity Wakefield as Marilyn Munster, Mason Cook as Eddie Munster and Eddie Izzard as Grandpa (Sam Dracula).

This pilot episode aired on October 26, 2012, as a Halloween special, with the option for a series order. Two months after the premiere, NBC officially passed on the series. I love this special so much it's great, and if it was picked up, I'm sure it would have been my favorite show. Here's the show summary from TV.com:

Herman Munster, the head of the family, is a patchwork creature who tries to keep his family safe and happy. His only problem is when he cares too much, causing his heart to break down. His wife Lily is a vampire, who tries to make sure that her son Eddie is happy. Eddie is a normal boy just discovering that he is growing hair on his body... during the full moon, when he becomes a werewolf. Marilyn, the nice of Herman and Lily, is the oddball out: a normal girl, although she shares her family's... "unique" sensibilities. Grandpa, a vampire of the old school, is still trying to come to terms with modern life where feeding on the locals isn't allowed. He keeps his son-in-law Herman's heart going, and tries to make sure that the other Munsters embrace their lives as creatures of the night.

Part 1:

Mockingbird Lane Pilot Part 1 of 3 by thecrackedactor

Part 2:

Mockingbird Lane Pilot Part 2 of 3 by thecrackedactor

Part 3:

Mockingbird Lane Pilot Part 3 of 3 by thecrackedactor

2002 Spooky House

Mysterious reclusive magician the Great Zamboni (Ben Kingsley) and his pet jaguar Shadow reside in the Spooky House, an old mansion that's rigged with magic tricks and hidden chambers. Young orphan Max (Matt Weinberg) attempts to befriend Zamboni. After a trio of teenage bullies who work for the town's eccentric crime queen Boss (Mercedes Ruehl) chase Max and his friends into the Spooky House on Halloween, a night of hilarious magic and amazing illusions ensues.

A well acted family flick with a heart warming story that may be a bit cheesy to adults, but very kid friendly. Filmed in 1998, but not released until 2002. You can watch the film below from YouTube.com.

1999 The Fear Halloween Night

Twenty years after witnessing his father brutally murder his mother and then take his own life, Mike Hawthorne (Gordon Currie) still suffers from the fear of that day. In hopes of ridding his fear, Mike invites his girlfriend Peg (Stacy Grant) and his best friends Chris (Myc Agnew), Jennifer (Emmanuelle Vaugier), Lisa Ann (Kelly Benson), Ned (Brendon Beiser), Mitch Maldive (Phillip Rhys) and Trish (Rachel Hayward) to spend Halloween in the country at his grandparents (Betsy Palmer and Larry Pennell) farm. His plan is for everyone to dress up in costumes that represent their fears, and then present the fears to the wooden mannequin Morty (Jon Fedele). According to an Indian friend Crow (Byron Chief Moon), this process is supposed to magically take away one's fear. What Mike doesn't know is that Morty is possessed with his father's spirit, and begins killing off his friends...or is it really Mike himself doing the killings?

The opening scene involving the ax murder on Halloween was good, and Betsy Palmer (Mrs. Voorhees from the original Friday THE 13TH) is delightful as the grandmother but other than that this is a confusing and pointless slasher flick that's full of dull and senseless dialogue that ends with mediocre kills and horrible one liners delivered by Morty. Rated R for horror violence, language and a scene of sexuality.

Youtube Playlist:

1988 Alf Tales - Legend of Sleepy Hollow

ALF Tales is a Saturday morning animated series that ran for two seasons from August 1988 to December 1989 on the NBC television network. It's a spin-off of ALF: The Animated Series, which itself was a cartoon spin-off of the live-action sitcom series ALF. ALF Tales features ALF and his Melmacian friends retelling several different fairy tales and folk tales usually altered for comedic effect. 21 episodes were made, this is the 4th episode of season 1, it spoofs the Legend of Sleep Hollow story. Originally aired October 1, 1988. Enjoy this blast from the past.

1920s-2010s Halloween Music Videos

A mash up of classic b&w cartoons set to the song "Everyday is Halloween" by Ministry:


A mix of Halloween cartoons, shows and horror movies set to the 1968 song "My Girlfriend Is A Witch" by The October Country:


The song from the opening credits of Ernest Scared Stupid set to clips of Scooby Doo cartoons:


Beavis and Butthead watch Hollywood Halloween music video:


Clips of Halloween cartoons and horror movies set to the song "This Is Halloween" sung by Marilyn Manson:


Clips of the Nightmare Before Christmas and horror movies set to Vanilla Ice's "Born on Halloween":

2001 The Nightmare Room - Full Moon Halloween

The Nightmare Room is an American children's anthology horror series that aired on Kids' WB. The series was based on the short-lived book series The Nightmare Room children's books created by Goosebumps author, R.L. Stine. The Nightmare Room originally aired from August 31, 2001, to March 16, 2002, in the United States. It was rated TV-Y7 for fantasy violence (FV) and scenes deemed too scary or disturbing for younger viewers in the United States.

"Full Moon Halloween" is the seventh episode of 13 made and aired on October 27, 2001, it's about a group of teenagers who grow suspicious of one another when a werewolf is heard to be on the loose in their town. On August 20, 2002, 8 episodes were released on 2 DVD volumes. 5 episodes remain unreleased. Watch more episodes at this Youtube Playlist.

Part 1:


Part 2:

1988 A Night at the Magic Castle

On the night before his seventh birthday which happens to be Halloween, Max (Matt Shakman) is flown to Hollywood's Magic Castle by Harry Houdini (Arte Johnson) to battle the evil magician Blackstar (Blackie Dammett) and his young protégé Twit (John Franklin best known for playing Isaac Chroner in Children of the Corn 1984, and Cousin Itt in The Addams Family 1991). Max learns the meaning of growing up and losing an imaginary friend in this sweet coming of age story.

I found a VHS of the film for sale at Amazon.co.uk but I'm not sure if it will play in USA VCR's. There's also a DVD but it's currently unavailable. The full film is on YouTube:

1990 Spaced Invaders

On Halloween night, a group of dimwitted Martians mistake a rebroadcast of Orson Welles' 1938 classic radio adaptation "War of the Worlds" as an account of a real Martian invasion on Earth, and conclude they need to get in on the action. What follows are a bunch of mishaps involving the cosmic crews haphazard attempts to conquer the sleepy Midwestern town of "Big Bean, IL". Unfortunately, the citizens mistake the spaced invaders for harmless trick or treating kids in really good costumes, except for the Sheriff's daughter and her friend, a kid in a duck suit.

A goofy, funny, entertaining, sci-fi, family film that takes place on Halloween. Available on DVD and Blu-ray or you can watch on YouTube below:

1989-1991 Beetlejuice Animated Series Halloween Episodes

Beetlejuice is an American-Canadian animated television series which ran from September 9, 1989 to October 26, 1991 on ABC and, on Fox from September 9, 1991 to December 6, 1991. Loosely based on the 1988 film of the same name, it was developed and executive-produced by the film's director, Tim Burton. The series focus on the life of Goth girl Lydia Deetz and her undead friend Beetlejuice as they explore The Neitherworld, a wacky afterlife realm inhabited by monsters, ghosts, ghouls and zombies. Danny Elfman's theme for the film was arranged for the cartoon by Elfman himself.

A sequel to the 1988 film, called Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian, was planned in 1990 but unproduced. In 2012, new development on a sequel was announced. In January 2015, writer Grahame-Smith told Entertainment Weekly that the script was finished and that he and Burton intended to start filming Beetlejuice 2 by the end of the year, and that both Keaton and Ryder would return in their respective roles as Beetlejuice and Lydia Deetz. The story will be set in a real time frame from 1988 and will take place 26 or 27 years after the original.

I'm happy they're bringing back Burton, Keaton and Ryder for the sequel. The first is one of my favorite films from childhood. I never got into Beetlejuice The Animated Series, but I do love the two Halloween episodes:

Laugh Of The Party (1989):

Bewitched, Bothered and Beetlejuiced (1990):


Watch more episodes from the animated series uploaded by Laverne at dailymotion.com.

1993, 1994, 1995 FOX's Halloween Bash bumpers and commercials

Found on old VHS tapes. I think I remember seeing this. Makes me miss the 90s, when TV was awesome and at it's best.

1994's FOX's Halloween Bash bumpers and commercials hosted by Elvira, the Crypt Keeper and George Carlin:


More FOX's Halloween Bash commercials and bumpers recorded on October 30, 1994, on FOX 11 Los Angeles. These clips were taken from the Simpsons Scare-A-Thon:


October 31, 1993 FOX's Halloween Bash short intro by Bruce Campbell. This aired before two hours of The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episodes:


1995's Fox's Halloween Bash commercials and bumpers taken from WJBK, WFLD and WXIN. I think that's Jimmy Kimmel (with a thick Brooklyn accent) at the end:

1995, 1996 Goosebumps Halloween Episodes

The Goosebumps anthology TV series ran for four seasons from 1995 to 1998 and was produced in Canada by Protocol Entertainment in association with Scholastic Productions. The series mainly featured plots based on the Goosebumps children's horror fiction books by American author R. L. Stine, published by Scholastic Publishing. The TV series aired in over 100 countries and it was the number one rated children's TV show for three years in the United States. A book series, titled Goosebumps Presents, was based on the TV series.

Since the new Goosebumps movie is coming out October 16, 2015, I figured I'd post the 3 Halloween episodes of the series. They're a lot of fun to watch:

Goosebumps The Haunted Mask Part I:


Goosebumps The Haunted Mask Part II:


Attack of the Jack O' Lanterns:

1996 Frankenstein and Me

Frankenstein and Me is a 1996 family fantasy film with many homages and characters from classic Universal monster movies including Frankenstein's Monster, The Wolf Man, Brides of Dracula and more. Never released to DVD and hard to find or too expensive to buy on VHS. The fan edit video below contains the full film with 1990s Disney Channel commercials edited in.

Synopsis: Earl Williams (Jamieson Boulanger) is a daydreamer who fantasizes about the classic Universal monster films. Although he is an excellent student, his intolerant and nasty school teacher Mrs. Perdue (Louise Fletcher) does not like him and punishes him for any minor fault. His supportive father Les Williams (Burt Reynolds) is also a daydreamer, who has never been successful in life.

Shortly after Halloween, Earl and his friends Kenny (Ryan Gosling in his first feature film role) and Karen (Rebecca Henderson) visit a traveling carnival which is said to have the "real Frankenstein monster." The monster is lost as the carnies leaves town, Earl decides to hide it and try to bring it back to life on a dark stormy night.

2014 Cinema Insomnia - A Very VHS Halloween

Cinema Insomnia is a nationally syndicated late night television series that has been mesmerizing, mystifying, and tickling slumber parties and obsessed loners all over the planet. A delightful twist on the Classic Creature Feature host format featuring weird movies, strange clips, drive-in snack bar ads, toy commercials, vintage ads, interviews, music videos, parodies, satirical commentary and unique humor presented by horror host Mr. Lobo. Beyond Elvira, after Mystery Science Theater, and unlike any late night show on the planet, Mr. Lobo proves that "They're not bad movies--just misunderstood."

In Cinema Insomnia's 2014 Halloween special called "A Very VHS Halloween", Mr. Lobo along with Ro-Mana watch old vhs tapes containing movie trailers, footage from 2004's and 2005's WonderCon, clips from Elvira's MTV Halloween Special, a short message from Mr. Rogers, comedy bits, Halloween commercials and a music video.

1979 Casper's Halloween Special

Casper's Halloween Special (aka Casper Saves Halloween or He Ain't Scary, He's Our Brother) is a Halloween television special that premiered October 30, 1979 on NBC and featured Casper the Friendly Ghost and the same cast as Casper and the Angels, a 13 episode animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera from September 22, 1979, to December 15, 1979.

Here is the synopsis: Casper goes out on Halloween dressed as a real boy, but only a group of orphans accept him. Casper must prevent a group of mischief-making ghosts from ruining Halloween for the group of trick-or-treating orphans. Together, the new friends try to stop evil Hairy Scary in a musical adventure.

Turner Home Entertainment released Casper Saves Halloween on VHS on September 5, 1995. On October 1, 2013, Warner Bros. released Casper's Halloween Special on a manufacture-on-demand (MOD) region 1 DVD release via their Warner Archive Collection, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com.