Halloween Movies Don't Have to Horrify 

By Martha Brockenbrough
MSN Cinemama

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Once upon a time, parents used to dress their kids up in sheets, send them out for solo trick-or-treating with warnings about razor blades in apples and LSD in temporary tattoos, and call it a holiday.

No more. Now, Halloween is all about store-bought costumes and highly organized Halloween parties held in neighborhood homes that have been inspected by committee beforehand, at which organic goodies made from ingredients that don't cause allergies, brain damage or undue chemical contamination are served. And don't forget the legal waivers.

Oh, I exaggerate just a bit, but it is true that I was once invited to join a baby-sitting co-op in which regular home inspections were part of the deal. I have signed legal waivers for birthday parties. And I just saw the activity list for the Halloween party at my kids' elementary school, and it was planned with more thought and care than my own wedding.

We're living in a crazy world where kids are protected and entertained with equal ferocity. I get the former, but not so much the latter, and long for the days when Halloween was about simple fun and tasty candy. It's possible to recapture the simple fun part with the right movie, though perhaps not the first ones that leap to mind when you think about Oct. 31.

So, though it no doubt risks a visit from Freddy Krueger and his ghastly tongue, I will not recommend "Halloween," "Friday the 13th," or any other so-called classics for kids and families.

Really scary images are bad for kids. And, personally, I am not a fan of horror movies. There was a brief time in high school when my friends and I repaired to each others' rec rooms to watch "Don't Look in the Basement" and "Re-Animator" ("Don't expect it to tango; it has a broken back").

That time has passed, and I am now of the mind that no one needs horror movies, not when we have the real world (including calculus exams, the return of leggings, and never-ending presidential elections) to give us the heebie-jeebies. That said, there are plenty of other choices, many of which are genuine classics, to help families enjoy the holiday.

I'll start with the new releases:

Casper the Friendly Ghost and Friends

I'd forgotten what a total priss Casper is, and how much entertainment value his pathological friendliness offers. The knee-high friendly ghost is a complete riot, and the repackaged classics on "Casper and Friends Trick or Treat" and "Casper and Wendy Scare Up Some Fun" make for a highly entertaining glimpse at the world and the way it used to be.

If you already have the "Harvey Toons Complete Collection" (a huge, awesome compilation of Casper, Baby Huey, and Herman and Katnip), you'll find a bit of overlap.

Regardless, the Halloween tales show Casper at his goody two-shoes best -- even if they take great liberties with ghostly physics. Which is it, Casper? Do you want to walk through walls, or do you want to feed birds bread crumbs? You can't have both.

This aside, Casper, using terms like "golly gee" and "swell," has all sorts of earnest capers. He saves a baby from a burning building (while the baby's mother was out shopping, in case you don't believe me that the world isn't what it was in the 1950s).

He teaches some scary ghosts a lesson by pretending to take "mean pills." He teaches his naughty cousin a lesson, capping it off with a very Sarah Palin wink. And he learns to exercise from his "husky" cousin Powerhouse (meanwhile, teaching more scary ghosts a few lessons). Casper has more lessons than a kindergarten teacher, which makes him as much fun for nostalgia-loving parents as for their innocent kids.

"Casper and Friends Trick or Treat" and "Casper and Wendy Scare Up Some Fun" each contain 12 cartoons and are priced under $10 from Classic Media.