Published Oct 26, 2026
Kirsten McCarthy / Cats.com
During the week of Halloween, many of us are curling up with our cats on the couch and watching scary movies. Such seasonal, cozy fun – and you can pick movies that have cats in the cast, too!
We have written about scary movies featuring cats, but those movies – including Pet Sematary and The Black Cat – are pretty scary, and not suitable for children. But there is another level of Halloween: the less scary, frightfully fun and spooky movies that are family-friendly. These include live-action movies, animated films, and cartoons. The movies, rated no higher than PG, offer delightful Halloween fun for the whole family, though some may be too scary for younger children.
I’ve watched six fun movies featuring cats – all black, so purrfect for Halloween. Four of them are Halloween holiday films, and the other two aren’t specifically about Halloween but fit well for an October flick. Curl up with your felines and kids and enjoy!
1. Hocus Pocus (1993)
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The quintessential Disney movie about Halloween is Hocus Pocus, a story about the wickedly entertaining Sanderson witch sisters from the 17th century. A teenage boy named Thackery Binx, living in Salem, Massachusetts, tries to rescue his little sister from the clutches of the Sanderson trio, but he can’t save her. The witches cast a spell on the young lad and turn him into a very peeved, shiny black cat. The poor feline Thackery Binx is immortal and doomed to live endlessly as a cat, though he longs to be reunited with his family in the afterlife.
Fast forward 300 years to Salem in the 1990s, and a teacher tells her students about the Sanderson sisters, and she says some think the black cat still guards the Sanderson house on Halloween night. (Spoiler alert: She’s right!) A curious teenage guy and his little sister explore the house on Halloween, and they resurrect the menacing witches.
As the kids deal with the mayhem they conjured up, Thackery Binx – called Binx for short – really bonds with the humans and helps protect them from the witches. Binx, voiced by actor Jason Marsden, reveals himself as a talking cat to the people’s and audience’s surprise.
Binx will make you both smile and cry, especially at the end. Hocus Pocus wouldn’t be the same without Binx!
2. Hocus Pocus 2 (2022)
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Twenty-nine years after the first Hocus Pocus, Disney put out a much-awaited sequel that brings back the Sanderson sisters, as crazy and creepy and comical as ever. Since the trapped human spirit of Thackery Binx was set free from the cat’s body in the first movie, Binx does not reprise his role in Hocus Pocus 2. However, the producers, knowing the cat character’s popularity, brought another black cat into the cast of characters: Cobweb!
Cobweb lives at the former Sanderson house, where a guy named Gilbert runs a magic shop. Cobweb is his black cat but, unlike Binx, just a cat and not a human trapped in a cat’s body. Cobweb does not talk, but he makes us smile several times during Hocus Pocus 2 when he makes appearances. When the Sanderson sisters encounter Cobweb, they think it’s Binx. He helps a teen find the coveted spell book.
We hope that the producers of the third movie in the franchise bring another black cat to part three! It wouldn’t be Hocus Pocus without it.
3. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
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Tim Burton’s work of stop-motion, animated genius is one of my all-time favorite movies. The dark fantasy functions as both a Halloween and Christmas movie and has amazing music by composer Danny Elfman. It tells the story of Jack Skellington, a skeleton who becomes obsessed with Christmas and wants to merge his Halloween world with Santa Claus’ world, with comically disastrous results.
The Nightmare Before Christmas begins in Halloween Town, a fantasy world where it’s always Halloween. This is where you will see some black cats, starting with one crawling in the dark during the infectious opening song “This is Halloween.” We see this same cat during “Sally’s Song,” which the character sings after she fails to stop her crush, Jack, from leaving for his harebrained Christmas scheme. The cat settles into her lap, and Sally pets it. The movie doesn’t name the cat or confirm this, but many fans think the black cat belongs to Sally.
When Jack Skellington goes missing in Christmas Town, the citizens of Halloween Town get nervous and search. They pump the tail of a black cat device that meows like a tornado siren!
4. The Dog Who Saved Halloween (2011)
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This just may be the best Halloween family movie you’ve never seen. Made for TV, The Dog Who Saved Halloween is part of a series of movies about a talking former police dog named Zeus. While the adorable Zeus and a dog named Medusa star alongside the human cast in this canine-focused movie, another character is a talking black cat named Rufus. He is funny and witty!
One key part of the plot involves Rufus, owned by a neighborhood woman named Monique, going missing. The black cat’s owner fears that he was abducted by the mysterious, reclusive new neighbor in a creepy house. In the end, we learn that the truth is not nearly so sinister, and along the way, Rufus will make you laugh.
5. Coraline (2009)
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Coraline – a dark, stop-motion animated fantasy film – stars the title character, who is a young and lonely girl. She discovers an alternate world with an “other” family that turns out to be sinister. In the first few minutes of Coraline, we are introduced to a skinny black cat with striking blue eyes. The cat, voiced by actor Keith David, startles Coraline at first, but the cat appears throughout the movie and becomes a caring and wise but snarky guide who helps out Coraline.
“You must be the other cat,” Coraline says when she meets the male cat, whose name is never mentioned. With cattitude, the cat replies: “No, I’m not the other anything. I’m just me!”
This independent cat has the ability to both talk and move between the real world and the other world. He often shows up just when Coraline needs him, and he grows on her.
Coraline is not specifically about Halloween, but with its spooky nature, a black cat in a major role, and a scene full of bats, it fits the holiday purrfectly.
6. Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)
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This cute Japanese animated film isn’t specifically a Halloween movie, but with a teenage witch flying on a broom with her black cat – well, that sure fits! The animated film comes up as a suggestion as a popular Halloween family movie, and it tells an inspiring tale about a girl who delivers goods in a seaside town via her flying broomstick.
The story is about Kiki, a 13-year-old witch, and her sidekick, a black male cat named Jiji. Jiji hops onto Kiki’s broomstick and flies around with her, and serves as her best buddy and confidante. Jiji walks along the narrow broom while Kiki navigates, and he meets up with a fluffy white cat later in the movie. Jiji also shows a bit of cattitude, as we’d expect.
“Big deal! It’s just a big puddle of water,” Jiji says when Kiki excitedly points out the ocean during a train ride.
Enjoy this cute animated film about Jiji and his broomstick-flying human.
