Movies for English Learners to Watch on Halloween

 Halloween can be a great opportunity to practice English with films. This guide presents a list of movies connected with the themes of Halloween for English learners from the lower B2 level all the way to advanced levels.

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A Note on Age Ratings

Not all of these movies are suitable for children. Here is the American movie rating system, which explains each rating:

• G (General Audiences): Suitable for all ages.
• PG (Parental Guidance Suggested): Suggested to be watched with a parent.
• PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned): Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.³
• R (Restricted): Suggested for adults. Parents should decide if movie is appropriate for their children.

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I. (Lower to Mid B2)

These films have generally clear speech, predictable dialogue structures, and slower pacing, making them excellent choices for building confidence and improving basic comprehension.

Movie Title (Year)	Rating	Approx. English Level	IMDb Link
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)	G	B2	https://www.imdb.com/video/vi686145817
Frankenstein (1931)	PG	B2	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021884/
Dracula (1931)	PG	B2	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021814/
The Wolf Man (1941)	PG	B2	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034398/
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1949)	G		https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051850
The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)	G	B2	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046876/

 

• It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
• Summary: Linus waits in the pumpkin patch for the Great Pumpkin to appear.
• English Focus: Excellent for clarity and listening practice for clear American speech. The pace is slow and deliberate.
• Frankenstein (1931), Dracula (1931) and The Wolf Man (1941)
• Summary: Three early classics of the monster genre, which helped to create the modern image of Frankenstein, Dracula and werewolves.
• English Focus: Useful for understanding older, formal English with highly articulate, theatrical delivery. Dialogue is less idiomatic than modern films, relying more on dramatic sentence structure. Dracula features the added challenge of Bela Lugosi's (the actor who plays Dracula) Eastern European accent.
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1949)
• Summary: Disney's cartoon version of the story of the Headless Horseman.
• English Focus: Highly useful for practicing narration comprehension and literary vocabulary. Bing Crosby's narration is very clear.
• The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
• Summary: Adventure of a geological expedition, which discovers an ancient creature in the Amazon.
• English Focus: Clear, informational dialogue typical of 1950s adventure/sci-fi films. Some scientific and technical vocabulary.

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II. Intermediate Challenge (Mid B2 Focus)

These films introduce a higher level of speed, more contemporary American slang, and complex emotional contexts, requiring the B2 learner to focus on conversational flow.

Movie Title (Year)	Rating	Approx. English Level	IMDb Link
Psycho (1960)	R	B2	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054215/
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)	PG	B2	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083866/
Casper (1995)	PG	B2	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112642/
The Sixth Sense (1999)	PG-13	B2/Upper B2	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167404/
Hotel Transylvania (2012)	PG	B2/Upper B2	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0837562

 

• Psycho (1960)
• Summary: The people who check in to the remote Bates Motel are unaware of the danger waiting for them.
• English Focus: Dialogue is very clear, but often spoken in tense, short speech.
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
• Summary: A boy becomes friends with an alien lost on Earth.
• English Focus: Clear, American dialogue, especially from children, providing reliable listening practice without too much speed.
• Casper (1995)
• Summary: A friendly young ghost lives in a mansion and meets a girl who moves in.
• English Focus: Modern, clear American English. Good for practicing informal idioms and family-friendly humor.
• The Sixth Sense (1999)
• Summary: A young boy who can see dead people seeks help from a child psychologist.⁹
• English Focus: Focuses on clear, conversations. Good for understanding mood, tone, and the language of psychology and emotion.
• Hotel Transylvania (2012)
• Summary: Dracula's monsters gather for a vacation, but the arrival of a human causes problems.
• English Focus: While fast-paced (typical of animation), the articulation is extremely clear. Useful for vocabulary related to family, travel, and famous monsters.

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III. (Upper B2 to C1 Focus)

These films can help to push B2 learners toward C1 proficiency, with challenges like strong accents, rapid speech, and slang.

Movie Title (Year)	Rating	Approx. English Level	IMDb Link
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)	PG	Upper B2	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107688/
Poltergeist (1982)	PG	Upper B2	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084516/
Ghostbusters (1984)	PG	Upper B2/C1	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087332/
The Lost Boys (1987)	R	Upper B2/C1	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093437/
Beetlejuice (1988)	PG	Upper B2/C1	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094721/
The Witches (1990)	PG	C1	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100944
The Witches of Eastwick (1987)	R	C1	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094332
Young Frankenstein (1974)	PG	C1	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072431/
The Addams Family (1991)	PG-13	C1	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101272/
Hocus Pocus (1993)	PG	C1	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107120/
Coraline (2009)	PG	C1	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0327597
It (2017)	R	C1	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1396484/
The Others (2001)	PG-13	C1	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0230600
Little Shop of Horrors (1986)	PG-13	C1	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091419/
Once Bitten (1985)	PG-13	C1	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089730
An American Werewolf in London (1981)	R	C1	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082010
Dracula (1992)	R	C1	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103874/
The Thing (1982)	R	C1	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084787/
The Shining (1980)	R	C1/Advanced	https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081505

Enrichment & Accent Challenge Film Details

• The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
• Summary: Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, grows tired of Halloween and discovers Christmas Town.
• English Focus: Great for listening to rhyming, musical lyrics and unique vocabulary related to the fantasy setting.
• Poltergeist (1982)
• Summary: A family is terrorized by ghosts communicating through their television.
• English Focus: Excellent for practicing real-world dialogue where characters speak quickly, interrupt, and overlap—a true test of authentic listening.
• Ghostbusters (1984)
• Summary: Three scientists start a ghost-catching business in New York City.
• English Focus: fast-paced jokes, and scientific/technical jargon. Ideal for improving listening speed.
• The Lost Boys (1987)
• Summary: Teenagers meet a gang of vampires in 1980s America.
• English Focus: Filled with 1980s American youth slang, idioms, and high-energy dialogue. Good for cultural and period-specific language acquisition.
• Beetlejuice (1988)
• Summary: A recently deceased couple hires another ghost to scare the new living owners out of their home.¹¹
• English Focus: Features eccentric, fast-paced dialogue.
• The Witches (1990)
• Summary: A boy and his grandmother discover a convention of evil, real-life witches.
• English Focus: High accent challenge due to the stylized, thick foreign and regional accents, especially from Anjelica Huston.
• The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
• Summary: Three bored women in a New England town summon a mysterious, charismatic man who might be the Devil.
• English Focus: Sophisticated, fast-paced conversational dialogue often delivered with great wit and frequent overlapping. Excellent for practicing rapid-fire, emotionally-charged American wit and higher-level vocabulary.
•  Young Frankenstein (1974)
• Summary: Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, the grandson of the infamous doctor Frankenstein, tries to distance himself from his family's legacy but instead continues the work.
• English Focus: Unique Accent Challenge. The comedy relies greatly on pronunciation jokes and accents (e.g., "Fronkensteen" vs. "Frankenstein"). The mix of formal 1930s speech parody with thick German accents and old American slang is a great challenge for advance students.
• The Addams Family (1991)
• Summary: A bizarre family deals with a long-lost relative trying to scam them out of their fortune.
• English Focus: Extremely rich with vocabulary, clever wordplay, and complex humor. Requires a solid grasp of irony and subtlety.
• Hocus Pocus (1993)
• Summary: A curious teenager accidentally resurrects three 17th-century Salem witches.
• English Focus: The stylized, theatrical accents and rapid, speech of the witches are a great vocal challenge for B2 learners.
• Coraline (2009)
• Summary: A young girl discovers a threatening alternate reality in her new home.
• English Focus: A good mix of British and American accents, with a focus on descriptive and gothic vocabulary.
• It (2017)
• Summary: A group of children confronts a demon that takes the form of a clown.
• English Focus: Very modern, authentic-sounding American teen slang (often crude and fast-paced). Good for up-to-date conversational English.
• The Others (2001)
• Summary: A mother on an isolated estate believes her house is haunted.
• English Focus: High-quality British accent practice with dialogue delivered in a formal, measured, and often quiet tone.
• Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
• Summary: A black comedy about a meek florist assistant who acquires an unusual plant that brings a great deal of business, but demands human blood in order to grow.
• English Focus: Strong musical focus provides rhythm and repetition. Dialogue uses casual 80s slang and quick-witted exchanges.
• An American Werewolf in London (1981)
• Summary: An American backpacker survives a werewolf attack in the English countryside.
• English Focus: Excellent accent clash practice: Fast-paced American English contrasted with challenging British regional accents and slang.
• Dracula (1992)
• Summary: Francis Ford Coppola's retelling of the classic vampire tale.
• English Focus: Sophisticated vocabulary and formal, Victorian-era English. High accent challenge due to stylized European accents.
• The Thing (1982)
• Summary: A research team in Antarctica discovers a dangerous, shape-shifting alien among them.
• English Focus: Authentic, often overlapping dialogue delivered under intense stress, including mumbling and low-frequency male voices. A high test of concentration.
• The Shining (1980)
• Summary: A man and his family accepts a job as a winter caretaker at an isolated, haunted hotel.
• English Focus: Highest Challenge. Dialogue is often rapid-fire, psychologically dense, and sometimes intentionally confusing. Requires a high level of vocabulary and subtextual understanding.

 

Reading Strategies and Book Suggestions for English Learners

 Reading is a powerful tool for English learners. While there are different types of materials learners can use, reading books are one of the best types of materials. This article gives some advice on how to improve your English by reading books, and also gives a list of some good books for learners of different levels.

• Read what you love: Motivation is essential for learning. Choose books with topics and stories that are interesting to you.
• Get the book in your native language: If possible, get the book in your native language as well. This allows you to more easily check words and parts, which you don’t understand.
• Listen and read: Many books have audio versions. Reading the text while listening to the audiobook is an excellent way to get reading and listening practice together. Listening as you read also helps with pronunciation, rhythm, and intonation.
• Shadowing: You can also get some speaking practice though reading. Practice "shadowing" – repeating what you hear immediately after the speaker. This builds fluency and natural speech patterns.
• Discuss what you read: Talk about the book with a teacher or language partner. This helps your understanding and provides valuable speaking practice.
• Something is better than nothing: Don't feel the need to read large amounts at one time. On days with more time, read more. On busy days, even just a page or a paragraph is better than nothing. The main goal is consistency.
• Free online resources: Remember, many classic books are available for free online. Most classic books are in the public domain (anyone has the right to copy and read them), and there are some good online libraries for works in the public domain. Three of the best are Wikisource, Project Gutenberg and Open Library.
• Prepare before reading the book: For some more challenging books, it can be helpful to prepare before reading the book. You can do this by reading a summary of the story and the main characters.
• Watch the movie: After you read the book, you can watch the movie adaption of the book. This can be good listening practice and can provide a topic for speaking practice.  For example, what are the differences between the movie and the book? If the book is more challenging, it might be useful to watch the movie even before you read the book, to help you get a better idea of the story and characters.

Book Recommendations

To help you get started, here's a list of suitable books for English learners at different levels, from the easiest levels (A0-A1) to more difficult and challenging levels (B2 to C2).

This list also highlights excellent graded reader series specifically designed for English language learners, which are highly recommended for structured progress.

I. Beginner (A0 - A1):

Dedicated Graded Reader Series: These are excellent resources for beginners. They are specifically written with vocabulary and grammar for each level.

Penguin Readers: Easystarts (A0) & Level 1 (A1)

Oxford Bookworms Library: Starter (A1) & Stage 1 (A1)

Cambridge English Readers: Starter (A1) & Level 1 (A1)

Macmillan Readers: Starter (A1) & Beginner (A1)

Very Simple Children's Books/Picture Books:

The Cat in the Hat (Dr. Seuss) - Simple, repetitive language, rhyming.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Eric Carle)

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (Bill Martin Jr.)

Aesop's Fables - Short, clear moral stories (often adapted for A1).

"I Can Read" Books (various authors/series) - Leveled readers for native-speaking children, perfect for ESL beginners.

Simple Non-Fiction Picture Books (focus on basic concepts).

Simple Fables from Around the World.

Others:

The Happy Prince and other stories (Oscar Wilde - often adapted for A2).

II. Elementary to Low Intermediate (A2 - B1):

Dedicated Graded Reader Series:

Penguin Readers: Level 2 (A2) & Level 3 (B1)

Oxford Bookworms Library: Stage 2 (A2) & Stage 3 (B1)

Cambridge English Readers: Level 2 (A2) & Level 3 (B1)

Macmillan Readers: Elementary (A2) & Pre-intermediate/Intermediate (B1)

Classic Children's Novels (often adapted for this level):

The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

Peter Pan (J.M. Barrie)

Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)

The Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum)

Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling)

The Jungle Book (Rudyard Kipling)

The Adventures of Pinocchio (Carlo Collodi)

Winnie the Pooh (A.A. Milne)

The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)

James and the Giant Peach (Roald Dahl)

Young Adult Series (generally lighter language):

Goosebumps (R.L. Stine)

The Giver (Lois Lowry)

The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)

My Side of the Mountain (Jean Craighead George)

A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L'Engle)

Others:

Adapted short story collections for Learners (Hans Christian Anderson, Anton Chekhov, Leo Tolstoy, O Henry, Jack London)

Simple Biographies of Famous People

The Arrival (Shaun Tan)

III. Intermediate to Upper Intermediate (B1 - B2):

Dedicated Graded Reader Series: Move up to the more advanced levels of these series, tackling more complex vocabulary and longer sentences:

Penguin Readers: Level 4 (B2)

Oxford Bookworms Library: Stage 4 (B2) & Stage 5 (B2+)

Cambridge English Readers: Level 4 (B2)

Macmillan Readers: Upper Intermediate (B2)

Popular Novels with Accessible Language (original versions):

The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway)

Animal Farm (George Orwell)

The Pearl (John Steinbeck)

Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck)

Jonathan Livingston Seagull (Richard Bach)

Selected stories by Anton Chekhov (Joy, The Lottery Ticket, The Boys, Fat and Thin, The Doctor’s Visit, The Bet)

Selected stories by Leo Tolstoy (21 Tales, God Sees the Truth but Waits, What Men Live By, How Much Land does a Man Need?)

Selected stories of O Henry (often adapted)

White Fang (Jack London)

 The Call of the Wild (Jack London)

The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)

The Witches, BFG, and other Roald Dahl books (original versions) B1 to B2

The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)

Graphic Novels (e.g., Persepolis, Maus).

IV. Upper Intermediate (B2 - C1):

              Dedicated Graded Reader Series: For those pushing towards advanced fluency:

Penguin Readers: Level 5 (B2+) & Level 6 (C1)

Oxford Bookworms Library: Stage 6 (C1)

Cambridge English Readers: Level 5 (B2+) & Level 6 (C1)

Macmillan Readers: Advanced (C1)

       Classic Novels with more complex language/themes:

Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)

1984 (George Orwell)

Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)

The Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien)

Works of Ernest Hemingway (In Our Time, The Sun also Rises, For Whom the Bell Tolls, A Farewell to Arms, Men Without Women, The Snows of the Kilimanjaro and Other Stories)

Siddhartha (Hermann Hesse)

Candide (Voltaire)

The Prophet (Kahlil Gibran)

The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)

Lord of the Flies (William Golding)

The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)

Black Boy (Richard Wright)

Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass (Fredrick Douglass)

Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)

The Color Purple (Alice Walker)

The Joy Luck Club (Amy Tan)

American Born Chinese (Gene Luen Yang)

House on Mango Street (Sandra Cisneros)

Short Stories of Jack London (To Build a Fire, Love of Life)

To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)

Life of Pi (Yann Martel)

The Bible (New International Version)

Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)

Harry Potter series (J.K. Rowling)

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis)

Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)

A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens - consider adapted version if original is too hard).

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Robert Louis Stevenson)

The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (Marcus Aurelius)

The Time Machine (H.G. Wells)

The War of the Worlds (H.G. Wells)

Dracula (Bram Stoker - often adapted).

Frankenstein (Mary Shelley - often adapted).

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

Our Town (Thornton Wilder)

          Other Short stories

                         "The Story of an Hour" Kate Chopin

                         "The Lottery" Shirley Jackson

                         "The Umbrella Man" and "Lamb to the Slaughter" Roald Dahl

          More Challenging Short Stories:

Isaac Asimov (Science Fiction)

                        Going to Meet the Man (James Baldwin)

                        Dubliners (James Joyce)

                        Short stories of Leo Tolstoy

“The Sound of Thunder” (Ray Bradbury)

Works of H.P. Lovecraft "The Cats of Ulthar", "The Music of Erich Zann", "The Terrible Old Man", "From Beyond"

Works of Edgar Allan Poe "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Cask of Amontillado, "The Black Cat"

Works of Philip K. Dick "Beyond Lies the Wub" "The Defenders" "Second Variety" “Adjustment Team”