My favorite Tim Burton movies to stream on a dark and stormy night

‘Tis the season for watching movies that are spooky, creepy, and altogether weird. One director who frequently dabbles in the strange is Tim Burton, a master of creating immersive, unsettling worlds filled with misguided and lovable characters. He returned this fall with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice with Michael Keaton returning as one of the most memorable figures Tim Burton has ever brought to the screen. For four decades, Burton has entertained and unnerved with imaginative stories featuring oddballs, outcasts, deviants, and dreamers.

While there’s no bad time to revisit Burton’s filmography, there’s a particular charm watching his films in the fall. The season lends itself to the colorful, imaginative worlds Burton often creates, and plenty of movies are dark and spooky as well. With that in mind, here are some memorable Tim Burton moviesto stream right now.

Frankenweenie

Beautiful, weird story about a boy and his dog

Based on a short film Burton made in 1984, Frankenweenie is a clever and surprisingly tender take on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein with plenty of allusions to other Gothic tales. The film follows an introverted young boy, who after losing his beloved dog, sets out to bring him back to life using science. The black-and-white stop-motion animated movie is quintessential Burton; it’s sweet, odd, a little grotesque, and very fun all at the same time.

Backed by a stellar voice acting cast that includes Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short, and Winona Ryder, Frankenweenie is one of Burton’s best films, and a perfect offering for young and old this Halloween season.

Mars Attacks!

Wildly absurd, star-studded invasion movie

This bonkers 1998 movie came out the same year as Independence Day, but the two alien invasion movies are wildly different. This big-budget B-movie has an absurd attitude and a stacked cast that includes Jack Nicholson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Pierce Brosnan, Annette Bening, among many, many other stars. The special effects are very dated (in part by design), but that doesn’t mean this movie is any less fun. It follows a bunch of different groups of people as they navigate a threatening horde of loud, little green men and their deadly weapons.

While it’s funny and entertaining in its own right, like many Burton films, it’s also an homage to a bygone era of cinema. There are plenty of allusions to older invasion tropes, it’s filled with people running and screaming in terror, and also includes Tom Jones singing and Jim Brown punching aliens. It’s a great time.

Sleepy Hollow

An atmospheric and unsettling imagining of the classic tale

Burton’s take on this classic tale of Icabod Crane is filled with iconic imagery and genuinely scary moments. It’s perhaps his most terrifying tale, in part due to the atmosphere and level of detail in creating an uncomfortable, chilling environment. For those who watched it when it first came out, especially at a younger age, images of a dead tree, wooden bridge, and giant windmill likely remain in your head.

Washington Irving’s short story is more fleshed out in this feature-length film, but it follows the same idea. In 1799, Crane, here a constable, investigates a series of deadly murders in a small town, soon encountering a vengeful headless horseman. The chilling story is bloody, engaging, and like most Burton films, a ton of fun.

Beetlejuice

A deliciously fun film about love and death

The original Beetlejuice is a wildly absurd, hilarious, unforgettable lark, and worth revisiting time and again. If you haven’t seen it in a while, I think it’s easy to forget the overall dark, weird story and plenty of strange characters that feature in it, mainly because the limited screen time of the title character and an iconic musical number tend to overshadow everything else.

Like many Burton films, it starts with a dark, weird conceit: a couple dies in a car accident and becomes trapped in their vacation home that is soon after sold to some peculiar individuals. They consult the titular scoundrel to help them scare away the new homeowners, and chaos ensues. It’s a delightful and weird story that definitely holds up.

Big Fish

An imaginative adult fairy tale

This entry isn’t as creepy as the others on the list, but it’s still fantastical story told with such energy and beauty that makes it a compelling watch. It’s mainly an engine for Burton to explore tall tales, imagination, and the power of storytelling. It follows Ewan McGregor’s William Bloom as he seeks to make sense of all the yarns his father spun throughout his life. It’s not quite a spooky tale, but it’s got very cozy and curious vibes that make it worth enjoying this fall.

Nightmare Before Christmas

Something fun

While Burton didn’t direct this iconic, beloved animated music, it’s his story, one filled with unforgettable characters, memorable songs, and a strong emotional arc. Jack Skellington, who leads Halloween Town, stumbles upon Christmas Town and becomes infatuated with the pretty, sweet holiday. Of course, as is the case with other Burton protagonists, good intentions by naive optimists leads to chaos and unintended consequences.

Whether you prefer to watch it closer to Christmas or turn it on to get in the spirit of the Halloween season, it’s worth revisiting every fall, at least once.

Hansel & Gretel

An early look at Burton’s wild ideas

This is a bit of a deep dive, but if you’re a fan of Burton’s work and really don’t want to fall asleep at night, check out his television movie about the classic fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel. It is a wild low-budget descent into madness that aligns with several other fantasy spectacles of the 80s that were supposedly for children, in that it’s totally nightmarish. Inexplicably, it aired on the Disney Channel, although it was only shown twice later at night around Halloween.

Still, it’s a fascinating look into Burton’s creativity, and there are plenty of characters that you may recognize; they pop up later in other creepy works, albeit far more refined and polished. It’s not readily available anywhere except YouTube, but at just over a half hour, it’s worth checking out.