Halloween is just around the corner, and that means new Halloween movies and a lot of new horror movies in theaters.

Some people really like movies like the “Saw” series that use lots of gore and shock imagery to scare the audience.

Other movies that come out around this time may tend to focus on a certain monster(s), like the vampire girl from “Let Me In” or any of the numerous remakes that have been created of “Frankenstein”.

But not all Halloween-themed movies have to be fright fests.

Some Halloween movies like to put this holiday into a light-hearted perspective, like “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

But if you are looking for a werewolf barber or a taxi-driving skeleton, you need only to see “Halloweentown.”

“Halloweentown,” made in 1998 by Disney, is the kind of movie that takes a traditional holiday and transforms it into the sort of wacky adventure that Disney is so famous for making.

The movie gives Halloween a real sense of humor and breathes life into traditional Halloween mythology.

The plot is relatively simple: a young girl named Marnie Piper finds out she is a witch when she accidentally follows her grandmother into the fantastical world of Halloweentown, dragging her sorceress little sister and warlock brother with her.

Halloweentown itself is a world where all the traditional monsters live lives just like humans do in their world.

Werewolves, goblins, ghosts, witches and other classic monsters are all ordinary citizens in Halloweentown.

Of course, no good adventure can be complete without an antagonist.

When Marnie and her siblings reach Halloweentown, they learn that the citizens have been mysteriously disappearing.

Ultimately, the person responsible for the disappearances is revealed and defeated, just as in all good Disney endings.

What I like about Halloweentown is that it takes the perceptions most people have about Halloween and mixes them with a healthy serving of humanity.

Certain parts of the movie particularly accentuate this idea, such as the scene where Marnie gets her first broomstick.

Similar to Harry Potter, broomsticks in Halloweentown seem to be equivalent to cars.

I watch “Halloweentown” whenever I can catch it, usually on television when it airs in late October on the Disney Channel.

For those who have not seen it and are looking for a family-friendly and less gory Halloween movie to watch, “Halloweentown” is a must-see.

Jesse Snow can be reached at 581-7942

or [email protected].