[Ed. Note: Jenny Nelson is a writer, student, and — most importantly — Videogum intern.]

A lot of us use Halloween month (or “October”) as a time to watch SpoooOOoky movies, but for those of us (me) who saw a movie (The Ring) in our (my) early teenage years and journaled about how much we (I) were (was) terrified of that movie for months after, sometimes scary movies are too scary! And for that reason I’m glad that there are some movies that simply take place on Halloween, without being at all scary. All the characters dress up and go to a party. Maybe they have a good time! It’s like they are doing something scary, except they’re not!

Besides the fact that they are not always scary, Halloween parties in movies are fun because often there are, unbeknownst to the guests, actual spooky beings—ghosts, witches, aliens, etc—in attendance. No one notices because everyone’s in costume! See how E.T.’s in the picture above but YOU DIDN’T EVEN KNOW unless you remember that part in the movie where he dresses as a ghost? If I’ve learned anything else from Halloween parties in movies, it’s that they are also a good place to fall in love, and at the very least you wear a costume and eat candy, so it’s not all that bad. Please tell us, what are YOUR favorite Halloween Movie Parties and also why? Here are some examples to get you started.

Right off the bat, surely you remember this part in Mean Girls where homeschooled teen Cady learns about the ritual of American teen girls dressing like “sexy” animals for Halloween parties. Maybe this is a party you would like to go to, and if so, let us know, are you a Cady (dressing spooOOooky) or a mean girl (who doesn’t like Cady’s costume)?

Maybe, though, you prefer a stressful-type Halloween party, in which the world is about to end as prophesized by a human-sized bunny ON THE SAME NIGHT that you’re hosting a house party with your sister. I’ve always liked this one because I wonder: where did Donnie Darko get that costume? Did he have it already? I can never decide if it’s like or unlike his personality to have a loose-fitting skeleton bodysuit in his closet. He looks so casual. Right after this scene below, Donnie and Gretchen go to talk to a lady and a pre-fame Seth RoOOoOgen beats them up! Maybe this is your ideal Halloween celebration?

Another type of Halloween party is one that takes place at your school, where it’s easier for you to get revenge on your bullies, A LA the original Karate Kid. A+ for this costume, he is being a shower for Halloween. If you’re doing the revenge thing, though, it probably helps for you to know karate, which I don’t, so I will not choose this party.

Maybe, instead of a teen house party, you’d rather do a more organized, Hocus Pocus-style Adult Halloween Ball, which is statistically 100% more likely to end up in witches. Your preteens will try their best to save you but since you’re at an Adult Halloween Ball you will be oblivious to the concerns of children. You are adults who don’t have time for this! This party introduces new pros and cons, a con being the witches and a pro being that there’s probably better snacks and drinks!

IF and I stress IF you have made friends with a (friendly) ghost this holiday season, a very good place to meet up is at a Halloween dance for fellow children! The two of you can slow dance and then when he reveals that he is your friendly ghost friend, you can act surprised even though SURELY you must have known who he was because you have been dancing together for a minute now, and he is dressed all in white (like how you assume a ghost would dress!), and YOU ARE LEVITATING TOGETHER. I’m just saying you should have noticed, but whatever. This is maybe the ideal Halloween celebration, because your dad will see your Mom-ghost, too!

Or maybe your Homecoming dance is Halloween-themed, which is what happens in A Cinderella Story, so you can expect to find someone special there. Remember, if you dressed like a princess, your ideal mate will have dressed like a prince, so you can glide on past the pirates, dogs, and people dressed in wooden barrels, floating towards him and towards happiness. If you are shy, that is okay because no one can tell since your mask covers part of your face! The risk here is that now your mate (is it weird that I’m calling him that?) will not be able to recognize you without the mask so you are dooooooomed but I assume there’s a happy ending later.

If the prince-princess thing isn’t for you, you might prefer taking yourself and your Jack Russell terrier to an Adult Costume Party where you can find the Charlie Chaplin to your Sigmund Freud. A benefit of a costume party, is, in addition to no one seeing your real self, you can express yourself via costume, and that means you don’t even really need your voice, because if you’ve seen Beginners, you remember that she has laryngitis at the party, I think that’s all you need to know before you watch this clip, okay let’s see it:

Finalllyyyy, maybe you just want to go to a dance frat party, like in the 1989 slasher Rush Week! This one looks the most fun! Hopefully nothing bad happens at all in this movie and they don’t find Tori or they do but she is happily dancing to the vampire band!