http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/halloween2.jpg
[[caption-width:500:Boys and girls of every age/Wouldn't you like to see something strange?/Come with us and you will see...]]


This is a setting with a creepy motif. The buildings are gothic in design (often clearly modeled on ''TheCabinetOfDrCaligari''), there's always a heavy fog in the air that obscures your vision, and the full moon always lights the cloud-draped sky... even at 2:30 in the afternoon. Halloweentown is usually inhabited by [[{{Vampire}} the usual assortment]] [[WolfMan of horror trope]] [[MadScientist creatures]]. The main color schemes are [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience black, gray, black, orange, sickly green, and black...]]sometimes in combination.

Despite the somber colors and the Horror Trope decor, this setting is not always played solemnly. Imagine the PerkyGoth or NightmareFetishist character as a setting, and you've got this place. It's less [[{{Uberwald}} Eastern European]] and more trick or treat. Halloweentown is usually not that scary, at least not intentionally so. It's intended to be somewhat [[DarkIsNotEvil playful and fun]]. A good way to tell if a series is set in a place like this is if there are jack-o-lanterns and it's not Halloween, although it's not a prerequisite.

[[BigBoosHaunt A very popular video game setting.]]

Contrast with {{Uberwald}}, a much more serious, and much less fun, take on the classic "spooky" setting. Not to be confused with {{Film/Halloweentown}}, a made-for-TV HalloweenSpecial by Disney.

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!!Examples:

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[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* Death City in ''SoulEater''.

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[[folder: Film ]]

* The TropeNamer is ''TheNightmareBeforeChristmas''. It is the ''job'' of the inhabitants of Halloweentown to make Halloween happen each year.
* ''CorpseBride'', the spiritual successor to ''TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'', takes place in this sort of setting as well.
* The ''Film/{{Halloweentown}}'' series of movies. The titular town is unusually bright and cheery... Until it's time for bed...
* The world Other-Mother creates in ''{{Coraline}}''.
* ''{{Outrun}} 2006'' has one of these scenarios as race track.
* A proto-example is Holstenwall from ''TheCabinetOfDrCaligari''. It has the creepy mood and architecture, but only one MadScientist and his sleep-walking SerialKiller.

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[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* This trope is the entire point of ''TheAddamsFamily'', along with the similarly themed show, ''TheMunsters''.

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[[folder: Video Games ]]

* ''AnimalCrossing'' has the Spooky furniture set, which can only be found on--of course--Halloween. It allows you to turn your house into one of these.
** The ''AnimalCrossing'' FollowTheLeader game, ''MagiciansQuestMysteriousTimes,'' has both the "Creepy" and outright "Halloween" themes; "Creepy" is more haunted-house oriented while "Halloween" is full-out Jack-o-Lantern style Halloween.
* Mad Monster Mansion in ''BanjoKazooie''.
* Croatoa, a zone in ''CityOfHeroes'', is fog-encrusted, and inhabited by ghosts, witches, [[TheFairFolk Red Caps]], and fire-breathing Jack-o-Lantern plant monsters.
* Horrorland in the now ancient Goosebumps point and click adventure game ''Escape from Horrorland''.
* ''Conker'sBadFurDay'' has the aptly-titled ''Scary'' level, which seems to be this, except there actually are flesh-eating zombies and vampires that you have to kill.
* The Netherworld/Makai in every iteration of ''{{Disgaea}}'' and its sister series.
* ''DonkeyKongCountry 2'' has one of these.
**Speaking of Rare's Donkey Kong games I think Creepy Castle from Donkey Kong 64 probably deserves a mention.
* In ''KingdomHearts'', the protagonist actually visits the trope-naming town a couple times. Then subverted somewhat, however, in ''KingdomHearts 2'', where TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon is a dystopian city.
* ''Haunted House'' on the Atari is one of the first games to be set here.
* Ooga Booga Land from ''King's Quest VII''.
* The entirety of ''LuigisMansion''.
* The final world of ''New Super Mario Brothers'' has a distincty Halloweeny feel. And walking Pumpkins.
* Twilight Town in ''PaperMario: The Thousand-Year Door'' exists in a state of perpetual twilight, with a gigantic yellow full moon in the sky, and is inhabited mainly by crows and the {{goth}}ic Twilighters.
* Niffleheim in the somewhat obscure MMO ''Angels Online''.
** Actually it's ''Ragnarok Online''. Unless they both have a town of the same name with the same setting.
** The original Niflheim was the frozen underworld of Norse m
* Pumpkin Hill, Aquatic Mine, and several other levels in ''Sonic Adventure 2''.
* The setting of ''SoulEater''.
* ''Super Mario Land 2'' has the Pumpkin Zone.
* ''SuperMarioWorld'' has an unlockable skin that turns the game into this if you can beat the special stages.
* I can't believe no one mentioned ''World of Warcraft'''s own Undercity, home of the Forsaken undead. This is a city built completely underground. All the buildings are gothic in design, skull-shaped decorations abound. Green-yellow goo (in which you can surprisingly fish) flows in the canals. The city is guarded by giant abominations (read Frankenstein's Monsters). One of the quarters of the city is "The Apothecarium": a laboratory destined to the production of said monsters and the development of new Plagues. All the inhabitants are obviously undead. The ruler is a Banshee and the co-ruler (used to be, until his failed takeover attempt) a vampire-demon. This is the actual capital city for a player race, too. Not a vile dungeon you need to destroy.
** As far as actual dungeons are concerned, Naxxramas probably qualifies. A flying Necropolis filled with more indead horrors your mind can comprehend.

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[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* The Neitherworld in the animated adaptation of ''{{Beetlejuice}}''. It's full of bizarre buildings, gothic looking scenery, twisted backgrounds, and strange creatures of all shapes and sizes. Of course, the creatures are, for the most part [[DarkIsNotEvil pretty friendly if a little strange.]]
* ''Casper's Scare School'' has its school here.
* ''RubyGloom'' is set here.

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