"And we thought you didn't *like* us, Jack."
Jack Skellington (Sarandon) is the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town. After another successful Halloween, Jack laments that something is missing. He is bored with the routine and longs for something more. While taking a walk, he discover several trees that are doors to other holidays. He goes through the door to Christmas Town and is charmed by everything he sees.
Back in Halloween Town he tries to explain what he saw, but doesn't understand it. He decides that he can do Christmas better and gathers the citizens of Halloween Town to assign tasks for their version of Christmas. He sends the troublemaking Lock (Reubens), Shock (O'Hara), and Barrel (Elfman) to Christmas Town to kidnap Santa Claus (Ivory). Against Jack's wishes, they give Santa Claus to their boss Oogie Boogie (Page) the gambling boogie man. Sally (O'Hara), a rag doll made by Dr. Finklestein (Hickey), is worried that something terrible will happen, but no one else shares her fears. Will Christmas survive?
In the 1980s, Tim Burton was an animator for Disney and wrote a 3 page poem titled "The Nightmare Before Christmas". He wanted to turn the poem into a TV special, narrated by Vincent Price. He also showed the story to fellow animator Henry Selick. After leaving Disney, he started directing films. In 1990 he found that Disney still owned the writes to the story and worked with Selick to get a film approved. Burton was busy directing another film, and left the directing duties to Selick. He worked with Malcolm McDowell to write the story and asked composer Danny Elfman to write original songs so the film would be a musical.
This film was Selick's directorial debut, even though most people attribute the film to Burton. Selick went on to direct other stop-motion films, James and Giant Peach and Coraline. Burton later directed stop-motion film The Corpse Bride.
Some of my best friends from middle school and high school love this film, so it holds a special place in my heart. It is an interesting concept, and unique design. Stop-motion was the perfect format for this story. It is a nice mixture of dark/ macabre, while still funny and relatively tame. The songs are infectious and memorable, and it can be viewed at Halloween and/or Christmas.
This film has become a cult classic. In 2008, to celebrate the 15th anniversary, Disney released "Nightmare Revisited", with the songs from the film covered by various punk, indie, and metal artists.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) 76 minutes
Director: Henry Selick
Starring: Chris Sarandon as Jack Skellington
Danny Elfman as Jack Skellington (singing), Barrel
Catherine O'Hara as Sally, Shock
William Hickey as Doctor Finklestein
Glenn Shadix as Mayor of Halloween Town
Ken Page as Oogie Boogie
Ed Ivory as Santa Claus
Paul Reubens as Lock
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