A family sits down on the couch after a long day of carving pumpkins and decorating for Halloween, and all they want to do is get comfortable and watch a classic spooky movie. When the recommendation of “Nightmare Before Christmas” comes up, they debate on if this movie is a true Halloween classic. Overall they decided it would be a good movie for them to induce their spooky spirit. “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is the perfect movie for a family to enjoy during the spooky season.
The movie “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” by Tim Burton, tells the story of “Jack Skellington” who is the pumpkin king of Halloween Town. He longs for adventure and something new, when he discovers the holiday Christmas. Jack decides to experiment with the idea of something new and tries to take over Christmas, but Jack’s distraction is a perfect opportunity for Oogie Boogie to try and take over Halloween. Oogie Boogie is becoming jealous of Jack’s success in taking over Christmas, so he kidnaps Santa Claus to mess with his plans. This makes Jack realize how juvenile his actions were and decides to stop it all together and save Christmas.
The first reason why “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is a Halloween movie is because Tim Burton along with other cast members claim that it is. With the movie being released on October 13th, 1993, it was definitely intended to be related to the spooky season rather than Christmas time. Danny Elfman, who is the singing voice of Jack, associates this movie with Halloween because Halloween was a better time for him as a child, as the holidays were troublesome. The positives of the spooky season helped him associate this movie with that.
If this movie was intended for Christmas time, why was Christmas not taking over Halloween? The plot centers around spooky characters taking over the jolly Christmas holiday.If this was for Christmas, it would have to be Christmas taking over Halloween, which would conflict with the plot. With the setting being in mainly a Halloween Town and the main characters being involved with Halloween, it is only right that people would want to watch this movie around Halloween.
So, as Tim Burton and Danny Elfman said themselves, “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is the perfect spooky movie for a family to enjoy on a cool October night, drinking pumpkin spice lattes, and enjoying the spooky spirit. The director himself, Henry Selick, confirmed the fact that this is a true Halloween classic, how can you compete with that?