Whether you love or despise them, holiday movies have been an institution in cinema. This was long before Bing Crosby crooned about his love of a good ole’ white Christmas. Though most filmgoers may favor a more traditional holiday film, the genre has evolved over the years to include additions that would make Crosby raise an eyebrow.
For instance, a shoot ‘em up classic like Die Hard, or Joe Dante’s monster tale Gremlins, may not always be remembered as Christmas movies. However, many cinephiles today count these films as holiday classics.
While those examples still fall firmly within the mainstream, more overtly antithetical entries like Silent Night, Deadly Night, Black Christmas, and more recent efforts like Krampus and Anna and the Apocalypse demonstrate that there is an audience for holiday cheer with an edge.
Though thematic hybrids have indeed become more commonplace in the theaters in recent years, perhaps the pinnacle example of this genre mashup success is Henry Selick’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.
The Nightmare Before Christmas tells the story of Jack Skellington, the skeletal “pumpkin king” of Halloweentown. Under the guidance of Jack, the ghouls and freaks of the dark, twisted community are responsible for creating all things spooky for their namesake holiday every October.
Burned out after another humdrum Halloween, Jack ventures into the nearby forest and discovers a door leading to the “polar” opposite of his doom and gloom existence, Christmastown! This is in sharp contrast to the macabre world Jack has always known. Christmastown boasts cheerful carols, heartwarming stories by the fire, and presents from Santa Claus.
Immediately smitten by the newfound holiday, Jack heads back home to coerce his townies into observing the new traditions in an attempt to take over Christmas himself. To ensure that he will be the one to deliver gifts this year instead of Santa, Jack employs a trio of spooks to kidnap the man in red to help further his scheme.
Instead of holding Santa hostage, however, the henchmen deliver him to the big, bad Oogie Boogie. Oogie Boogie has plans of his own for the jolly old elf. Jack’s attempt at Christmas prove to be futile. He soon realizes that it is he who inevitably must save Santa and, ultimately, Christmas.
Though the genius of The Nightmare Before Christmas is vast, it all starts with the breathtaking attention to detail in Selick’s stop motion animation style. The mind-boggling amount of work that is required to produce such a project is astonishing.
According to IMDB, approximately 12 stop motion moves were captured per second of running time! While technically superb, The Nightmare Before Christmas is also visually stunning. The inanimate characters live and breathe onscreen in a beautiful dance between dark and light. Both literally and thematically, with Selick’s twisted and bizarre aesthetic.
In addition to the tantalizing sights onscreen, Danny Elfman’s music in The Nightmare Before Christmas is what truly catapults the film beyond your typical quirky stop-motion animation fare. No one comes out of this film without the earworm “What’s this?! What’s this?!” stuck in their head.
This joyful musical ode to Jack’s discovery of Christmastown is genius. It’s also one of many Elfman songs from the classic soundtrack. Whether it’s Halloweentown’s celebratory thumping chorus, “This Is Halloween.” Or the haunting “Sally’s Song,” Elfman’s offbeat bravado is the perfect match for such an unconventional story.
While Chris Sarandon (The Princess Bride, Fright Night) does a terrific job imbuing Jack with the proper dose of dark whimsy, it is the films composer, Danny Elfman himself, who steps behind the mic to actually perform Jack’s musical numbers.
Elfman keeps it classic with vocals rivaling those of any Broadway stalwart. While he still maintains a sense of accessibility in his delivery. Elfman’s versatility as an artist comes as no surprise. Many have followed the musician since his days as front-man for the band Oingo Boingo. Not to mention his prolific award-winning career as a film composer.
Catherine O’Hara (Beetlejuice, Home Alone) voices Sally, Jack’s tormented paramour, with equal parts levity and bittersweet earnestness. There’s good reason why O’Hara is still one of Hollywood’s most understated go-to character performers. Ironically the full breadth of her profound talent is beautifully displayed in a film where she appears in zero frames.
Setting The Nightmare Before Christmas apart from most films, much less holiday fare, is the overall deliciously eerie, morbid vibe. Originally conceived by the king-of-the-goths himself, Tim Burton; it’s rumored the idea had occurred to him when Burton observed Christmas décor on store shelves. This while adjacent Halloween clearance items were still on sale.
The juxtaposition of the contradictory celebrations was not lost on the one time Disney animator. As a result, a new classic was born. The finished product is the counterintuitive melding of the holidays that has proven to be quite the effective narrative device. The film showcases Burton’s affinity for affable weirdness.
Every character in The Nightmare Before Christmas is likable yet creepy in some literal way, shape, or form. Whether it be from Jack’s disconcerting black and white jack-o’-lantern grin, to Sally’s stitched-together Frankenstein-esque body.
Producer Tim Burton’s macabre stamp fits perfectly with Selick’s equally grim yet friendly aesthetic. The Nightmare Before Christmas constantly walks a very thin line between joviality and dread. The film has continued to curiously capture the imaginations of filmgoers from all walks of life.
It’s difficult to think of a more successful cinematic home-run than a film that combines Christmas cheer, mixed with Halloween horror. Then all wrapped up in a delightful stop-motion musical bow.
Henry Selick, Tim Burton, and Danny Elfman not only accomplished this, but they also did it in a way that is accessible to audiences then and now. This is the very definition of a holiday classic, no matter how beautifully unconventional.
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