Whether it’s Halloween season or not, it’s a well-known fact that spooky movies can be thoroughly enjoyed year round. This is especially true of the unique pocket of stop-motion animation films marketed towards younger audiences, which viewers of all ages continue to appreciate years and years after their release. Their plucky protagonists, immersive settings, and mesmerizing scores seem to pull you through the screen into these one-of-a-kind atmospheres. Whether these stories are fully mystical or more realistic, they always include some significant whimsical elements that bend the imagination into unknown worlds.
One of the most popular films that fits into this category is The Nightmare Before Christmas. As one of Tim Burton’s masterful productions, this movie corners the market in terms of recognizable claymation characters, songs that stick in your subconsciousness, and multi-seasonal cheer. But what exactly makes this cherished holiday film so enduringly popular almost three decades after its original release in 1993?
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Its Vibrant Inner World Expands Beyond One Time of Year
Buena Vista Pictures
If you’ve ever seen The Nightmare Before Christmas, you of course know that the story crisscrosses back and forth to different holidays. After discovering the existence of a jolly Christmas Town, Jack Skellington makes it his mission to hang up his hat as Pumpkin King of Halloween Town for a while, and serve as Santa Claus for the season instead. Besides the obvious visual juxtaposition as characters jump between worlds, this multifaceted feeling is captured heavily through the film’s songs. “This is Halloween” and “Kidnap the Sandy Claws” encapsulate the spookier side of the film, calling upon a cast of characters from Halloween Town to explain their dastardly deeds through music. On the other hand, “What’s This?” and the “Christmas Eve Montage” backing track rely on typical sounds reminiscent of Christmas, like horns and bells.
Straddling the line between two highly celebrated and beloved holidays makes this movie incredibly easy to rewatch, no matter what time of year it is. Even if you decide to put it on in the middle of the summer, it’ll transport you back to cooler days with different festivities every which way. The film is so appreciated in retrospect that Henry Selick, its director, has expressed that the story could live on in another form on Disney+ so newer audiences can connect with its colorful universe.
It Combines the Real World with Fantastical Ones
The world of the story is extremely immersive, drawing in elements of the fantastical that make it shimmer with fascination. When Jack discovers Christmas Town, he leaves Halloween Town and stands in a circle of hollowed-out trees with doors in their trunks, each bearing a motif that corresponds to a different holiday. This is enough to clue audiences in as to where fantasy and reality meet within this universe – these mysterious doors could possibly be tucked away in any old forest.
The rest of the real world is seen through glimpses, populated by confused kids and horrified parents following Jack’s attempt at manufacturing his own version of Christmas. But as a Roger Ebert review states, “One of the many pleasures of [the film] is that there is not a single recognizable landscape within it. Everything looks strange and haunting.” Put into perspective, given the strange atmosphere of the story, this is true of Halloween Town, Christmas Town, and Burton’s version of “normal” family life on Christmas Eve. It definitely gives the film a unique and removed feel from the reality we know, cementing its sense of fantasy.
Its Legacy Remains Prominent in Pop Culture
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
It might surprise you to know that The Nightmare Before Christmas is indeed a Disney movie, but it wasn’t always attributed as such. Sources agree nowadays that because of the film’s subject matter and darker setup, Disney originally didn’t want it released under their name, according to Forbes. It was initially put out under Touchstone Pictures, a label of The Walt Disney Company. Despite this assumption, the film became wildly popular and a cult classic among kids and adults alike decades later. And because of this popularity, Disney rightfully attached their name to it again, and it’s been celebrated as an iconic Disney offering ever since.
The legacy of Nightmare today lies in its influence on pop culture. Whether it’s Halloween, Christmas, or any other time of year, many stores offer products featuring its characters and creepily creative feeling year-round. During its typically appreciated seasons each year, decorations often still bear these likenesses as well. In 2008, the album “Nightmare Revisited” came out, drawing upon recognizable musical talents to reinterpret many of the film’s songs in a rock style and remind audiences of the film’s iconic and timeless nature. Fans have waited eagerly for a sequel for years, speaking to just how loved the story still is today.
