As we enter the holiday season and that delightfully spooky time of Halloween once again, I can’t help but feel that many are too eager to skip over All Hallow’s Eve and head straight to Christmas. Christmas displays in stores seem to go up earlier and earlier every year and it’s not uncommon these days to see Christmas and Halloween merchandise placed side-by-side. And that fusion can’t help but make me think of the multi-holiday cult classic, The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Though famously credited to Tim Burton and based on a story by him, it was actually Henry Sellick, who later directed James and the Giant Peach, Coraline, and last year’s Wendell and Wild who directed the now iconic stop-motion film initially released 30 years ago today; with composer Danny Elfman crafting the film’s iconic soundtrack as well as providing the singing voice for Jack Skellington.
The film only took in a modest box office take initially, not helped by Disney releasing it under the more adult Touchstone Pictures imprint out of fear that it was “too dark and scary for kids.” However, it received widespread critical acclaim and has since developed a massive following and spawned countless tie-ins and merchandise lines; though a proper sequel film has never come to fruition.
So with Halloween at our doorstep, Christmas not that far behind, and the film’s 30th anniversary, I thought there would be no better time to revisit The Nightmare Before Christmas and see how it holds up. What makes it so iconic? What brings people back to it? Could a follow-up actually work? Well, let’s journey to Halloweentown and find out.
The Nightmare Before Christmas Plot
After completing the annual Halloween celebration, Jack Skellington, Pumpkin King and de facto ruler of Halloweentown, finds himself longing for something more when he stumbles into a forest filled with doors leading to other holiday-themed worlds. Jack enters the door leading to Christmastown and finds himself immediately enraptured by the concept, excitedly bringing it back to his subjects.
As he struggles to understand the true meaning of Christmas, Jack ultimately decides that it’s not enough to simply celebrate the holiday. Rather, he wants to take control of it for himself, believing he can make it better than it’s ever been before. Soon after, the residents of Halloweentown are hard at work making Christmas presents and Jack sends a mischievous trio of Trick-Or-Treaters to capture Santa Claus in order to complete the takeover.
When Christmas finally comes, Jack does manage to start making deliveries as Santa; but it isn’t long before the military shoots him down after multiple police reports come in about his dangerous and horrifying toys. This makes Jack realize how good he had it before and rushes back to Halloweentown to rescue Santa from the Boogeyman, also known as Oogie Boogie, a longtime rival of Jack whom the aforementioned Trick-Or-Treaters dropped Santa off with against his wishes.
Though the battle is tough, Jack does manage to defeat Oogie Boogie and rescue Santa. While Santa is rather upset by the ordeal he just went through, he does see Jack’s good intentions and even brings snow to Halloweentown after setting Christmas right on Earth. The film ends with Jack and Sally, a Frankenstein-esque woman with the power to predict the future, realizing and fully admitting their at-that-point unrequited love for one another.
Why It Still Holds Up
There’s a surprising amount of stuff to unpack in The Nightmare Before Christmas‘ less than 80-minute runtime. The meta-physics of the holiday forest and its relationship to Earth, the abusive relationship between Sally and her creator, the romantic relationship between Sally and Jack, the nature of Sally’s existence as a whole, and the bizarrely intricate political dynamics between Pumpkin King Jack, the democratically elected Halloweentown mayor, and the attempted usurper Oogie Boogie.
At first glance, you’d think a film balancing all of this in such a short amount of time would feel like a mess, but it all ultimately serves a larger and more universal story. These surprisingly complicated elements largely happen in the background, incidental world-building that enhances the story, particularly on repeat viewings, without taking away from the core of the narrative.
The Nightmare Before Christmas is, at its core, a morality play similar to Greek myths and classic fairy tales. Jack Skellington feels unsatisfied with his lot in life and through attempting a dramatic shift, learns that he never needed to change to be happy. It’s a story about appreciating what you have and it fundamentally works on that level.
Moreover, the film is brimming with atmosphere and charm; thanks in no small part to the gorgeous stop-motion animation. It gives the characters and locations a wholly unique look and feel that still manages to feel special even today. Plus, Danny Elfman’s soundtrack is pure musical bliss from start to finish, from bombastic ensemble numbers like “This Is Halloween” and “Kidnap The Sandy Claws” to more emotional ballads like “What’s This?” and “Sally’s Song.”
Also Read: Why Trick ‘r Treat Is The Gold Standard For All Things Halloween
Should There Be A Sequel?
This question might be a moot point since, if we want to get technical, a Nightmare Before Christmas sequel already exists. Multiple ones actually. In 2004, Capcom released a Nightmare Before Christmas video game, subtitled Oogie’s Revenge, that directly followed up on the events of the movie. In 2022, the novel Long Live The Pumpkin Queen retold the original film’s story from Sally’s perspective, as well as touching on the aftermath. But there’s never been another movie.
Development on a potential sequel started and stopped multiple times throughout the 2000s, there were rumors of a live-action remake in 2019 that thankfully never came to pass, and as recently as this month, director Henry Sellick expressed interest in doing a prequel centered on Jack Skellington’s rise to power as the Pumpkin King. But I look at al this and can’t help but think, do we really need it?
The Nightmare Before Christmas is a very pure and very simple story at its core. It does have a surprising amount of detail in its world building and there’s an argument to be made for exploring these characters in more varied and specific contexts, but I feel there’s too much of a risk of muddying the waters of a powerful story by overly explaining it.
It’s arguable that Nightmare Before Christmas is already over-exposed given the prevalence of merchandise at stores like Hot Topic and the multiple cover albums of the film’s soundtrack. Do we really want to also turn it into a franchise of multiple sequels and spin-offs?
The Nightmare Before Christmas is a truly special and endlessly rewatchable film that has stood the test of time for three decades now in large part because nothing else offers a window into this wholly unique and compelling world. There are so few things in the entertainment landscape today that haven’t been bled dry by the franchise mentality; so as we look back at the original classic after all this time, I think we should all take a lesson from Jack and learn to appreciate what we have.
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