31 Days of Halloween – Day 10

The Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick, 1993) The fact that this film is twenty-two years old blows my mind. After two plus decades, this wonderful animation has not lost any steam. The characters are still as cool, the soundtrack is still one of the best ever, and the merchandise is everywhere. I think I know why. The Nightmare Before Christmas is one hell of a film. Not only is by far my favorite animated feature, but probably in my top ten loved movies of all-time. The Tim Burton written story is fun, emotional, creepy, and lovely all at the same time. The stop-motion animation is whimsical, and endearingly imperfect. All of the voice work fits the characters, and the songs, written by Danny Elfman, make the film complete. Halloween Town is celebrating another Halloween, anchored by the Pumpkin King, Jack Skellington. Jack is to Halloween as Santa Clause is to Christmas. He runs the show. But the Pumpkin King is becoming bored with the same old routine. He wants to do something fresh. While Jack and his “dog” Zero are out lamenting Skellington’s complacency one evening, they stumble across a place in the forest with strange doors built into the trees. Jack decides to venture through one of these doors, and discovers something that takes his breath away; Christmas! Jack falls in love with Christmas, and hatches a plan to bring Christmas to Halloween town. The venture goes wrong, and Christmas is in real danger of being destroyed by the over-zealous Jack and fellow misfits, which include a trio of devilish kidnappers, a much feared entity called Mr. Oogie Boogie, a senile old mad scientist, and a cast of other assorted ghouls, vampires, zombies and werewolves. The only person who can see that this will go wrong is Sally, Jack’s sweetheart. Nightmare can also be categorized as a Christmas movie, but it feels more like a Halloween treat because of the Tim Burton factor. It is twisted and dark, but in a fun way. The whole family can take something away from this film. This soundtrack always makes me happy when I hear it. Danny Elfman is brilliant, and this is some of his best work. He even does the singing parts for Jack, and the voice bits for a few other characters. Director Henry Selick (James and the Giant Peach, Coraline) does a fine job putting it all together, and like Burton, has an eye for the bizarre. Whenever I hear someone say “I’ve never seen that movie”, it almost baffles me as much as hearing someone say the same words regarding Star Wars. Viewing this film will make you happy, and make you fall in love with Halloween. Watch The Nightmare Before Christmas, for Halloween, because it will make you a better person.

Recap

• Day 1 – The Conjuring
• Day 2 – You’re Next
• Day 3 – Rob Zombie’s Halloween
• Day 4 – Dog Soldiers
• Day 5 – Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
• Day 6 – Psycho (1960)
• Day 7 – John Carpenter’s The Thing
• Day 8 – The Prowler
• Day 9 – Pet Sematary
• Day 10 – The Nightmare Before Christmas

T.