Is “The Nightmare Before Christmas” a Christmas movie?
By mbrooks on October 31, 2019
By Matthew Brooks
It is one of the finest Halloween movies of all time.
Or is it?
The Nightmare Before Christmas is a classic holiday movie.
The still motion animation is beautifully done.
Its music is top-notch. “What’s this? There’s color everywhere!”
The big question: Is the movie a Christmas movie or a Halloween movie?
The movie opens at the end of Halloween. The story focuses on the citizens of Halloween Town preparing to host Christmas.
This debate is reaching a settlement. Unless you disagree with what comes next
The composer of the movie, Danny Elfman, gave his opinion on the state of the holiday movie.
In an interview with USA Today, he talked about this what “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is to him.
“It’s obviously about Christmas, but for me, it’s a Halloween movie,” Elfman responds.
“Growing up, Halloween was my favorite night of the year and Christmas was a troublesome time. Into my adult years, it was a time where a bit of a dark cloud would follow me around – probably carrying over from my childhood until I had my own kids – and then I developed a new, brighter view of Christmas.”
“I also felt very close to Jack Skellington’s plight because I knew what it was like to be the king of my own little world, and to want out of that world and want something else,” he adds. “So I felt very close to the holiday of Halloween, but also very close to Jack and what he was going through,” he adds.
Elfman has more than 100 TV and movie music credits.
He also provided the singing voice for Jack Skellington. The acting voice for the character was Chris Sarandon. Sarandon is best known for his role as Prince Humperdinck in “The Princess Bride.”
