Introduction
Welcome to my corner! This week, I'm sharing my thoughts on the film The Nightmare Before Christmas. Enjoy!
The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Nightmare Before Christmas (also known as Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas) is a 1993 American stop motion gothic fantasy film directed by Henry Selick in his feature directorial debut and produced and based on a story and characters conceived by Tim Burton. It tells the story of Jack Skellington, the King of Halloween Town, who stumbles upon Christmas Town and schemes to take over the holiday. Danny Elfman wrote the songs, score and provided the signing voice of Jack. The principal voice cast includes Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara, William Hickey, Ken Page, Paul Reubens, Glenn Shadix and Ed Ivory.
The Nightmare Before Christmas originated from a poem written by Burton in 1982, while he was working as an animator at Walt Disney Productions. With the critical success of Vincent that same year, Burton began to consider developing the film as either a short film or a half-hour television special, to no avail. Over the years, Burton's thoughts regularly returned tot he project, and in 1990, he made a development deal with Walt Disney Studios. Production started in July 1991; Disney initially released the film through the Touchstone Pictures label because the studio believed the film's gothic tone would be "too dark and scary for kids."
The Nightmare Before Christmas premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 9, 1993, and was given a limited released on October 13 before its wide theatrical release on October 29. The film was met with commercial and critical success upon release, earning praise for its animation, particularly the innovation of stop-motion as an art form, as well as its characters, songs and score. While initially a modest box-office hit, it has since garnered a large cult following and is widely regarded as one of the greatest animated films of all time. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, a first for an animated film; but, it lost to Jurassic Park. Thirteen years after it initial release, the film was reissued by Walt Disney Pictures and was re-released annually in Disney Digital 3D from 2006 until 2010.
In 2023, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."
Plot: The film follows the misadventures of Jack Skellington, Halloweentown's beloved pumpkin king, who has become bored with the same annual routine of frightening people in the "real world." When Jack accidentally stumbles on Christmastown, all bright colors and warm spirits, he gets a new lease on life—he plots to bring Christmas under his control by kidnapping Santa Claus and taking over the role. But, Jack soon discovers even the best-laid plans of mice and skeleton men can go seriously awry.
(Voice) Acting: Danny Elfman (singing voice) and Chris Sarandon (speaking voice) as Jack Skellington. Elfman's four most notable titles currently (in the music department) are Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Men in Black. Sarandon's four most notable titles currently are Fright Night, The Princess Bride, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Dog Day Afternoon. For the longest time, I didn't realize Jack was "voiced" by two people. Other than The Nightmare Before Christmas, my favorites for Elfman and Sarandon are Corpse Bride and The Princess Bride.
Catherine O'Hara voices Sally. Her four most notable titles currently are A Mighty Wind, Best in Show, Frankenweenie and For Your Consideration. Other than The Nightmare Before Christmas, my favorite is Beetlejuice.
Ken Page voices Oogie Boogie. His four most notable titles are All Dogs Go to Heaven, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Dreamgirls and Torch Song Trilogy. Other than The Nightmare Before Christmas, my favorite is All Dogs Go to Heaven.
Minor roles included: William Hickey as Doctor Finkelstein, Glenn Shadix voices the Mayor of Halloween Town, Paul Reubens as Lock and Ed Ivory as Santa Claus.
Technical Aspects: Selick and his team of animators began production in July of 1991 in San Francisco, Calif., with a crew of over 120 workers, utilizing 20 sound stages for filming. Joe Ranft was hired from Disney as a storyboard supervisor, while Eric Leighton was hired to supervise animation.
In total, there was 109,440 frames taken for the film. The work of Ray Harryhausen, Ladislas Starevich, Edward Gorey, Étienne Delassert, Gahan Wilson, Charles Addams, Jan Lenica, Francis Bacon and Wassily Kadinsky influenced the filmmakers. Selick described the production design as akin to a pop-up book. In addition, Selick stated, "When we reach Halloween Town, it's entirely German Expressionism. When Jack enters Christmas Town, it's an outrageous Dr. Seuss-esque set piece. Finally, when Jack is delivering presents in the 'Real World', everything is plain, simple and perfectly aligned."
Vincent Price, Don Ameche and James Earl Jones were considered to provide the narration for the film's prologue; however, all proved difficult to cast, and the producers instead hired local voice artist Ed Ivory (also the voice of Santa Claus).
On the direction of the film, Selick reflected, "It's as though [Burton] laid the egg, and I sat on it and hatched it. He wasn't involved in a hands-on way, but his hand is in it. It was my job to make it look like 'a Time Burton film', which is not so different from my own films."
The filmmakers constructed 227 puppets to represent the characters in the movie, with Jack Skellington having "around 400 heads", allowing the expression of ever possible emotion. Sally's mouth movements "were animated through the replacement method. During the animation process, only Sally's face 'mask' was removed in order to preserve the order of her long, red hair. Sally had 10 types of faces, each made with a series of eleven expressions and synchronized mouth movements."
Final Thoughts: One of my favorite movies ever. I could probably recite the dialogue and songs without looking at the screen (in fact, I did). It's a perfect blend of spooky Halloween spirit and Christmas holiday fluff. It's probably the best transition movie for November to December. It also has one of the best movie soundtracks ever. And, the stop motion animation! My favorite kind of animation! It takes so much time and creativity; I just love it. Stop motion is what I've had most practice in.
Where to watch it: According to Google, Nightmare Before Christmas is currently available on Disney+. You can also purchase or rent a digital copy for a few dollars. I've also donated a DVD copy of the film to the Emil M. Larson Public Library in Clark for you all to enjoy if you choose to.
That's it for this week! What were your thoughts? Feel free to share them with us! You can call us, email us, visit us at the office, leave us a comment or message on Facebook, or even mail us something. Keep the comments, suggestions, questions, submissions, etc. coming our way! We'd love to hear from you!
