The Nightmare Before Christmas is currently peaking in popularity for the first of its two annual resurgences: now during Halloween and next during Christmas. After all, the movie’s title literally has “Nightmare” and “Christmas” in it, so it’s a double-holiday film … right?
You should not be watching The Nightmare Before Christmas during the Christmas season. The people who do are sorely mistaken. Don’t let the sparing Christmas undertones of the movie fool you—The Nightmare Before Christmas is definitively a Halloween movie.
Disney released this classic film in 1993, and it has since become a pop culture phenomenon. The film follows Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon), also known as the Pumpkin King, during an existential crisis. Jack is sick of Halloween and yearns for something more. His grand idea is to dress up as Santa and take over the responsibilities of Christmas.
Admittedly, the film does take place in “Halloween Town” and “Christmas Land” with both having a unique Tim Burton aesthetic—uncommon shapes and a pale color palette define both places. The ratio of time spent in Halloween Town is far greater than in Christmas Land but Christmas Land does feel like an authentic representation of Noel.
While The Nightmare Before Christmas is first known for its animation aesthetic, its iconic soundtrack is a close second. The soundtrack isn’t shy about favoring Halloween over Christmas.
The song “What’s This?” has a niche home on my holiday playlist and feels like a real effort at creating a Christmas song. The melody is catchy and the instrumentals are jolly and wondrous, as a good Christmas song should be. The lyrics, however, don’t quite match the same energy because of Jack’s Halloween background.
“What’s This?” is the song Jack Skellington sings when he discovers that Halloween isn’t the only holiday to celebrate. The lyrics are chock-full of Halloween references and darker images that a typical Christmas song would never dare to include.
“There’s children throwing snowballs instead of throwing heads,” Jack Skellington sings. “They’re busy building toys and absolutely no one’s dead.”
It’s not the typical Christmas song, but it still captures the wonder of Christmas in the sense that Jack Skellington is amazed by all of the festivities and joy. He’s like a child on Christmas morning opening up his new gifts under the tree—every discovery he makes is better than the last.
As sweet and merry as “What’s This?” is, it still falls short of “This Is Halloween.”
“This Is Halloween” is a defining song of the Halloween season and emits the best qualities of Danny Elfman’s music. The song’s crashing beat and the way each measure blends into the next creates the perfect Halloween song.
“This is Halloween” does much more to represent Halloween than “What’s This?” does to embody Christmas. In the category of music, The Nightmare Before Christmas has stronger roots in the genre of Halloween because even its attempt at a Christmas song with “What’s This” has underlying Halloween references.
Then there’s the question of the characters associated with each holiday and their respective popularity. The Nightmare Before Christmas creates a plethora of original spooky characters like Jack, Sally (Catherine O’Hara), and Oogie Boogie (Ken Page). As for Christmas characters, the film includes the man himself: Santa Claus.
If only Santa Claus had the chance to spread holiday cheer or bring joy to the world like he would in a typical Christmas movie.
Oogie Boogie kidnaps Santa Claus, gags and binds him, and then tries to torture him. On Christmas Eve, this Santa Claus was busy fighting for his life instead of delivering toys to kids around the world. In the meantime, Jack Skellington steps up to save Christmas in the most Halloween way possible.
The Christmas that comes from Jack is basically just Halloween in December—he puts scares under the tree instead of gifts, his reindeer are made of skeletons and ghosts, and he even puts on his own makeshift Santa Claus costume. Jack puts on a Christmas the way he knows how, but that doesn’t make it the Christmas viewers know and love.
Jack’s Santa Claus costume is the antithesis of the actual costume. He asks Sally to create the costume, and she does her best after getting a quick look at the kidnapped Santa Claus’ suit. The costume is tight-fitting on Jack’s skinny figure instead of round like Santa Claus, and his fake beard lingers visibly below his chin.
Jack’s Christmas comes to a close once Jack finally acknowledges that he should stick to Halloween. Santa Claus is set free and saves the day, but that’s about the last we hear of Father Christmas. His holiday was stolen and he was kidnapped—I don’t think Santa Claus would consider this a successful Christmas.
To be fair, there are plenty of great holiday movies where Christmas winds up being a disaster, but Jack’s Christmas can barely be considered a Christmas. The movie’s Halloween elements are strong, but what’s more important is that its Christmas elements are lacking. The Nightmare Before Christmas can only be seen as a Halloween movie, so enjoy it during the spooky season and save the holidays for something a little more jolly.
