All “Jack”-ed Up: The 25th Anniversary of Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas”

By

Michael Lyons

In December of 1993, wandering through a major toy retail chain, one would have noticed that the bargain bin was jam packed with merchandise from “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”  The film had only debuted in theaters two short months earlier, but was a box-office disappointment, dismissed by a majority of critics and confused audiences.

Two and a half decades later, oh how things have changed.  First, there are no more major toy retailers left.  Second, “The Nightmare Before Christmas” has risen from the ashes of obscurity to became a standard of two different holidays, appreciated as a work of animation brilliance and embraced by a tremendous fan base that ranges from suburban families to urban goth crowds.  In short, it’s become one of Disney’s most popular intellectual properties.

This fall marks the 25th anniversary of “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” making it the perfect time to look at this movie that becomes more beloved with each passing season of pumpkins and peppermint.

The film was adapted from a story that director Tim Burton had created while he was an animator at Disney in the 1980’s.  The Studio dusted it off and involved Burton after he had become one of Hollywood’s hottest live-action filmmakers.

“The Nightmare Before Christmas” centers on Jack Skellington (actor Chris Sarandon), the grand Pumpkin King and the other citizens of Halloweentown.  Among them, the stitched together spooky rag doll Sally (Catherine O’Hara), who carries a torch for Jack; the “two faced” Mayor (Glen Shadix); the mad scientist Dr. Finklestein (William Hickey) and the villain, Oogie Boogie (Ken Page), a bizzare, green burlap sack-like boogeyman.

All is not well in Halloweentown, Jack yearns for something more and while walking in the woods he discovers Christmastown.  So taken with the lights, colors and sounds, Jack decides that he and the citizens of Halloweentown are going to take over Christmas.  The result is a clash of these two holidays that manages to capture the fun, sprit and magic of both.

“The Nightmare Before Christmas” was brought to life through the amazingly intricate art of stop-motion animation.  Director Henry Selick (Tim Burton produced) captures astonishing details, such as Jack’s hand reflected on a gold doorknob.  He also crafts scenes that are a revelation of staging, such as when Jack sings “What’s This?” Upon seeing Christmastown, the whirling, fast paced choreography in this scene is a true wonder, when one considers it was all done by hand.

Twenty Five years later, the film continues to be a dizzying marvel of this unique form of filmmaking, and stands as a towering animation achievement, even in our computer generated world.

Enhancing all of this is a brooding, operetta-like score from frequent Burton collaborator Danny Elfman (who also provides Jack’s singing voice).  The songs range from the chanting, rally cry of “This is Halloween,” which opens the film and sets the perfect tone and the smoky, lounge-like “Oogie Boogie’s song.”

It all comes together to form a tale that not only combines two of the calendar year’s most popular holidays, but also expresses themes of longing, yearning to be more and acceptance of differences.

Released on October 29, 1993, “Tim Burton’s ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’” (the Studio added the director’s name to the title to capitalize on his popularity), underperformed and quickly disappeared from movie theaters before Christmas time even arrived.

But...then came home video and cable TV and a slowly expanding group of devotees that spread the word year after year of just how special the film is.  By the early 2000’s, “Nightmare” was being re-issued to theaters in 3D  for Halloween and new product started appearing on store shelves.  It was also around this time that Disney re-embraced the film, incorporating it into their theme parks, specifically The Haunted Mansion, which gets a “Nightmare” overlay at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland.  Jack and Sally are now as ubiquitous as Mickey and Minnie.

Today, it wouldn’t be Halloween or Christmas without “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”   The film is the perfect way to bridge both holidays.  In fact, many blame the film as one of the catalysts behind our current culture of bypassing Thanksgiving and segueing quickly from Halloween to Christmas on November 1st.

Also for many, “Nightmare,” with its empathetic, ghoulish characters and world is something to be enjoyed all year long.

Twenty-five years later, if we could only find a time machine, go back to those bargain bins, buy up all the discounted “Nightmare Before Christmas” product, log in to E-Bay...and retire.

But, for now, we will simply have to be happy enough with the seasonal riches the ingenuous “The Nightmare Before Christmas” brings us each year.

And so, in the words of Santa Claus, as he flies above Halloweentown at the end of the film: “Happy Halloween!”

Sources: Wikipedia

“It WAS the Boogeyman.” The 40th Anniversary of John Carpenter’s “Halloween”

By Michael Lyons

Some movies are classics.  Some are masterpieces.  Some set a trend.  Some create a whole new genre.

Director John Carpenter’s seminal horror opus “Halloween” is a movie that is all of these.   The film celebrates its 40th anniversary this month and as if that wasn’t enough to make fans don their “William Shatner masks” in celebration, there’s also a new sequel debuting this week (also called “Halloween”) that’s set forty years after the events of the original film and brings star Jamie Lee Curtis back.

To commemorate both of these major events, its the perfect time to re-visit the original film and take a trip back to “The Night He Came Home!”

“Halloween” opens on the titular night in 1963, in the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois.  During a unsettling and gripping point of view scene we see a disturbed child named Michael Myers, who stabs his sister to death with a kitchen knife.

We then flash forward to present day (or in this case, 1978), when Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance in a brilliant, haunted performance) heads to the sanitarium to escort Michael to court, only to find that the killer has escaped.

The next day, Halloween, Michael begins to stalk the town of Haddonfield again, focusing for some reason on teenager Laurie Strode (Curtis).  What follows is the masked murderer going on a killing spree, taking out each of Laurie’s friends, while he tries to get to her, all while Dr. Loomis closes in on him.

With only two films to his credit at this point, Carpenter proved himself to be quite the movie maestro with “Halloween,” conducting the terror in the film in what can best be called Hitchcockian splendor.

Scenes in this film most definitely rank as some of the horror genres best that continue to generate chills and jump scares with each viewing: the scene where Loomis comes across patients escaping from the hospital; Michael standing next to a shrub one second and gone the next;  a child hiding behind a curtain during an innocent game of hide and seek, gazing out a window to see Michael carrying the body of his latest victim and that shocker of an ending.

Additionally, the film definitely “feels like Halloween,” from its scenes of neighborhood trick-or-treaters to babysitters and children watching classic horror movies in a darkened living room.

Additionally, the character of Michael himself (played by actor Nick Castle) is a stoic, chilling presence, moving slowly through each scene wearing a generic jumpsuit and emotionless Halloween mask (it actually was a William Shatner mask that a crew member had come across).  He’s like a human version of the “killing machine” shark from “Jaws” (1975), fiercely intent on his victims and, in turn, disturbing audiences for four decades.

As Michael’s prime victim, Jamie Lee Curtis solidified her place as what would become her title of “Scream Queen.”  She would go on to star in other, similar films, but this is the role that made her a star and for which she is remembered and rightly so.  Curtis brings empathy and vulnerability to Laurie’s early scenes as well as believable strength in the film’s conclusion.

Realeased on October 25, 1978,  the success of “Halloween” woke Hollywood up to an untapped market.  What followed was an endless parade of copycats from “Friday the 13th” (1980) to “Scream” (1996).  All of them part of the “Slasher Film” genre that “Halloween” had created and none of them able to top the original.

And in the forty years that have followed “Halloween’s” debut, the film has rightly grown in appreciation, as more than just a hallmark of the season, but as a landmark in filmmaking.

Classic.  Masterpiece.  Trend setter.  First of its genre.  “Halloween” is all of these.

Sources:

IMDb

Wikipedia