Watching these films every day was supposed to be an experiment, a test to see if the magic and wonder of Christmas movies could genuinely lift my mood and get me through some tough times. For the most part, it’s been helpful, a little bit of light in the gloom. However, I’ve found that enduring films like Summertime Christmas that rub me up the wrong way is almost having the opposite effect. I’m finding myself pissed off that some of these movies, like Santa Buddies, even exist. But, brilliantly, so far I’ve been able to at least find some sort of amusement in the unintentional crappiness of the bad ones which has kept me going. I’m also astutely aware that for every cruddy, half-assed effort, there are plenty of bona fide yuletide classics waiting to be unwrapped.
Thank goodness then for The Nightmare Before Christmas, a 1993 stop-motion feast for the senses that’s famous for being far more purposefully grisly and horrific than anyone would reasonably expect from a festive children’s film. Directed by the insanely gifted Henry Selick from a typically macabre story idea and character designs from Tim Burton, this is the tale of Jack Skellington (voiced by Chris Sarandon), the pumpkin-headed, lanky-limbed King of a creepy land called Halloween Town, who discovers Christmas for the first time. Instantly enraptured, Jack causes chaos when he decides to abduct Santa so he can take charge of Christmas himself.
Being as it is from the twisted brain of Tim Burton, this really is something distinctive – Christmas as viewed through the warped eyes of Beetlejuice. Amazingly, despite its omnipresence in popular culture, I have never seen this before. Watching it now, in an age where we’ve all become quite used to Burton’s goth-inspired, black and white striped schtick, it strikes me that back in 1993 Nightmare must have been quite a shock to the system for your average movie-goer. It looks stunning, but is also the first kids film I can think of that makes a load of references to death and murder and totally gets away with it. The fact that it has endured so long and inspired the uniforms of an army of rebellious emo kids speaks for the strength of its powerful, offbeat visual style. It really is something, all creepy, twisted branches, crooked, spooky houses and characters who somehow manage to be both repulsive and loveable at the same time.
The animation is wonderful, everything moving so fluidly that you could show this to a modern day child weaned on Pixar CGI and they may not be able to tell the difference. It’s full of invention but the story is pretty straightforward and feels all over too quickly for my liking. And – uh oh – turns out this is a musical which, as we’ve established, is not really my bag. If you’re not a musical fan, this can feel like a bit of a slog, but the songs are all Danny Elfman compositions, which is no bad thing. The tunes are suitably off-kilter, like the jazzy, creepy ‘Oogie Boogie’s Song,’ crooned by Jack’s ghostly nemesis (voice of Ken Page). However, I honestly can’t remember most of them shortly after watching this.
After around eight weeks of festive cheese it’s fun, albeit jarring to see characters ripping off their own heads to terrify little children. I just wish I could bring myself to love this more. I suppose popular culture in 2021 has been so saturated with images and merchandise from this film that I expected to be a little more amazed by its story, as well as the spooky visuals.
Ironically, most of the lovingly crafted stop-motion characters feel a little one-dimensional apart from Jack’s love interest, tragic rag doll/Bride of Frankenstein girl Sally (Catherine O’Hara). Poor Sally is treated harshly by her monstrous creator Dr Finkelstein (William Hickey). She seems a really soulful, unfortunate character, even when constantly trying to poison the evil doc, though we’re offered no real reason for her to fall in love with Jack . When the film tries to make the switch from grotesque, silly horror to festive tenderness, it’s not entirely successful. Even Santa, his elves and the real human world are all still very ghoulish and nightmarishly ‘Burton-esque.’
The film is very Christmassy though, with some strong, snowy festive visuals throughout and is irreverent, jolly fun. It’s just not the stone cold classic I was expecting. I can totally see why they sold a ton of T-shirts to moody goth kids, though. It’s the rare film you can enjoy on both Halloween and Christmas. Just try not to have nightmares.
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