Throughout the years, this movie directed by Henry Selick has gained some traction, and has been the source of recurring debate throughout the holiday season: is the Nightmare Before Christmas a Halloween movie, or is it a Christmas movie?
The title may steer you more towards Christmas, but the start of the film begins with Jack Skellington, the pumpkin king of Halloween Town. A quick summary: Jack Skellington’s town lacks enthusiasm for Halloween, and so he searches for something to bring back the joy in his people, which is when he stumbles upon Christmas Town. Jack Skellington then introduces the ideas and aspects of Christmas, and declares that they will be taking over the holiday. He kidnaps Santa Claus and begins to pass out nightmarish toys to all of the little girls and boys in Halloween town. Santa Claus manages to free himself with the help of others, and gives Halloween Town their first ever snowfall. For more information, please view summary.
I created a form to see how the students of Whitney Young categorized this movie.The results showed that 57% of respondents believed it was a Halloween movie, while 43% of respondents said that they believed that it was a Christmas movie. Evan Doubek from the class of 2024 says, “The release date of October 29 should be enough of an explanation. It was released in October, not December.” On the other hand, Taron Woods from the class of 2024 stated “Half of the movie is in Christmas Town, and he learns the big plot point in Christmas Town. It’s literally more important than Halloween Town.”
Unfortunately for those on the Christmas movie side, Henry Selick confirmed that this movie is in fact a Halloween movie during a Q&A at Colorado’s Telluride Horror Show film festival in 2015 (Henry Selick’s Statement and Director confirms it’s a Halloween movie).
Regardless of the fact that the Nightmare Before Christmas was declared a Halloween movie, it is still safe to say that it is a movie that is enjoyable all throughout the holiday season, no matter what type of movie you believe it is.
