One of my favorite holiday movies is Tim Burton’s 1993 The Nightmare Before Christmas, directed by Henry Selick.
Filled to the brim with horrific imagery, it’s equally wondrous on its take on Christmas.
And as often as I’ve revisited the film, featuring the voice talents of Chris Sarandon, I don’t think I’ve ever stopped to ponder which holiday it’s truly celebrating. Should I be watching Nightmare Before Christmas on Halloween or Christmas? Maybe both? While there’s no wrong answer, Slick had a definitive vision.
One of my favorite stories over this past weekend comes via Birth.Movies.Death, who was on hand at the Telluride Horror Show in Colorado where they hosted a special screening of The Nightmare Before Christmas, which was followed by a Q&A with Selick!
A little girl in the crowd raised her hand and asked “Is this a Christmas movie or a Halloween movie?”
After the question was asked Selick looked a little surprised, and he said, “Oh boy,” likely knowing that whatever answer he gave would be controversial.
“It’s a Halloween movie,” he said, definitively. He acknowledged that a lot of people liked the Christmas Town stuff waaaaay better than the Halloween Town (“They love Santa and say he’s all-powerful,” he said), but he had to tell the truth: this is a movie about Halloween, and the people of Halloween, and how they react to something like Christmas.
After 20 years we finally have a definitive answer to the question – yet, much like how Christmas is already infiltrating our Halloween at retailers, there’s no reason we can’t find joy in having our cake and eating it too.