The Nightmare Before Christmas by Tim Burton

The evolution of Halloween over time puts it in a unique position among holidays and traditions. Not that there have not been changes in other holidays, of course, but the contrast between the night of literal tricks or treats mayhem in the past and the more lighthearted trick or treating of today is quite stark. This makes it a bit more difficult to define what is “classic” in Halloween—we do not have the same sort of classical tradition in film and music that is carried through with Christmas. There are classic horror films, but these are not truly constrained to or even tied to Halloween. Enter here, the bridge between these two, and I give you a Halloween classic: The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Most know this story from the movie, which we will forever be debating about—is it a Halloween movie, or a Christmas movie? (Both, obviously, but I digress.) A little over a decade before this stop-animation film came to be, it was a poem written by Tim Burton. The poem is a basic outline of the story of the film, starting with its own rhyme and meter, then switching to match that of the original Christmas poem, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. Jack Skellington is discontent in Halloweenland, and when walking through the woods stumbles upon a strange door that takes him in to Christmastown. He is excited about this discovery, wishing to bring Christmas back home with him. As in the film, the Halloween takeover leads to disaster, although it does not end with the same level of excitement of a Santa kidnapping and rescue. Santa intervenes, Jack learns his lesson; Santa does realize that Jack meant no harm, and so brings a bit of Christmas to Halloweenland to show that there are no hard feelings.

Although it well predates the film, the poem was not published until the time of the film’s release. This particular edition is a special release for the 20^th anniversary of the original publication and film release. The poem is set up into a picture book with original illustrations by Tim Burton. I believe some of these are from the original publication, but there are some new illustrations added to the anniversary edition. As a fan of both the poem and the film, this was a fun look behind the scenes for me. The illustrations are reminiscent of the animation, perhaps serving as a bit of a storyboard around which the film was fleshed out with its songs and plot additions. This book holds a special place on my shelf year-round, but is out for display this time of year. I love the detailed simplicity of this gold and white cover, with the iconic scene of Jack on the hill, bordered by some lovely little drawings of Zero the ghost dog.

Boris’s thoughts: “It could use a few more black cats, but otherwise I approve. 3 paws.”