Why 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' Is Actually A Halloween Movie

The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my favorite Christmas movies. Every year my brother and I try to get together around Christmas, drink delicious holiday beverages and eat yummy food while we watch this classic. But here is the other thing... The Nightmare Before Christmas is also my all-time favorite Halloween movie. Every year, like clockwork, I sit down with popcorn and a bag of candy that I bought to hand out to kids (and then the day of Halloween end up having to run out to buy more because who can actually have chocolates in their house and NOT eat them?) and watch all of the skeletons, ghouls and monsters sing and scare in this Tim Burton masterpiece. I've heard this topic debated for many, many years, and it usually ends with people deciding that the movie is BOTH a Christmas and a Halloween movie. 

This didn't sit right with me. Christmas is about joy and Santa and bright, pretty lights, and things wrapped in pretty paper and bows and being merry and jolly. Halloween is about monsters, and scary creatures, and horror and frightening people... and candy. How can these two opposite holidays co-exist as THE holiday that one movie represents? Well, I am about to put the whole debate to rest and definitively decide that The Nightmare Before Christmas is, in fact, a Halloween movie. 

Does this mean that I'll stop my Christmas tradition with my brother?

Absolutely NOT! Christmas is in the title of the movie, and it does feature Santa, so this movie should still be enjoyed by all during the Holiday season. 

HOWEVER, we need to stop kidding ourselves and accept the fact that although we can ENJOY it during Christmas, this movie is in fact a Halloween movie to its very core. 

Let's proceed with my evidence....

1. It's about Jack accepting who he is as the leader of Halloween Town.

Jack goes through a crisis that every individual will face in their lifetime — asking himself "who am I?" and "what am I doing with my life?" In the end, he embraces his role in the town and his love for Halloween. 

2. It's scary. There's a severed head, the Oogie Boogie man, Sally's limbs fall off and she has to sew them back on....

This is a movie that is meant to be a bit dark, unsettling and scary. 

3. Disney thought it was too dark, so the film went through their Touchstone Pictures branch. 

4. It's all about a whole town that is dedicated to Halloween and even has a song called "This Is Halloween." 

5. He does Christmas WRONG. 

Jack loves the feeling of Christmas and decides that Halloween Town will take over Christmas duties. But they can't do Christmas like Santa does. Instead of getting the warm and fuzzies during these scenes like we do in Christmas movies, we're seeing hilarious terrifying things done to these poor unsuspecting families. 

6. The restoration of Christmas isn't the focus of the ending.

In all Christmas movies where something happens to Christmas, the focus of the movie is on how the spirit of Christmas can't be killed, and the restoration of Christmas is the focus. On this one, however, it's the reinstating Jack Skellington in his rightful role as Pumpkin King that is the focus (along with his romance with Sally, of course). 

My final argument for this being a Halloween movie, you CANNOT dispute....

7. A little girl asked the director directly in a Q&A the question we all have wondered, "Is this a Christmas movie or a Halloween movie?"

He looked surprised and breathed an "oh boy," but he did give a definitive response. 

"It's a Halloween movie."  His reasoning is that this is a movie about the people of Halloween and how they would react to something like Christmas.

So there you have it, folks. Do you agree with the director? COMMENTand let us know your thoughts!