With frightful scenes and spooky songs, “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is a classic movie that embodies the spirit of Halloween.
Before you argue with me that “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is a Christmas movie, it’s set in Halloween Town. Christmas Land is only an added place Jack Skellington travels to during the movie. The characters in Halloween Town make that clear in the song “This is Halloween,” the best song in the movie.
For people who haven’t watched the movie, “The Nightmare Before Christmas” stars Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King voiced by Chris Sarandon who rules Halloween Town. It’s time to plan the next event of frightening people in the real world but Jack is bored of the routine and ends up having a midlife crisis until he falls into Christmas Land. To try and end his crisis, he kidnaps Santa Claus and steals his job, leaving Christmas Land in awry.
I love this movie because it gives viewers a taste of Halloween with familiar characters like zombies, ghosts, skeletons and monsters. While it may not look kid-friendly, I find that the movie is relatable to any age.
For kids who love a good scare by watching spooky movies, the members of Halloween Town provide tense scenes, like the three kids who kidnap Santa Claus and send him to Oogie Boogie. That part made me worried when I was younger.
For college students, they can relate to Jack Skellington as he goes through his midlife crisis. If he were a college student, it would be like trying a new major but failing the final. Also, as young adults going through romantic relationships, they can relate to Sally who loves Jack and is trying to escape her abusive relationship with Dr. Finklestein. As a college student and young adult myself, I’ve had plenty of crises and been in a faulty relationship.
For older adults, it’s a mix of both loving spooky movies and relating to different characters. They’ve been kids and young adults who’ve loved Halloween whether they went to college or not. Adults internalize Jack’s midlife crisis or Sally’s relationship thinking “been there and done that.” I wonder what it will be like if I watch this movie again as an older adult.
My favorite character in the movie is Sally, a female version of Frankenstein created by a scientist. I love her because she is caring and ambitious. When she added deadly nightshade to Dr. Finklestein’s soup to put him to sleep, I was holding my breath as she slowly escaped to make it to the town meeting.
Additionally, it was sweet that she cared for Jack because he needs someone other than his dog Zero to keep him in check and guide him through his crisis. She saw the future of what would happen to Jack if he went through with his plan to be Santa Claus and tried to stop him.
I give this Halloween movie a 10/10 because it is funny, spooky and lovable. Everyone should watch this movie if they want the thrilling and chilling experience.
“The Nightmare Before Christmas” can be found on Disney Plus with a subscription or for rent on Amazon Prime Video.