The Nightmare Before Christmas is a holiday classic. Whether that holiday is Halloween or Christmas is still seriously up for debate, though, amongst the many fans of the Tim Burton stop-motion film.
While there are many Christmas elements of this amazing animated movie, there are also a lot of Halloween-related plot points throughout the entirety of it all. This has led to fans debating this hot topic frequently, even though it was released 26 years ago and for some involved in the film, the answer is simple enough.
Now it's our turn to debate whether it's more of a Christmas movie or if it leans more Halloween. Maybe our reasons will help you decide for yourself, once and for all.
Christmas: The Characters’ Entire Journey Centers Around Christmas
When you really break down The Nightmare Before Christmas, you'll see it is very obviously centering primarily around Christmas. The holiday's name is in the very title of the movie, after all. But it's so much more than that, like the fact that all of the main characters and their storylines center around the wintry holiday.
From Jack Skellington trying to recreate Christmas himself, even donning the Santa suit and procuring reindeer -- albeit, they were skeleton reindeer -- to involving the rest of the residents of Halloween Town so they will help him celebrate this newfound holiday, there is plenty of evidence this is more about Christmas than anything.
Halloween: Jack Is Literally The Pumpkin King
Jack Skellington is known for frightening children and being the ultimate celebrator of Halloween. That is why the citizens of Halloween Town refer to him as "the pumpkin king" frequently throughout the film.
Even though Jack is trying to shy away from what he is known for and wants to become something he is not, there is no denying that he will always be the pumpkin king.
He even finally comes to the same conclusion when he finally accepts himself for who he is at the end of the film and goes back to making Halloween the best and most ghoulish day of the year.
Christmas: Jack Is Infected By Christmas Spirit
Jack may be the pumpkin king, but he is so much more as evidenced by his reaction to discovering the pure magic of Christmas. As soon as he finds himself in this foreign and strange place where they celebrate with trees, lights, and gifts, he is ready to immerse himself in these holiday traditions.
He goes to great lengths to achieve this, too. It is obvious that when he discovers Christmas, he is ready to leave his former life and holiday behind and would like to take over as the new and improved Santa. He may not succeed in this endeavor, but the fact that he tried so hard shows how much he was in awe of this holiday.
Halloween: Everyone Resides In Halloween Town
The majority of the movie takes place in Halloween Town. It's difficult to deny that with that fact alone, this movie leans more Halloween than Christmas. All of the residents of this haunting town are as horrific and terrifying as the holiday is.
They may be combining their efforts to acclimate to Jack's new holiday -- Christmas -- but deep down they are all still who they are. Between the vampires and the ghouls and witches, this is a town filled with Halloween lore and we honestly wouldn't have it any other way.
Watching these frightening creatures try to adjust to the holiday that is Christmas was truly entertaining, though.
Christmas: Jack Is Scientifically Trying To Recreate Christmas
After Jack returns from his impromptu trip to the land that celebrates Christmas, he gets some supplies from the evil scientist of Halloween Town and begins to try to recreate Christmas through scientific experiments.
He dissects and conducts experiments on paraphernalia related to Christmas to try and understand their purpose and how he can emulate the holiday himself.
Of course, he goes about this in the most Halloween-esque way possible, but it doesn't change the fact that he was so determined to make Christmas his new holiday, that he even turned to science to try and better understand their ways.
Halloween: The Gifts They Create Are Disturbing
When we think of gifts on Christmas, we typically think of the little elves in Santa's workshop working diligently to make the best gifts we could ever imagine. But that isn't the case in The Nightmare Before Christmas.
In this version, we have the creepy and scary residents of Halloween Town working to help Jack make Christmas happen. The problem is, they can't let go of their own preferences for Halloween when creating these gifts for children.
Needless to say, the results were horrific and disturbing and terrified all of the children they made the gifts for in the first place.
Christmas: “What’s This?” Is All About The Wonders Of Christmas
One of the most iconic songs that came from The Nightmare Before Christmas was hands down "What's This?" sang by our titular character, Jack Skellington.
As soon as he finds himself in the town that celebrates Christmas, he is awestruck and questioning everything he comes across while he is there. While we may be aware of the wonders of Christmas, it was still a delight to see Jack -- who is meant to be the pumpkin king where he's from -- finding out just how magical Christmas can be for himself.
Plus, who of us doesn't know every single word to this very Christmassy and wonderful song?
Halloween: Oogie Boogie
Oogie Boogie is literally the antagonist and rival to our hero, Jack Skellington, in The Nightmare Before Christmas. He is the boogeyman, basically, and is depicted as a bunch of creepy crawly bug-filled burlap sack. He enjoys gambling and lives on the outskirts of Halloween Town, which you know must mean he's as bad as they say if the citizens of Halloween Town don't like him.
The villain has an evil lair where he nearly ended Santa Claus, once and for all. You don't get any more horror than that, which is precisely why The Nightmare Before Christmas has to be more Halloween than Christmas. What kind of Christmas movie would off Santa, anyway?
Christmas: Santa Gifts Snow To Halloween Town
In the climax of the movie, Jack saves Sally and Santa Claus from the grips of the horrible Oogie Boogie and defeats him, effectively saving the day and of course, Christmas.
This is what triggers Santa to bless Halloween Town with their first-ever winter snow as he leaves to go make Christmas right again. Not only is the snow reminiscent of Christmas, but the fact Santa himself gifted this snow to Jack and everyone in Halloween Town is very much in line with what the holiday is all about.
It was a great gesture that made us feel warm and fuzzy, just like Christmas does.
Halloween: The Director Said It’s A Halloween Movie
Director of The Nightmare Before Christmas, Henry Selick, worked alongside Tim Burton and Danny Elfman to help create this magical mashup of Halloween and Christmas, which in turn, created this debate in the first place of which holiday it is more like.
While it may not really matter what holiday you liken it with compared to everyone else, Selick is here to put all of the arguing to rest, at least he hopes.
According to him, "It's a Halloween movie." At least, that is what he said at the Telluride Horror Show Film Festival a few years back. So maybe that's all the proof we really need that it is, indeed, a Halloween movie.