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at Friday Night Movies:

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Friday the 19th of December
Hosted by Wayne & Brent in Lynn

Now you've probably wondered where holidays come from. If you haven't I'd say it's time you begun.
--Santa (Ed Ivory)

USA: 1993 -- Directed by Henry Selick
Written by Tim Burton, Michael McDowell & Caroline Thompson
Starring the voices of Chris Sarandon, Danny Elfman, Catherine O'Hara, William Hickey and Paul Reubens
Musical by Danny Elfman

Attacked by Christmas toys? That's strange, that's the second toy complaint we've had.

For those who never thought Disney would release a film in which Santa Claus is kidnapped and tortured, well, here it is! The full title is Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, which should give you an idea of the tone of this stop-action animated musical/fantasy/horror/comedy. It is based on characters created by Burton, the former Disney animator best known as the director of Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and the first two Batman movies. His benignly scary-funny sensibility dominates the story of Halloweentown resident Jack Skellington (voice by Danny Elfman, who also wrote the songs), who stumbles on a bizarre and fascinating alternative universe called ... Christmastown! Directed by Henry Selick (who later made the delightful James and the Giant Peach), this PG-rated picture has a reassuringly light touch. As Roger Ebert noted in his review, "some of the Halloween creatures might be a tad scary for smaller children, but this is the kind of movie older kids will eat up; it has the kind of offbeat, subversive energy that tells them wonderful things are likely to happen.

Hope to see you there. I'll save you an aisle seat and a suitably macabre Christmas toy!

Awards

Nominated for Oscar for Best Effects, Visual Effects

Won Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film and Best Music

Nominated for Golden Globe for Best Original Score (Danny Elfman)

Nominated for Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation

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Memorable Quotes

Dr. Finkelstein: Sally, that's twice this month you've slipped deadly nightshade into my tea and run off.
Sally: Three times!

Jack Skellington: [singing] There's children busy throwing snowballs instead of throwing heads. There's people building toys, absolutely no one's dead!

Mayor: Jack, please, I'm only an elected official here, I can't make decisions by myself!

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Trivia

Tim Burton has said the original poem was inspired after seeing Hallowe'en merchandise display in a store being taken down and replaced by a Christmas display. The juxtaposition of ghouls and goblins with Santa and his reindeer sparked his imagination.

Jack makes his first appearance in "Beetlejuice" on top of Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton)'s carousel hat towards the end when Beetlejuice rises out of the floor, after summoned by Lydia (Winona Ryder).

No adult's faces are shown, in an homage to the animated Charlie Brown specials.

Two items were invented to facilitate the filming of the movie: One was a "light alarm" which would warn the animators if any of the stage lights failed to come on. The other was a system that enabled a puppeteer to seamlessly switch to a replacement puppet if a puppet broke during a shot. Prior to this, either situation, a light failing to come on or a puppet breaking would destroy a shot.

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Goofs

Continuity: When Sally's trying to save Santa, her body parts are separated, and they're still separated when Oogie notices and "captures" them. But next, when we see her, her parts are sewn up.

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