Released to cinemas in 1993, this stop-motion animation film produced and conceived by Tim Burton, though actually scripted by Caroline Thompson and directed by Henry Selick (as Burton himself was busy with Batman Returns at the time), starts with the citizens of Halloween Town celebrating (you guessed it) Halloween in the grandest fashion possible, due to their love of (all right, unnerving obsession with) scaring everyone senseless. However, Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, has grown rather tired of the same old thing, and yearns for something new in his life.After the current year's celebration of Halloween, the morose Jack goes for a long walk out of town, where he happens to walk into several portals that lead to all the other holiday towns. Immediately attracted by the Christmas tree shaped one, he ventures into Christmas Town. There he discovers the wonders of the bright and jolly, and becomes obsessed with understanding Christmas.He returns to Halloween town and informs the townsfolk of Christmas, but both his and their understanding of the holiday is limited by their experience of Halloween. In a Perspective Flip of the typical Christmas Special plot of "monsters try to steal Christmas," Jack has perfectly good intentions — he thinks taking over Christmas for a year will be great fun for everyone involved, both in Halloween Town and the human world, and it'll give "Sandy Claws" a year off for vacation once some homicidal children kidnap him and bring him to Halloween Town to sit Christmas out.The whole town groups together to create Christmas, but Sally the rag doll, who is secretly in love with Jack, has a vision that it will be a disaster. She's right, of course.Throw all that in with a boogie man fashioned from a burlap sack filled with insects, rousing musical numbers, scares a-plenty for the young ones, and some truly brilliant imagery and directing, and you get the now classic film The Nightmare Before Christmas.Starting in 2006, it's gotten a theatrical re-release once a year at Halloween time, with a somewhat disappointingly light-handed makeover into a 3-D Movie. Compare Coraline, which is from the same director. The difference likely has to do with the fact that Coraline was intended to be a 3-D film from the time it began filming. The 3-D version of The Nightmare Before Christmas was retrofitted approximately thirteen years after its original release.It has a ridiculously large and well-documented article on Wikipedia. Seriously, just look at it. It also has a fan website called the Pumpkin Patch.The series would later gain a sequel in video game form on the PlayStation 2 titled Oogie's Revenge and a prequel, The Pumpkin King on the Game Boy Advance. Halloween Town and Jack also appear in almost every game in the Kingdom Hearts series. Disneyland has added movie-themed attractions in the Haunted Mansion just in time for Halloween in the past years.Now has a character sheet and Fan Fic Recommendations.
Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: Several, but one that takes the cake is Sally picking the flower which transforms into a tiny Christmas tree, and then tragically bursts into flames right before her eyes.
Adaptation Expansion: Nightmare was originally a poem by Burton, with the only named characters being Jack, Zero, and Santa.
All There in the Manual: The last track on some prints of the soundtrack is a spoken word epilogue where Santa goes to visit Jack a few years later, and we learn Jack and Sally had a few kids.
Ambiguously Gay: The Mayor. He is voiced by Glenn Shadix, who was openly gay. Also, the vampires.
Then there's that one monster. You know, the one that was going to make a hat out of a rat. Have you heard its voice?
Also, there are other songs like "Making Christmas" that play it straight, except for "What's This?" (a subversion), in which Jack falls in love with Christmas when he first discovers the holiday, but misses the point, largely because he sees Christmas through his own unique prism:
"There's children throwing snowballs instead of throwing heads, They're busy making toys and absolutely no one's dead!"
Applied Mathematics: Jack puts a number of unconventional "equations" on a blackboard to try and understand Christmas, including various Stealth Puns, like "Roasting Chestnuts/Open Fire".
Artistic License - Biology: If Finklestein, especially at his age, removed half his brain like he does to create his "wife", he would lose motion on one side of his body (and since he's already a Genius Cripple, that would mean he has only one working limb) and would, depending on which side he removed, develop speech problems. At the same time, his wife would be equally crippled. Not to mention hemispherectomies are very delicate procedures; you don't break apart a brain like a loaf of bread.
Asskicking Equals Authority: Jack is the Pumpkin King not just because he's the scariest creature, but because he's also the toughest.
Jack having ADD is actually a fairly popular fan theory.
Babies Ever After: Not in the film proper, but on the original film soundtrack released in 1993, as well as the subsequent re-release "Nightmare Revisited", there's a epilogue poem where Santa visits Jack and Jack has "four or five skeleton children at hand, playing strange tunes in their xylophone band."There is much debate on whether they are Jack and Sally's kids and how they could have them, since, you know, one's dead and the other's a rag doll.
This also begs the question of how they made kids. Though "made" may be the right word, since they might have been constructed like Sally and the skeleton reindeer.
Berserk Button: Jack doesn't react well when he finds out Oogie Boogie is hurting his friends.
Beware the Nice Ones: Jack is extremely genial, but even Oogie is frightened when Jack is pissed at him.
Then there's jolly St. Nick himself. It's fairly startling when Santa Claus squishes what remains of Oogie under his boot. He then puts Jack in his place - mind you, Jack is The Dreaded of Halloween Town.
Big Electric Switch: Jack uses one to turn on his electric chair (which is covered with festive Christmas lights).
The Big Guy: Easy to overlook due to his bean-pole physique, but when one really sizes him up to his surroundings, Jack appears to be around 7-8 feet tall!
Bilingual Bonus: Jack's ghost-dog's name is Zero. In Japanese, Zero can be translated as "Rei", which can also mean "Ghost".
Blessed with Suck: Jack. He's the King of Halloween, yet it's always about Halloween, every single day, which is problematic when you want something different. Taking a break is not an option, as shown when Jack disappears for only two days, everyone is in a panic. Also, Jack seems to not be able to give the crown to anyone else if he wanted ("But who here would ever understand/That the Pumpkin King with the skeleton grin/Would tire of his crown, if they only understood/He'd give it all up if he only could . . . "), so he's stuck with the job. And if the scenes after "This Is Halloween" is any indication, due to being the biggest in-universe celebrity, Jack can't even having a decent conversation with anyone. And who knows how long Jack's been doing the Halloween job? He could be Really 700 Years Old for all we know. When you think about it, you can't blame the guy for desperately wanting to try out Christmas.
The Blind Leading The Blind: Jack: "At least they're excited but they don't understand/that special kind of feeling in Christmasland."
Blue and Orange Morality: The people of Halloweentown are macabre, disturbing, and scary, and enjoy things that are dangerous and unpleasant to regular people, but that's just because it's their nature. In their world, these things are all quite positive.
This is the primary source of conflict in the movie, because although the Halloween creatures think they understand Christmas, it's impossible for them to do so. Not even Jack really gets it.
Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Christmas Town, Halloween Town, "The Normal World", and the Forest all have different color palettes, making them easier to distinguish from one another.
Comforting Comforter: Sally takes the time to tuck Dr Finklestein in after she drugs him unconscious so she can leave.
One could interpret Jack's "misunderstanding" as him continuing to "give the people what they want", as he stated at the end of the Town Meeting Song.
Some people feel that Goths wearing TNBC clothes are Comically Missing the Point. These people obviously have never encountered Perky Goths, who match Jack's personality and love of the macabre PERFECTLY.
Counterpart Comparison: invoked Even critics have noted that Jack's tale of taking over Christmas is similar to the Grinch, right down to his dog pulling his sleigh.
Cover Version: As part of the 2006 re-release marketing thing, Nightmare Revisited was released. It is a full album's worth of covers of varying quality.
Dark Is Not Evil: Although the denizens of Halloween Town are folks you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley (because they arose from the muck puddles at the bottom of said alley), they clearly aren't intending to be harmful, just scary (with the exception of Oogie Boogie and his posse.)
"It's our job but we're not mean/in this town of Halloween..."
In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Jack even tells Sora that the citizens of Halloween Town enjoy scaring people, not hurting them.
Take a drink every time a Nightmare wick is on a trope that's normally for villains. Take two if it is mentioned that the example isn't evil.
Death by Irony: Oogie planned to make Santa and later Sally into snake-and-spider stew and ends up having all his bugs fall into the concoction, becoming stew himself.
Death Glare: When Jack arrives at Oogie Boogie's place, he's pretty pissed already, but when Jack hears Sally scream (thus telling him that she was down there), he gives a Death Glare that signed Oogie's death warrant. A slightly scarier example is when Oogie's bugs are falling into the pit, Jack's facial expression quite clearly says, "You deserve this."
Defanged Horrors: Outright stated (in the first song) that the people of the town love to scare, but have no malicious feelings towards people. Their creepy Boogieman (whom even the Halloween folks avoid!) and his rather cowardly cronies are quite the exception. Even though Lock, Shock, and Barrel claim to only work for Oogie out of fear, they sure do show pleasure at the thoughts of mauling 'Sandy Claws' in their star song...
Deliberately Monochrome: According to the special features of the DVD re-release, Halloweentown.
Dem Bones: Jack, aka Bone Daddy and the doctor's Undead Reindeer Fleet, the hangman skeletons in the tree during the opening song, and the tortured luminescent singing skeletons in Boogie's place.
Didn't Think This Through: Oogie and the gunmen. When he hits the button for the saw, a thread gets caught...
Jack counts too. Let's have a town who has only known scares for their afterlife take over a cheerful holiday that you barely understand. Real brilliant idea, there.
The Dog Was the Mastermind: Averted, it was originally planned that Dr. Finklestein was actually Oogie Boogie's true identity, leaving Jack Skellington confused, but it was cut because apparently Tim Burton acknowledged the reveal would have been too confusing.
Also in the skeleton pirate scene in James and the Giant Peach.
Efficient Displacement: Jack falls into the Christmas Town snow, leaving behind a perfect outline. His rail-thin stature justifies it.
Enfant Terrible: A trio of them: Lock, Shock, and Barrel, three professional trick or treaters and kidnappers.
Epic Fail: Instead of giving presents that give children joy during his Christmas run, Jack Skellington gives them presents that traumatize them.
Eureka Moment: "Jack's Obsession" leads to one. Jack even shouts "EUREKA!"
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Subverted, since the people of Halloween Town are not actually evil; however, their innate inability to really understand the concept or point of Christmas is a big part of the reason that Jack's plans don't pan out.
Evil Laugh: Jack has a nice one—as his natural laugh. A reminder that he is a resident of Halloween Town.
Played straight with Oogie Boogie at the end of his Villain Song.
Foil: Some believe that Jack and Oogie are foils to each other, the former being thin, artistic, and thoughtful, the latter fat, rude, and sadistic.
Sally might also be a foil for Jack, since he's outgoing, energetic, loud, and usually enthusiastic while she's shy, reserved, quiet and usually sad.
Jack could also be a foil for The Grinch, the latter stealing Christmas to ruin it but ends up saving it via a Heel Face Turn and the former taking over Christmas with good intentions but screwing it up royally.
For the Evulz: Oogie Boogie's motivation. During his Villain Song he carefreely sing out that he does all the bad things because "It's much more fun" when "lives are on the line".
Foreshadowing: In-story, there's Sally's premonition with the burning Christmas tree. In cinematic technique, there's Jack's first visit to Christmastown in the song "What's This?" Among other things, we see him unintentionally smashing a snowflake, destroying a snowman and scaring a little sleeping elf - a taster of the unwitting destruction that Jack's curiosity in Christmas will bring.
When he's trying to understand Christmas scientifically, he attempts to cut a paper snowflake and finds that he's made a spider.
The rest of the same scene. His tries to understand the paraphernalia of Christmas only results in the items of his experiments being destroyed. "Jack's Obsession" also ends with him smashing several Christmas ornaments, and causing a string of lights to explode.
During the Town Hall meeting in which Jack reveals the inhabitants of Halloweentown what Christmas is, the Mayor says. cheerfully, "This will be the most terrifying Christmas ever!", to which Jack automatically corrects him. Probably unintentional, but considering the events of the climax of the movie, probably not.
"This Is Halloween" has the "shadow of the moon at night" taking the form of Oogie Boogie. This is later confirmed to be his shadow in Oogie's Revenge.
Forgotten Phlebotinum: Oogie Boogie has the ability to suck in everything like a gigantic vacuum, which is how he recaptured Santa and Sally. He never thought to use this in his battle against Jack Skellington, though this is somewhat justified, as Oogie was trying to get away from Jack. Still could have eaten him, though.
Four-Fingered Hands: Jack is the most notable since he's humanoid - avoided with Sally. All the others get away with it because they're not really humanoid. Except for the mayor *shudder*.
Especially notable when the werewolf holds up four fingers ("Three-sixty-*four*!") and it's his entire hand.
Some of the human children have four-fingered hands as well.
Also avoided on Jack's part in the animated short on the DVD of the Nightmare Before Christmas poem (narrated by Christopher Lee for extra awesome points).
Funny Background Event: Remember that boy whose parents screamed when they saw his Christmas present was a shrunken head? Next time we see him, his parents have fainted in the hallway. His dad's hand twitches.
Getting Crap Past the Radar: Well, first there's the whole Show Some Leg thing, then after "This Is Halloween" when everyone is heaping praise on Jack, the short witch gets a little....affectionate....with Jack's leg (though that could be this troper's gutter-minded imagination).
Also, did anyone else think that when Jack revealed himself to Oogie, that the way Jack was keeping himself on the platform was a bit suggestive?And there's Oogie's Shout Out comment to Santa, which sounds pretty rape-y both out and in context.
Oogie: And now with your permission, I'm going to do my stuff.
Santa: What are you going to do?
Oogie: I'm going to do the best I can...
And then there's the question of why Dr. Finklestein made Sally...
He more than likely made her to be a daughter/servant/caretaker to him, seeing as she makes all his soup. He's bound to a wheel chair, which would get in the way of you-know-what, and there are no hints in the movie that he may be a Dirty Old Man.
Even when he creates a proper wife, the thing he's most excited about is the great conversations they'll have!
Also Oogie Boogie, who appears as the shadow on the moon in This is Halloween and as a shadow on the wall in Kidnap the Sandy Claws, but he himself doesn't appear in the...uh...stitching...until his own song.
Heroic BSOD: Jack undergoes two, once during "Jack's Lament" and again once he realizes that he was accidentally ruining Christmas for the entire human realm.
Hive Mind: Oogie Boogie is made of insects and worms and yet he manages to move, speak and do all kinds of evil stuff. It's debatable if there is a Hive Queen (if there is, it's probably a little, white, earwig-like bug).
Hufflepuff House: The holiday dimensions besides Halloween Town and Christmas Town
I Am What I Am: After his disaster at being Santa Claus, Jack finally realizes what his true calling is, as he sums it up in five words: I AM THE PUMPKIN KING!
Iconic Outfit: Jack's pin-striped tuxedo and bat bow-tie; also Sally's dress. Both have even been made available as Halloween costumes for adults through the Disney company.
Idiot Hero: Jack is probably one of the more justified examples, as his idiotic moments come from not being an idiot, but from either not understanding concepts outside of Halloween (the whole Christmas fiasco, thinking the shells were fireworks, etc.) or being so excited for Christmas that he doesn't listen to reason (Sally and her prediction). The only thing he does that is just plain stupid is trusting Lock, Shock, and Barrel to take care of Santa Claus.
Impact Silhouette: When Jack hits the Christmas Town sign and falls into a foot of snow.
Impairment Shot: Used after Jack runs face-first into a candy-cane-striped pole. And when Santa first sets eyes on Halloween Town, having been roughly hauled out of a sack previously.
In Case You Forgot Who Wrote It: Oh, it was Tim Burton by the way. (Conceived rather than written, to be exact; it was expanded by others.)
This trope combined with the advertising ("From the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas") inadvertently caused people who aren't aware of Henry Selick's involvement with Nightmare to think that Coraline was directed by Burton (it was Selick who directed that film too).
Ironic Echo: The first time Jack sings "And I, Jack, the Pumpkin King" (during Jack's Lament), he is angsting over how Halloween has stopped being special to him. The second time (during the second half of Poor Jack) he is getting over his angst about ruining Christmas and how he "just can't wait until next Halloween".
Irony: You know how loads of hateers contribute their dislike of this movie because of all the merchandise at Hot Topic? Considering Jack's reaction to the way the Halloween Town citizens ("Thank you. Thank you! Very much!!") it's highly likely that Jack would hate all the merchandise at Hot Topic too.
Also counts as an I Am Song, as he describes how he is the Master of Fright and a Demon of Light, amongst other things.
It can be divided verse-by-verse into each of those. The verses in 4/4 are almost entirely self-description while the slower, 3/4 time verses are "I Want" verses.
"What's This" counts as well. It climaxes with the line "I want it! Oh I want it! Oh I want it for my own!"
Skeletons Prefer Boxes: Jack is obsessed with the concept of a "present" (particularly in Kingdom Hearts II), but doesn't understand that the present is what's INSIDE the pretty wrapped box with the bow.
The Kindnapper: Jack Skellington has part of this being a Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant. His way of indulging himself in his new passion for Christmas not only involves planning to run the show himself, but kidnapping the one who already does to enable his doing so. And he sees it as a favor for Santa, too! Despite Jack's unquestionable status as The Hero, though, his kindnapping is clearly shown as not being a good thing, especially because of what it leads to...
Santa: (bursts out of the bag) Let me out! (the Halloween Town citizens gasp in awe)
Jack Skellington: Sandy Claws - in person. What a pleasure to meet you. (prepares to shake but then looks down when their HANDS touch)
Jack Skellington: Wh — ! Why, you have hands! You don't have claws at all!
Santa: (dazed) Where am I?
Jack Skellington: Surprised, are you? You don't have to worry about another Christmas this year.
Santa: Wh-what?
Jack Skellington: Consider this a vacation, Sandy. A reward. It's your turn to take it easy.
Santa: B-But there must be some mistake!
Jack Skellington: See that he's comfortable... (the minions start to close up the bag, but then stop) Just a second, fellas! Of course! That's what I'm missing! (takes Santa's hat)
Santa: B-But...
Jack Skellington: (as he's putting on the hat) Thanks.
Santa: Hang on - you just can't - (has the bag thrown over him again) - Hold on! Where are we going now?
Large Ham: Oogie Boogie. Jack is a bit more subtle, but still can be pretty hammy.
It's kind of par for the course when one lives in Halloween Town.
Lightning Can Do Anything: Like bringing skeletal reindeer to life and in the prequel game heal Jack.
Limited Wardrobe: The only time Jack ever changed out of his tuxedo is when he imitatesSanta Claus (well, and one scene when he's in bed and wearing off-white pajamas, but that's only for a couple of minutes). Possibly even taken Up to Eleven, since in "Poor Jack", when Jack declares that HE IS THE PUMPKIN KING!!!, he rips off the tatters of his Santa outfit to reveal that he's been wearing his tux underneath the suit all this time. Sally also wears the same dress throughout the film, though considering that either she's locked up by Dr. Finklestein or stalking Jack, this is more justified. Both cases are also justified with the fact that it would be needlessly complicated to have Stop Motion characters wear different clothes.
May double as My Suit Is Also Super, the Sandy Claws costume is tattered, but Jack's tux is fine under it - as is Santa's hat, which is part of the actual Santa costume rather than something Sally made. Maybe the official outfit of a Holiday Ruler is indestructible?
Lying Finger Cross: Lock, Shock, and Barrel do this after Jack tells them to leave Oogie Boogie out of their plot to capture Santa Claus.
Made of Iron: Jack manages to get shot down by flak guns without being blown to pieces. This could be justified, however, by the coffin sleigh taking most of the blow. However, this does not explain how at least a mile-high fall onto a stone angel didn't break any of his bones (the impact from the fall did seem to be strong enough to knock off his jawbone, however). This all still could be justified by the fact that Jack's undead, so he would not feel pain, if it weren't for an earlier scene where Sally accidentally pokes Jack's finger with a needle, and he yelps in pain. It's a little confusing.
He was caught by an angel.
We also see Zero fly over and reattach his jaw, which seems to revive him. It's possible he reassembled him entirely, offscreen.
He's an Anthropomorphic Personification. He's probably very hard to kill, especially with mortal weapons. Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt like Hell. He's very shaken.
Sally - while she's made of cloth and stuffed with leaves, she's very hard to hurt. At one point she throws herself out of a window, and then puts herself back together again.
Magic Pants: Jack's outfit may count. When he rises out of the fountain and his collar visibly straightens. When Jack is shot down, the Sandy Claws outfit is shredded, but the tux is completely unscathed.
Magic Versus Science: Sort of. Santa can do magic (flying reindeer, flying away at the end followed by a trail of sparkly magic stuff), while Jack's way of going at Christmas is more scientific (employing Dr. Finklestein, reading books on the Scientific Method).
However, Jack can and does do magic in his own realm. It's probably a question of spheres of influence: Jack has no power over Christmas, so he has to use different tools than Santa.
Malevolent Masked Men: Subverted. As trick-or-treaters, Lock, Shock and Barrel wear costume masks all the time, but in their introductory scene they take them off, revealing faces that look exactly the same as (or worse than) their masks.
Meaningful Background Event: While Oogie Boogie is taunting Sally and Santa Claus, if you look behind him, you can see Jack Skellington sneaking into the lair all spider-like.
Doubles as a Chekhov's Skill in the scene immediately following.
Meaningful Name: Most likely unintentional, but one of the meanings of "Jack"? Supplanter.
This may possibly even be an in-universe example, considering how the citizens act about Jack.*
Anyone else thought that when Jack was trying to get away from the Halloween Town citizens, it sounded like Jack thought he was going to get raped? "Thank you. Thank you! Very much!"
Mind Screw: "This Is Halloween". It's so surreal that bats have strings attached to them. They digitally removed those strings in the Blu-Ray versions, though.
Mood Swinger: Jack Skellington. Until the third act, he is either depressed, extremely enthusiastic, or concentrating intensely on his obsession. He is at his calmest only at the end, during his and Sally's duet.
The Multiverse: There's apparently a dimension for every holiday celebrated in America (though it's not clear if any of these dimensions consist of much more than one town).
Must Make Amends: Jack and Oogie's fight is about Jack trying to fix things.
My Name Is Not Durwood: Jack, and by extension everyone in Halloween Town, calls Santa Claus "Sandy Claws". In a deleted scene and in the dialogue when Jack first meets Santa, it's shown that Jack took the "Claws" part literally.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Santa Claus is in trouble and Christmas is ruined. Three guesses to who is responsible. First two don't count.
No Name Given: The Mayor (though some of the merch calls him Hizzonor). Most of the citizens also seem to not have names (The Clown With The-Tear-Away-Face, The Wolf Man, etc). Awesomely used with one off-screen horror who proclaims "I am the "who" when you call "Who's there?"".
Noodle Incident: In "Jack's Lament", some of the lyrics are thus: "To a guy in Kentucky, I'm Mister Unlucky! And I'm known throughout England and France!"
No Peripheral Vision: After Oogie Boogie realizes that the knife-wielding king cards wasn't going to stop Jack from kicking his ass, Oogie pulls a rope that stops the murderous cards. Jack goes for Oogie, never noticing the gun-wielding gambling game cowboy skeletons approaching to his left and nearly getting shot. However, considering that Jack doesn't have proper eyeballs, it's entirely possible that Jack really doesn't have peripheral vision, therefore justifying him not seeing the weapons.
There's a less WMG-y reason he didn't see the gunmen: Jack was focused solely on whooping Oogie's stitched behind, so he just didn't notice the gunmen. It isn't the first time in the movie that Jack's tuned out everything other than his goal to the detriment of his own health.
Not Now, We're Too Busy Crying Over You: Jack is hit by a rocket. Oogie Boogie is, therefore, understandably shocked when he appears in the nick of time to rescue Sally and Santa Claus moments after they hear the news.
Obliviously Evil: Jack. His actions do drive the central conflict and cause needless strife, but he never acts maliciously in any of them.
Oblivious to Love: Jack — though to be fair, the only overt gesture Sally is seen to make is easily explained by the fact that they're friends (which they clearly are). And he does catch on eventually.
Offscreen Teleportation: When Jack goes to rescue Sally and Santa from Oogie Boogie. Last we see Jack before the Final Battle, he was sneaking in behind Oogie's back, quite a ways away from the platform where Santa and Sally were. With the way the scene is set up, it would have been impossible for Jack to get to the platform without Oogie seeing him, no matter what sneaking skills being the Pumpkin King would get you.
Oh Crap: Jack, when he realize that those shells are not fireworks. "They're trying to hit us!"
Oogie gets two big ones: 1) when he sees Jack on the platform instead of Sally and Santa and 2) when Jack pulls the thread that keeps him together. He has several smaller one as Jack passes each of his deathtraps, but these may be feigned, as he always has another trap ready.
Oh My Gods!: Averted, as during "Poor Jack", Jack refers to God twice ("And, by God, I really tasted something swell!" "And, by God, I'm really going to give it all my might!").
Only Sane Woman: Sally seems to be the only denizen of Halloween Town who even approaches the realization that people don't want to be scared or attacked on Christmas.
Santa Claus: "The next time you get the urge to take over someone else's holiday, I'd listen to her. She's the only one who makes any sense in this insane asylum!"
Opening Narration: Narrated by Santa, and this would have qualified for Book Ends if they had kept the epilogue under Babies Ever After. (The ending narration can be heard on the soundtrack, and it's read by Patrick Stewart for extra awesome points.)
Our Demons Are Different: There's the stereotypical Devil for one (though him being TheDevil is probably unlikely), and Jack in "Jack's Lament" says he's a "Demon Of Light," indicating he's some sort of Noble Demon. In some of the foreign dubs, Jack actually declares himself the Devil. There's also the Harlequin Demon.
Our Monsters Are Different: Every resident of Halloween Town is some kind of horrible monster, yet nearly all of them are good-natured in their own way. The creepy nature they all have is just how they are, as they don't technically mean to bring harm to anyone...unless you ask for it.
Paper-Thin Disguise: Jack must have been really delusional if he thought a red suit and deep voice would hide the fact that he's a seven-foot tall skeleton trying to be Santa.
Pass the Popcorn: In a deleted scene, Lock, Shock, and Barrel grab candy, pop, and — yes — popcorn to eat while they watch Oogie tormenting Sandy and Sally. This scene was deleted due to both timing issues and that Burton and Selick feel that having Lock, Shock, and Barrel enjoying Sandy and Sally's torture would put the trio beyond just "playful tricksters" to "evil little bastards" *
okay, they didn't say bastards, but the point is still there
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Perky Goth: Jack, if not most of the citizens of Halloween Town.
Pietà Plagiarism: Nearing the end of the film, Jack lies defeated in the arms of a graveyard statue of an angel.
Planet of Hats: Every (American) holiday has an alternate reality devoted to that one holiday.
Power Trio: Lock is in the middle role, with female Shock being the smartest and Barrel as the dumb one who gets smacked, or The Radar, depending on who you ask.
Precognition: Sally has a vision representing Jack's Christmas going to hell by a Christmas Tree going up into flames. It's unclear if this is a one-time thing or not; however, she does remark to Jack that she had a vision, and the implication seems to be that this has happened before.
Rage Against The Reflection: When Sally tries to talk Jack out of Subbing For Santa by showing a picture of Jack as the Pumpkin King, Jack simply takes the picture and breaks it over his knee.
Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: Sally usually manages to duck this, but a number of fans still ignore the major role she plays in the story to bash her feminine appearance or call her Dr. Finklestein's sex toy.
Saving Christmas: Subverted in that the hero is the one to kidnap Santa, but then played straight after things go pear-shaped.
Scary Black Man: Oogie Boogie's voice actor is black, but as he is a sentient sack of insects, he himself has no actual race.
This has drawn criticism from Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic, who says that the usage of the heroes using "whitespeak" and the villain using "blackspeak" is racist profiling.
Screw Yourself: Not only does the wife Dr. Finklestein made for himself look like a female version of himself, he gave her half of his own brain. Jack's shocked expression upon seeing them is pretty understandable, really.
Severed Head Sports: The vampires are seen playing hockey with a shrunken head.
Shout Out: Oogie and Santa echo a line from the Betty Boop cartoon "The Old Man of the Mountain", which stars Cab Calloway, the inspiration for Oogie Boogie. Oogie's gyrating dance bears a strong resemblance to that of the Walrus rotoscoped over Calloway in the Betty cartoon "Minne the Moocher."
Santa: "What are you going to do?"
Oogie: "I'm going to do the best I can . . ."
Some of the toys are the same ones as seen in Batman Returns and two of the Real World kids are wearing pajamas with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck on them.
The scarecrow outfit Jack wears in the beginning sequence looks like an evil version of Jack PumpkinHead from Return to Oz and The Marvelous Land of Oz.
A deliberate one to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, when Zero turns his nose red and moves to the head of the sleigh team to guide them through the fog.
Show Some Leg: Played with: Sally shows off a bit of leg to attract Oogie's attention, but it later turns out the leg is unattached, serving to distract Oogie while the rest of Sally unties Santa.
Stalking Is Love: It's not played out straight though, since while most of the examples find out and are flattered rather then creeped out, Jack never finds out that Sally stalked him. Then again, he's such a Nightmare Fetishist he probably would love it.
Considering everyone in the town is a Nightmare Fetishist, it's very probable that in Halloween Town stalking actually is a way to show love.
Take That: "I'm only an elected official here, I can't make decisions by myself!" The DVD Commentary and the Mayor's actual two-faced head draws parallels with the Mayor to two-faced politicians.
To The Grinch. The two play out similarly up to the fight with Oogie, but Jack had only good intentions and got the Grinch equivalent of a sad ending, in spite of being a better person than the Grinch.
That Man Is Dead: "But you're the Pumpkin King!" "Not anymore!" *breaks picture* "I feel so much better now!" Makes one wonder what Jack's long-term plans for Christmas were . . .
There Are No Therapists: Seriously, just look at Jack. He's dealing with both depression and a mid-death
life
crisis, and possibly bi-polar disorder and ADD. The bone man is in desperate need of a therapist.
Theme Tune Cameo: The Mayor finds "This Is Halloween" so catchy, we find him humming it later as he brings Jack the plans for next year's Halloween.
Triumphant Reprise: At least two: "This Is Halloween" and "Sally's Song" both get them.
Along with "What's This?"
Two-Faced: The Mayor, who has two faces — one colorful and happy, one ashen and distressed. It's more of a facial mood ring than a split personality, though.
Ultimate Authority Mayor: The mayor. Justified as there really isn't any higher authority that exists in... where ever Halloweentown is. And Jack does all the real work anyway.
Further Fridge Brilliance is Oogie's reaction to Jack's return in the BDH moment above. Oogie's afraid of Jack, who doesn't need violence to be scary, and doesn't need it to beat Oogie.
How about Oogie? Honestly, how can anyone tell exactly how old that guy is?
Villainous Lament: "Jack's Lament" and the first half of "Poor Jack", though this trope is subverted by Jack not being evil.
Villain Song: "Oogie Boogie's Song". It's sung by Ken Page, the same fellow who voiced King Gator in All Dogs Go to Heaven and played Old Deuteronomy in the video version of Cats. As such, it's amazing.
Weird Moon/Sun: The moon is pretty big and doesn't have any craters, while the sun has the face of a jack-o-lantern.
What the Hell, Hero?: Santa gives Jack a hefty chewing-out when he comes to apologize. In the original poem, he's much more understanding (maybe because he hadn't just escaped from a sapient burlap sack gloating about how it intended to turn him into stew and eat him).
Willing Suspension of Disbelief: Jack and Sally can walk, talk, feel pain, and are implied to have a need for nourishment? Why not. Jack and Sally having children, particularly through being able to have sex? The fandom is divided by this. Some say why not, while others think Jack and Sally either lack certain parts for successful reproduction or shouldn't have kids at all. And this isn't getting into the Squick (or maybe Fetish Fuel) aspect of the argument . . .
Also, Jack is lit on fire at the begining of the film without expressing any sign of pain and later falls hundreds of feet, landing hard enough to knock off his jaw bone, yet he still says "ow" when he pricks his finger on a needle.
alternative title(s): A Nightmare Before Christmas; Nightmare Before Christmas; The Nightmare Before Christmas; The Nightmare Before Christmas; Nightmare Before Christmas
. It also has a fan website called the Pumpkin Patch.
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