The song "What's This" has quite a few passages that can sound like they're describing something completely different.
"I've never felt so good before This empty place inside of me is filling up! I simply cannot get enough! I want it, oh, I want it Oh, I want it for my own!"
Ken Page, who played Boogie, described his voice as being more "intimate" when he sings closer to Santa's face. Make of that what you will.
Adaptation Displacement: Most people aren't even aware of the poem the movie was based on. Which is understandable, since it wasn't published in book form until after the movie came out, and was only sporadically available for a good 20 years. Ever since the book received a big re-release for its 20th anniversary, it has generally stayed on bookstore shelves and become a bit more well-known.
Alternative Character Interpretation: Are any of the characters actually "good" or "evil" in the sense that we understand it? Their homes are the origins of our Holidays, so it's not hard to imagine that they're all mythological archetypes. This would pretty much make them all amoral, since free will wouldn't be a thing for them.
Aluminum Christmas Trees: "Bug Day". There actually are a few little known dates based around insects that barely anyone knows about, two of which are in October, notably/coincidentally which involve eating said bugs, which plays into Oogie's character as a Villainous Glutton:
June Bug Day is recognized nationally on June 7th, though it's more about the time of year June Bugs are most active.
National Chocolate Covered Insects day, which is on October 14th.
World Edible Insect Day is October 23rd.
Awesome Music: Every single note of Danny Elfman's score and songs! And being an operetta, it takes up nearly the entirety of the film's runtime. It really is his movie as much as it is Tim Burton's and Henry Selick's.
How important is it to remember that Henry Selick directed this film? Go to any comment's section or forum, and odds are half the comments feel Selick doesn't get enough credit for directing this film, while the other half feel it's irrelevant since Tim Burton's other creative contributions (writing, concept art, producing, etc) more than make up for it. How you feel about Tim Burton as a creator, and/or whether you feel Selick directing this film factors into why it's such a Tough Act to Follow, certainly factors in.
More recently, some Take a Third Option and argue that Danny Elfman deserves more credit for the film than he gets, as even beyond providing Jack's singing voice and a whopping eleven songs that ended up in the finished film, several of the minor characters were created just so there could be someone to perform a new song he'd submitted.
Creepy Awesome: Oogie Boogie. Sure, he's the Big Bad of the film. But dang it, does he stand out! His Villain Song is probably the most well-known of the songs in the film, and it's really hard to not find him at least somewhat amusing. Add to that he's actually a colony organism made of bugs wrapped in burlap, and you have yourselves the Boogie Man!
Crosses the Line Twice: "Kidnap The Sandy Claws" is 3 minutes of Lock, Shock, and Barrel debating on how to torture and/or kill Santa Claus. Horrifying in theory, but still an entertaining song to listen to.
Oogie Boogie tends to get this a lot, often making Jack into a bully to do so. Also, Jack is probably one of the rare heroes (if not the only one) who gets this. Fans bash the military for shooting Jack down, despite the fact that they were justified in doing so.
Lock, Shock and Barrel have quite the popular fanbase, despite them being three homicidal, malicious, violent children. Although they do undergo a Heel–Face Turn later...
Harlequin Demon has a reasonable amount of fanart.
Mr. Hyde has quite a few fans as well, especially people who know him as "The Risk" from Cute Mario Bros.
The Clown with the Tear-Away Face also gets a lot of attention.
Lock, Shock and Barrel don't get too much screentime but they have tons of fans. Reasons for this include their cool character designs, interesting backstories of working for Oogie Boogie and funny dialogue. In fact, as the movie kept getting more popular, Lock, Shock and Barrel ended up getting more fans.
Bone-Demon: Jack and any fan-made skeletons like him. Understood to be a sort of sub-species of either Undead or demon. Usually used in the camp that thinks Jack and Sally have kids by natural means.
Dr. Finkly: Dr. Finklestein, by his fans.
Jewel: Dr. Finklestein creation/wife seen at the end of the movie. While there's no evidence that Finklestein's "Be careful, my precious jewel!" is a reference to her name, the fans use it anyways.
Spiral Hill: The hill where Jack gets his first song and where Jack and Sally have The Big Damn Kiss. The English localisation of Kingdom Hearts II calls it "Curly Hill" (the Japanese version calls it "Spiral Hill"), but if this poll is any indication, fans massively prefer "Spiral".
Fanfic Fuel: The other Holiday Doors. Beyond a brief appearance of the Easter Bunny, we don't know a single thing about Easter Town, let alone what's behind the other four (Valentines, St. Patrick's Day, Independence Day and Thanksgiving) doors. What's behind all of them? Who's running the towns and what do said towns look like? Thankfully though, the upcoming Light Novel sounds like it might give us some clues.
Come on, there's really no reason why, when he decided to show, Jack had to announce his presence to Oogie Boogie looking like he's trying to seduce him◊.
Then there's Oogie's Shout-Out comment to Santa, sounding like Oogie's going to rape him.
The scene where Sally distracts Oogie Boogie with her leg had shades of this, and is probably the reason for the Oogie/Sally ship!
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Nightmare is big in Japan, which explains why Halloween Town is featured throughout the Kingdom Hearts series. There's also a manga adaptation by Jun Asuka, and an official sequel by Tokyopop. Tokyo Disneyland's version of The Haunted Mansion is also the only other one in the Disney parks besides the California original to receive the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay, where Jack and his friends take over the ride late in the year.
Harsher in Hindsight: The Mayor ends up falling down the stairs of Jack's house trying to get Jack. This is hilarious until you realize that the Mayor's voice actor Glenn Shadix died because of blunt trauma to the head following a fall at his Birmingham condo.
Jack rescuing Sally from Oogie Boogie and reciprocating her feelings towards him in the ending becomes even sweeter than it already is when the video game PrequelThe Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King establishes that Jack also rescued Sally from Oogie when they first met.
The movie centers around Jack trying to understand Christmas, but his attempts to hijack the holiday go south. This is because no one wants to be scared on Christmas, especially children. In the Haunted Mansion holiday update, Jack is allowed to host the festivities and the audience appreciates it this time. He just needed the right setting.
Hilarious in Hindsight: A skeleton saves a winter holiday by dressing up as Santa Claus and putting his own spin on said holiday, all the while the female lead comes to the real Santa figure's rescue behind the scenes. Are we talking about this movie or Hogfather?
One of the skulls◊ in Dr. Finkelstein's lab bears a striking resemblance to Papyrus, especially certain fanmade 3D interpretations of him.
Ho Yay: Of all the citizens of Halloween Town, the Mayor appears to be the most worried for Jack when he goes missing — and it doesn't look like just as a professional and/or as a friend, either. In his defense, there are only 365 more days until NEXT Halloween.note 364! It helps that his actor, Glenn Shadix, was openly gay.
Hype Backlash: Since it became a cultural icon with merchandise everywhere and is something of a Sacred Cow to certain audiences, people watching the film for the first time can easily go into it expecting something more than the simple but fun romp through Halloween and Christmas that it is.
Love to Hate: Even though Oogie Boogie is a malicious sadist, he is rather entertaining from his singing to his Large Ham and is a huge favorite among fans.
On the first day of October, expect social media (especiallyTumblr) to be flooded with references to this movie. Quoting the opening song (often in full) is very popular.
Is this a Halloween or Christmas movie? Explanation Given both Holidays are featured prominently in the movie, many like to jokingly ask if they should be watching this on Halloween or Christmas. Generally the opinion seems to be 'why not both?'.
Misaimed Marketing: For some reason, Disney likes to stock merchandise featuring Jack alongside that of the company's villain characters despite him being a hero. While he does a lot of villainous things, it’s out of naïveté rather than malice.
Most Wonderful Sound: The entire score is terrific, but Jack and Sally singing together stands out as beautifully cathartic.
Moe: Zero doesn’t even count as Ugly Cute, he’s just adorable.
Narm: "Jack has been blown to smithereens!" Okay, Mayor, we know you're understandably upset, but could you have said that any less hilariously?
The Easter Bunny and Shrunken Head Kid both only appear for short scenes, but are among the most memorable characters. The latter was frequently used in the trailers.
The Creature Under the Bed only appears for a very short segment of "This is Halloween," but is well-known as one of the scariest things in the movie. It touches on childhood fears of Things That Go "Bump" in the Night in a very accurate way, since the only parts of it you can see are its teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red. The Creature is even more infamous in the Russian dub, which gives it a terrifyingly deep voice.
One True Pairing: Sally and Jack are almost unanimously beloved together by the fanbase, as they compliment each other amazingly both aesthetically (just ask the movie's Perky Goth fandom mentioned below) and personality-wise, both of them being kind yet lonely individuals aspiring for something more.
Paranoia Fuel: Invoked with some of Halloweentown's residents:
The "Who" When You Call "Who's There" is implied to be the living embodiment of this trope. It's a mysterious, disembodied voice in the wind whose presence is able to invoke feelings of unease and fear in those who sense it.
The Creature Under the Bed. You can't see any part of it except its glowing red eyes and disturbing sharp teeth. The Creature is only seen for a few seconds, so there's no guarantee that it's as friendly as the other monsters. And finally, it says that it's not under just any bed, but your bed.
Periphery Demographic: Amongst the most cited favorites of young Perky Goths everywhere. Tellingly, the average Hot Topic location probably carries just as much Nightmare merchandise as the average Disney Store (if not more).
Refrain from Assuming: "Jack'sLament" is sometimes referred to as "The Pumpkin King" or simply "Jack's Song".note The latter not making any sense, as most of the songs are sung by Jack.
Retroactive Recognition: Igor, the hunchbacked henchman to Dr. Finkelstein, is voiced by the late Joe Ranft, who would go on to become head storywriter for Pixar.
At the time this film was released, comedian Greg Proops was fairly well-known in the UK due to being a semi-regular on the British version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?. Fans of the American version of Whose Line though tend to be surprised when they look up the cast for this film, and discover Proops voices some of the characters.
Ron the Death Eater: Dr. Finkelstein does have a rather... questionable relationship with Sally. But if you went by only what fanfictions wrote of him, you'd think he was a serial rapist.
Self-Fanservice: Lock, Shock, and Barrel get a lot of fanart where they're aged up into hot gothy teens rather than the gonkish little kids they are in the movie.
Signature Scene: Both of the major scenes taking place on the spiral hill—"Jack's Lament", specifically the part where he walks up said hill against the full moon, and the final scene where Jack and Sally have their Final Love Duet—are the most frequently associated with the film due to being in the posters, streaming banners and the trailer.
Signature Song: While almost all of the songs are iconic in their own right, "This Is Halloween" ultimately pulls through, being the movie's essential Theme Song. Though "What's This?" is also a contender thanks to Memetic Mutation.
The border of the removable faceplate on the Mayor puppet's happy face is clearly visible.
The bats flying towards the camera during the "This Is Halloween" sequence are clearly held up by wires. In the remastered version, most of the wires were digitally erased, but they are still slightly visible in a few frames.
Spiritual Antithesis: In many ways to How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. Whereas The Grinch is a lonely grump who ends up realizing what makes Christmas great, Jack is a lonely Nice Guy who learns that while Christmas is good, that doesn't make his own holiday any less important.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: The limited screentime Oogie Boogie gets is a common criticism towards the film. Not counting a brief Early-Bird Cameo during the opening song that had to be confirmed via Word of God, he doesn't get properly introduced until halfway through the running time, and he serves as a Plot-Irrelevant Villain whose only overall purpose in the plot is so that Jack can defeat him and redeem himself. Interestingly, he would have had far more screentime originally if he turned out to be an alias of Finklestein, but that probably would've been even more of a waste. Luckily, spin-off material such as Kingdom Hearts and The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge give him much more screentime.
Tough Act to Follow: Tim Burton has since made two more stop-motion films, Corpse Bride and Frankenweenie (and those times, he did direct), and while both have their fans, neither is anywhere near as popular or beloved as the one that started it all.
Jack's design truly strikes the perfect balance that makes this trope work, giving him an appearance that’s just scary enough that you understand why he’s seen as the terrifying Pumpkin King, but he’s also just cute enough that even though the audiences buys him as being scary, we find him to be likable and cute.
Vocal Minority: Not that many mainstream audiences know that Henry Selickdirected this film, but don't you worry. He has a small but dedicated online fandom who will let you know at every opportunity.
Visual Effects of Awesome: The entire movie is absolutely gorgeous, and there are some really creative designs to be admired if you look at the citizens of Halloween. For a stop-motion film, it's very impressive.
There are small touches, such as motion blur for the sweeping camera movies, courtesy of a special camera invented solely for this film. And all without CGI!
Special mention goes to Oogie Boogie. It can't be easy giving a burlap sack expressive animation, but they did it. The cloth movement is realistic, and the "My bugs!" scene was terrific. The puppet was one of the trickier ones to work with, but they did it!
Poor Sally. All the things she does for someone who doesn't reciprocate her feelings (at first) is heartbreaking. Though note that "not-reciprocate-Sally's-feelings" does NOT equal "hardly-notices-her". Moreover, until the very end of the movie, he didn't even know there were any feelings to reciprocate.
Jack. A guy who gets tired of his job might sound whiny, but not when you consider that he lives in a town where it's all about said job. Put that on top of the fact that a lot of the responsibility for Halloween is on his shoulders, and all you have to say is "That's rough." Also since Jack is all bones he might be Really 700 Years Old, who knows how long he was doing the same thing every year. 10 years? 50 years? 100 years? Since Halloween was created?
The Easter bunny. Near the middle of the film, he gets kidnapped, and gets the dickens scared out of him by one of the Halloween residents. The only vocalizations we hear from the bunny are a startled yelp and terrified whimpering.
, it has generally stayed on bookstore shelves and become a bit more well-known.
