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The Nightmare before Christmas
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01:16
The Nightmare before Christmas
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- 1993
- Henry Selick
- 73 mins
- PG
Summary
Animated musical drama featuring the voices of Chris Sarandon and Catherine O'Hara. Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, longs to escape the routine of Halloweentown. Through a door in a tree, he stumbles upon Christmastown where he engineers the kidnapping of Santa Claus and wreaks havoc among the inhabitants.
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IMDB
Review
A star rating of 5 out of 5.
Alan Jones
Only the deliciously demented imagination of Edward Scissorhands director Tim Burton could have come up with such a dark vision of the holiday season. Producing here, Burton called on the services of innovative animation director Henry Selick and composer Danny Elfman (a regular Burton collaborator, who wrote the ten surreal songs and lends his singing voice to the lead character) for this wonderfully weird fable. Packed with scary spooks, gags and dazzling décor, it enchants with every busy frame as spindly Jack Skellington, the mastermind behind Halloween, hijacks Christmas out of boredom, becoming a frightening Santa delivering nasty surprises instead of presents to terrified children. The film's affectionate trashing of Christmas traditions is conceptually cunning and clever enough to please every generation, making it an unmissable treat that's destined to become as great a yuletide favourite as The Wizard of Oz.
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7.9/10
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Credits
Cast
rolenameJack SkellingtonDanny ElfmanJack SkellingtonChris SarandonSally / ShockCatherine O'HaraEvil scientistWilliam HickeyMayorGlenn ShadixLockPaul ReubensOogie BoogieKen PageSantaEd IvoryBig Witch / WWDSusan McBride
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Crew
rolenameDirectorHenry Selick
Details
Theatrical distributor
Buena Vista International UK
Released on
1994-11-25
Languages
English
Guidance
Contains some scenes that younger viewers may find scary.
Available on
video, DVD and Blu-ray
Formats
Colour
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