Halloween is one of the best holidays celebrated in America. The perfect fall weather, wearing oversized hoodies, and best of all Halloween movies. Some of my favorites are the Corpse Bride, Scream, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Now The Nightmare Before Christmas has had its controversies about what genre of movie it fits into. Some say it’s a Halloween movie, others believe it’s a Christmas movie. I’m here to settle this once and for all.

   The Nightmare Before Christmas is a Tim Burton film that came out in 1993 and is known as a “sleeper hit”. A movie about Jack Skellington the pumpkin king of Halloweentown who has grown bored of the same old thing and discovers Christmas.

   The Nightmare before Christmas is a Halloween movie despite what some people may think. The whole aesthetic and coloration of the movie is dark, scary, and spooky. Majority of the movie’s setting is in Halloweentown and is 100% focused on Halloween. Though I can see why some might be confused and mistaken for a Christmas movie.  

   Towards the middle of the movie Jack finds out what Christmas is and all of its joy and jolly and takes it all away. He kidnaps Santa and takes the holiday all for himself and the rest of the townspeople. What he does is cruel and evil which shows that this is a Halloween movie by making Jack true to himself and his character. He can’t escape his own self and his holiday that he represents. 

  Jack’s Christmas was a complete disaster so he ends up being where his heart belongs. The Nightmare Before Christmas has always been a Halloween movie, never a Christmas movie. Just because there are some elements of Christmas doesn’t mean that’s what it’s all about. It doesn’t matter either way though because Tim Burton himself said it is a halloween movie. You can have your opinions but The Nightmare Before Christmas is a Halloween movie.