The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

★ 7.8 1h 16m 10,261 votes IMDb

Tired of scaring humans every October 31 with the same old bag of tricks, Jack Skellington, the spindly king of Halloween Town, kidnaps Santa Claus and plans to deliver shrunken heads and other ghoulish gifts to children on Christmas morning. But as Christmas approaches, Jack's rag-doll girlfriend, Sally, tries to foil his misguided plans.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

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Cast

Danny Elfman
Danny Elfman as Jack Skellington (singing) / Barrel / Clown with the Tear away Face (voice) Age 72 · Los Angeles, California, USA Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer, songwriter, and musician. He came to prominence as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter for the new wave band Oingo B...
Chris Sarandon
Chris Sarandon as Jack Skellington (voice) Age 83 · Beckley, West Virginia, USA Christopher Sarandon Jr. (born July 24, 1942) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Jerry Dandrige in Fright Night (1985), Prince Humperdinck in The Princess Bride (1987), Detective Mike...
Catherine O'Hara
Catherine O'Hara as Sally / Shock (voice) Died 2026 · Toronto, Ontario, Canada Catherine Anne O'Hara (March 4, 1954 - January 30, 2026) was a Canadian-American actress and comedienne, who began her career at Second City Theatre in Toronto. She gained fame on SCTV alongside comed...
William Hickey
William Hickey as Dr. Finkelstein (voice) Died 1997 · Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA William Edward Hickey (September 19, 1927 – June 29, 1997) was an American actor. He was best known for his Oscar-nominated role as Don Corrado Prizzi in the John Huston 1985 film Prizzi's Honor, as w...
Glenn Shadix
Glenn Shadix as Mayor (voice) Died 2010 · Bessemer, Alabama, USA William Glenn Shadix (April 15, 1952 – September 7, 2010) was an American actor. He was known for his role as Otho in Tim Burton's horror comedy film Beetlejuice and as the voice of the Mayor of Hallo...
Paul Reubens
Paul Reubens as Lock (voice) Died 2023 · Peekskill, New York, USA Paul Reubens (August 27, 1952 – July 30, 2023) was an American actor, writer, film producer, game show host, and comedian, best known for his character Pee-wee Herman. Reubens joined the Los Angeles t...

Audience Reviews

Andres Gomez 6/10 Nov 14, 2014
I suppose I missed watching it at the proper time so I will explain it as not surviving well after all these years.

The idea is daring, the stop motion is OKish and Danny Elfman's OST is quite good but even being only 70 min they were still too many for me. Specially, the songs were to close one to the next.
CinemaSerf 7/10 Aug 26, 2023
This is a cracking animation fantasy centring around "Jack Skellington" - the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town. When he feels all just a bit deflated after one celebration, he happens upon Christmas Town and encounters Santa Claus preparing to bring jolity and happiness. "Jack" sends a few of his rather stupid henchmen to kidnap Santa, takes his place and proceeds to deliver Christmas gifts that... well... are not exactly typical. Can Santa be rescued in time?? The animation is wonderfully detailed, dark and enjoyable with plenty of characters including a mad scientist as well as a mummy, the two-faced mayor and plenty of witches and demons. Not for the first time, Tim Burton shows a visionary imagination that I couldn't help but smile at - and coupled with a marvellous score (and lead vocal) from Danny Elfman we are presented with a thoroughly engaging Christmas story with a bit of a twist. Interesting that in the cinema recently, it struggled to hold the attention of the youngsters which was a shame. Perhaps the intervening years have made this more suitable for adults now?

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