Confirmed: The Nightmare Before Christmas is a Halloween movie

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

There’s been a bit of a debate going on over the years as to the true nature of THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. Is it a Halloween movie, first and foremost, or is it a movie about the Christmas spirit? You could see where each side would make their case, and while this is hardly the type of argument that breaks up Thanksgiving dinners, it sure would be nice to have a definitive answer once and for all – something that somehow no one thought to seek through all this time.

Over the weekened, at the Telluride Horror Show film festival, a special screening of NIGHTMARE was held, and director Henry Selick was in attendance doing a Q&A with the viewing audience. At one point, a young girl got her chance to throw out a question if it was Halloween or Christmas for the film. Selick gave her a pretty straight forward answer.

It’s a Halloween movie.

Selick did state that there are some people who are bigger fans of the Christmas stuff within the film, but he expanded upon his answer, saying that the film is much more about Halloween, the residents of Halloween Town and how they react to something as strange as Christmas being introduced to their lives.

So there you have it. Now you know.

Time to move onto other unsolved movie moments that are still left open to our interpretations.