TIM BURTON'S THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993)
Production Company: Touchstone Pictures
Producers: Tim Burton, Denise DiNovi
Director: Henry Selick
Screenplay: Caroline Thompson, based on a story and characters
by Tim Burton, adapted by Michael McDowell
Camera: Pete Kozachik
Score, Songs and Lyrics: Danny Elfman
Art Director: Deane Taylor
Cast: Danny Elfman (Jack Skellington's singing voice), Chris Sarandon (Jack's speaking voice), Catherine O'Hara (Sally), Paul Reubens (Lock), Catherine O'Hara (Shock), Danny Elfman (Barrel), Ken Page (Oogie Boogie)

Jack Skellington, king of Halloweenland, feels there is something missing in his life; all he does every year is scare people, and now he wants to do something else. The only other Halloweenland resident who understands his feelings of unrest is rag doll Sally. After another successful Halloween Jack takes a long walk that takes him somewhere he's never been before. He finds a circle of trees with doorways in them, and he opens the door shaped like a christmas tree. Like Alice going down the rabbit hole, he plunges into Christmastown, a happy, snowy land full of lights, toys and elves. Jack returns to Halloweenland obsessed by Christmas, even though he is unable to understand it. He decides to have "Sandy Claws" kidnapped, and handle Christmas himself from now on. But since Jack and his henchmen are only capable of scaring people, he is not exactly a big hit bringing joy to the world. The military shoots him down, and he realizes for the first time that he has made a mistake. With help from Sally he is able to save Santa from the evil Oogie Boogie Man at the last moment, and Santa saves Christmas and gives Halloweenland a little Christmas present as well. The whole experience has left Jack with new ideas for next Halloween, as well as a new-found love for Sally.

This first modern stop-motion animated feature film is a musical spectacular with incredible attention for detail and design. The story is based on an idea Burton developed when he was still working as a conceptual artist at Disney, but which was discarded by the studio because it lacked the "Disney feeling." Burton handed the director's chair to experienced stop-motion director Henry Selick because of the two-and-a-half-year length of the project. Therefore, apart from the concept and design, Burton had relatively little to do with the production phase of the film. Even so, most of the elements that make a movie a "Tim Burton film" are well in place: Jack is an outsider in the ordinary world because he scares everyone, and within Halloweenland because he isn't happy about doing the same old shtick year in, year out. He tries to adapt, to fit in in the real world by dressing up and being friendly to people, just like Edward Scissorhands. But, despite his efforts, he is not accepted or understood in their world, so once he has realized this he returns to his own world of Halloweenland. The line that separates the different worlds is even sharper than usual: Christmastown, Halloweenland and the real world literally exist in different worlds, that all have their own entrance, their own look, and their own morality.