Tim Burton's THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS: Laserdisc Review

By: Steve Biodrowski
Date: Tuesday, October 03, 2000

Today, Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas comes out in a 'Special Edition' DVD filled with extras and supplemental material that should make fans of the film drool. I haven't seen the disc yet, but I should be able to give you a pretty good idea of its contents. You see, this DVD release basically replicates the magnificent laserdisc box set released a few years ago, of which I am the proud owner. The laserdisc ran for about $100; I got mine on sale for less than $80, and now you can own the DVD for about $20.

Anyway, the laserdisc really was the last word on this film, except for the fact that now you won't have to get up and change discs (there were three to contain the film and the extras). Of course, DVD picture quality is, technically, superior, but are your eyes really sharp enough to even see the difference? And the laser presentation was far more lavish, in terms of packaging: the set came in an impressively sized box, with a rich velour interior, which also contained the coffee table picture book The Film, The Art, The Vision: Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, written by Frank Thompson. The book, with an introduction by Tim Burton and the complete lyrics by Danny Elfman, was quite a prize in and of itself, filled with behind-the-scenes photographs and information that would fascinate any true fan of this classic film masterpiece. Needless to say, that tiny CD case has no room for this lovely book.

Other than that, the two packages are almost identical in terms of content: a 'making of' documentary, animation tests, deleted story boarded sequences not filmed, deleted scenes, an alternate ending with a surprise revelation about the identify of Oogie Boogie, a still frame archive, early pencil tests, audio commentary by director Henry Selick and director of photography Pete Kozachik, and three great short subjects: Tim Burton's 'Vincent' and 'Frankenweenie' and Henry Selick's 'Slow Bob in the Lower Dimension.'

As a film, The Nightmare Before Christmas is probably the greatest achievement of Tim Burton's career, but that credit must be shared with his many collaborators, including director Henry Selick, composer-lyricist Danny Elfman, and screenwriter Caroline Thompson. The making-of documentary helps gives some insight into the various contributions of these people, while tracing the origin of the project back to Burton's days at Disney (when he hoped the project would be a half-hour holiday TV special, along the lines of Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer). You'll also get a glimpse of the 'frame-grabber' that helped elevate the quality of the stop-motion animation to new levels. Basically, the device allows the animators to reference the previous five frames of animation, in order to make sure that the puppet's next photographed position will blend together for a smooth illusion of movement when projected.


The storyboards show some interesting material, including an abandoned last-reel revelation that Oogie Boogie was supposed to be Dr. Finklestein in disguise. This twist was wisely abandoned, as it adds nothing to the plot; it's just one of those movie moments that's there becausewell, audience expect twist endings, right? Deleted footage contains some early test scenes, without the final dialogue as heard in the finished movie; in fact, it sounds closer to Burton's original poem, which formed the basis of the story (and was later published as an illustrated book).

The audio commentary by Selick and Kozachik is dense and informative; in fact, the only problem is that, with literally every shot being an elaborate special effect, there is not time for them to dwell on specificseach images ranks only a few brief comments, and then it's on to the next. Still, this is hardly much of a problem, as the film is then followed by a making-of documentary and loads of behind-the-scenes footage that fills in the details that have been only briefly discussed in the commentary. One of the more interesting tidbits is that many of the superimposed elements (Zero and other ghosts; smoke and fog) were done in-camera, not on an optical printer--which created considerable suspense for the animators, wondering whether a week's worth of work was going to be ruined if the superimposed material didn't match up with the stop-motion.

Curiously, throughout most of the film, it sounds as though Selick and Kozachik were recorded separately and then edited together, with their voices carefully alternating back and forth; only near the end do they finally overlap and actually address a comment or two to each other, revealing that, yes indeed, they were recorded together. Presumably, they realized they didn't have time for chit and chat, and most likely they stopped and started the recording several times in order to make their comments as to-the-point as possible. One only wonders whether Kozachik's verbal references to the 'laserdisc' will survive on DVD. (At one point, he suggests spending a Saturday afternoon counting the number of shots in the movie, which he reckons to be near 800.)

The three short subjects throw some light onto the creative input of Burton and Selick. Burton's 'Vincent,' in particular, reveals a visual style that is strikingly similar to Nightmare (there is even a briefly glimpsed cat that looks the same in both films), and the black-and-white Universal horror pastiche of 'Frankenweenie' also foreshadows some of the monochromatic imagery of Halloween Town. Selick's 'Slow Bob,' on the other hand, has a more brightly colorful palette, suggesting both Nightmare's Christmas Town setting and also Selick's later feature film, James and the Giant Peach.

Of the three shorts, Slow Bob and 'Frankenweenie' are both charming efforts, and you'll be happy to own them as part of this disc. But the real stand-out is 'Vincent,' a wonderfully ghoulish little gem that resonates like a film version of Burton's twisted tales as seen in his book The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy, and Other Stories. Structured like a music video, the film is set to a series of verses that tell the tale of Vincent, a young boy who wants to emulate his hero, Vincent Price (who reads the narration on the soundtrack). The images segue and shift to keep pace with the verses, switching back and forth between Vincent's real life and his imaginary one (think of Calvin and Hobbes, if conceived by Gahan Wilson, Charles Addams, and Gary Larson). My personal favorite is 'Vincent performs experiments on his dog Abercrombie/In the hopes of creating a horrible zombie.' A mini-masterpiece, it's almost worth buying this disc just for this short subject.

In short, if you already have the laserdisc box set, there's nothing new on the DVD. On the other hand, if you always wanted that now out-of-print laserdisc but were frightened off by the exorbitant price, now's your chance to get all of the disc's extra features and supplemental material in a more affordable package. Somehow, the large-sized box set seemed a more appropriate package for such a wonderful collectors edition, but that little DVD will fit much more easily onto your shelves. Believe me, this package was worth what I paid for it; even without the coffee table book, this DVD has got to be worth the price.