Check out this amazingly creepy early version of “The Nightmare Before Christmas”
The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of our favorite holiday classics of all time. We watch it every year, and every year we marvel at just how freakishly good it is and how the hundredth viewing is just as magical as the first.
That’s why we were so jazzed to get a peek into the origin story of TNBC. Hat tip to the good people at The Huffington Post, who pointed us towards the 10-minute animated poem Burton wrote in 1982 that was the inspo behind the full-length movie that was released (and changed our lives forever) in 1993.
Watching it, we can see all the seeds for the storyline that would later grow into the awesome movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbPCwc_Cdz0?feature=oembed
The story of the poem will sound familiar since it’s basically a pared-down version of the movie’s plot.
Back in Halloween Town, Jack grows jealous and resentful of Santa, and orders Santa’s kidnapping so that for the upcoming Christmas Jack can deliver presents to the good children of Earth. Obviously, Jack totally messes up the holiday, feels terrible, and after a heart-to-heart with Santa, realizes that Halloween is where he belongs.
In the movie version of The Nightmare Before Christmas, we get a ton more characters and plot, including Jack’s romance with Sally, the deliciously wicked villain that is Oogie Boogie, the tiny hooligans that are Lock, Shock, and Barrel, the long list goes on. Still, this poem is a delightful reminder of where it all began, and is well-worth a listen.
