‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ is a classic feel-good, family movie that is a holiday staple. There are disagreements about if this is a Christmas or Halloween movie.

The movie can be easily lumped into the Christmas category, with one easy Google search of “Best Christmas Movies,” but I beg to differ. The Nightmare Before Christmas is a Halloween movie.

The movie follows Jack Skellington who resides in Halloween Town as the Pumpkin King. After getting bored with the same Halloween traditions the town usually takes place in, he visits Christmas Town. Enabled by their different ideas and traditions, Jack tries to convince the residents of Halloween Town to celebrate Christmas.

While this idea may sway some to think that the movie falls under the Christmas category, others may feel that it is a Christmas movie because it is based around Jack discovering Christmas and putting his unique spin on it. The themes, characters, and songs point otherwise.

For starters, the core of the movie is mostly set in Halloween Town. This allows us to be introduced to the unique Halloween-themed characters, from Jack who is a skeleton, to Sally a rag doll, to other unique characters who each exhibit the perfect Halloween aesthetic. The movie features ghosts, skeletons, bats, and many monsters.

Another major key point that leads me to believe The Nightmare Before Christmas is a Halloween movie is the release date. The movie was released on October 29, 1993. This release date points to the director’s decision to release the movie in anticipation of Halloween, which was two days after the movie hit the box office.

As for the songs, most of them are eerie and ominous, especially “This is Halloween.” During the song, viewers see a display of ghosts, graveyards, and pumpkins. The song itself has a deep chant-like aspect, repeating, “This is Halloween.”

Lastly, while Jack tries to take the Christmas traditions, they are washed out by his Halloween-like identity.

Everything is in a darker tone, with purple and black colors occurring throughout the movie. This is different from what we typically perceive as Christmas.

The greens and reds that usually come to mind are not consistently present throughout the movie.