National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas was released by Touchstone Pictures in October 1993, produced through Burton's collaboration with director Henry Selick and composer Danny Elfman. The stop-motion animated feature represented a landmark in the technique's theatrical ambitions, blending gothic sensibility with musical storytelling in a way that earned the film enduring cult status and eventual IDisney re-releases.

This cell, titled Oogie Boogie, captures frames from the villain's subterranean lair sequence, one of the film's most visually elaborate set pieces. The spinning roulette wheel and gambling table dominate the composition, with Oogie Boogie presiding over the space alongside both Jack Skellington and Santa Claus, whose chains are visible in the foreground — a faithful representation of the sequence's theatrical tension.