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 film represented a landmark achievement in stop-motion animation, bringing a distinctly gothic sensibility to mainstream family cinema and establishing an enduring cultural footprint that few animated features of its era have matched.

This cell, titled Lock, Shock and Barrel, captures the mischievous trio of trick-or-treater henchchildren across three consecutive frames from what appears to be a single continuous shot. Notably, the strip carries an inverted or rotated frame, a genuine artifact of the original 35mm print. Lock, Shock, and Barrel are visible throughout, offering a focused look at one of the film's most memorable character groupings.