Honestly, Tim Burton didn’t even direct it. That’s the first thing people usually get wrong when they start talking about night before christmas movie characters. Henry Selick was the guy in the director’s chair, painstakingly moving puppets frame by frame for three years while Burton was busy with Batman Returns. But the DNA—that specific, spindly, gothic aesthetic—is pure Burton. It’s why Jack Skellington feels less like a cartoon and more like a fever dream we all collectively shared in 1993.
Jack is a disaster. Let's just be real about that for a second.
He’s the Pumpkin King, the undisputed heavyweight champion of Halloween, yet he’s having a full-blown midlife crisis. Or an after-life crisis? He’s bored. He’s tired of the same old "bone-chilling" routine. When you look at Jack through a modern lens, he isn’t a villain, but he is incredibly selfish. He highjacks an entire culture because he’s "feeling empty." It’s basically the 1600s version of a corporate executive quitting his job to go "find himself" in Bali, except Jack’s version of Bali involves kidnapping Santa Claus and delivering shrunken heads to terrified children.
The Tragic Brilliance of Sally
If Jack is the ego of the film, Sally is clearly the soul. She’s a masterpiece of character design by the late Joe Ranft and the animation team. Think about her construction: she’s literally falling apart. She has to sew herself back together constantly. It’s a literal manifestation of her emotional state. Dr. Finkelstein—her creator/captor—is a neurotic mess who just wants a servant, but Sally is the only character in Halloween Town who actually has a lick of common sense.
She has these premonitions. She sees the smoke and the fire. While the rest of the night before christmas movie characters are singing about making Christmas "ours," Sally is out there trying to poison her dad with deadly nightshade just so she can sneak out and warn Jack. She’s the unsung hero. Without Sally, Jack probably would’ve been blown out of the sky by the military and just stayed dead. Or, well, deader.
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Why the Mayor Has Two Faces
It’s not just a visual gag. The Mayor is the perfect satire of a politician. He can’t make a single decision without Jack. He’s paralyzed by the bureaucracy of holiday planning. One face is a beaming, wide-toothed grin; the other is a pale, triangular mask of pure anxiety. It’s a bit on the nose, sure, but it works because of the voice acting by Glenn Shadix.
He represents the general public of Halloween Town—enthusiastic but completely aimless. They don't actually hate Christmas; they just don't understand it. To them, a present is only good if it bites you. That’s the charm of the whole town. They aren't "evil" in the traditional sense. They are just specialized. They do one thing really well, and they’re terrified of anything else.
Oogie Boogie and the Gambling Debt
Then there’s Oogie Boogie. He’s the outlier. Most night before christmas movie characters follow Jack’s lead, but Oogie is a straight-up sadist. Ken Page, who voiced him, gave the character this incredible, booming Broadway energy that makes him terrifying and magnetic at the same time.
He’s a burlap sack filled with bugs. Think about how horrifying that actually is. The moment the seams rip at the end of the movie and he just... dissolves into a pile of insects? That’s nightmare fuel for a "kids" movie. Interestingly, Oogie Boogie wasn't even in the original poem by Tim Burton. He was an addition to the film to provide a more concrete antagonist, because Jack’s main conflict is really just his own hubris.
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Oogie’s lair is a neon-drenched gambling hall. It’s a weird tonal shift from the rest of the movie’s German Expressionist vibe, leaning more into a twisted Vegas aesthetic. It highlights his character perfectly: he’s a cheat. He doesn't care about the "spirit" of anything. He just wants to play with his food.
The Trio of Terror: Lock, Shock, and Barrel
These three kids are "Halloween's finest trick-or-treaters," which is basically code for "unsupervised chaotic agents." They work for Oogie Boogie but pretend to be loyal to Jack. They’re the ones who actually do the heavy lifting of the kidnapping.
- Lock is the leader in the devil suit.
- Shock is the clever one in the witch mask.
- Barrel is the one in the skeleton suit who usually ends up being the butt of the joke.
They represent that specific brand of childhood mischief that isn't quite malicious but is definitely dangerous. They don't care about the consequences of shoving Santa Claus (or "Sandy Claws") down a garbage chute. They just want the candy and the kudos.
The Supporting Cast of Nightmares
The depth of the world-building is really in the background. You have the Creature Under the Stairs ("fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair"). You have the Behemoth, who is surprisingly gentle despite having an axe embedded in his skull. Then there’s Zero, Jack’s ghost dog.
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Zero is the anchor. He’s the only one who loves Jack unconditionally. He’s also a clever nod to Rudolph, with his glowing jack-o'-lantern nose leading the way through the fog. If you look closely at the animation, Zero is one of the most fluid characters in the film, a stark contrast to the jerky, skeletal movements of Jack or the waddling gait of the Mayor.
Why We Are Still Obsessed Decades Later
We love these night before christmas movie characters because they are outsiders. The film is a celebration of the "other." Halloween Town is a place where being weird is the baseline.
When Jack tries to be something he’s not—a jolly gift-giver—he fails spectacularly. The lesson isn't "stay in your lane," but rather "understand who you are before you try to change the world." Jack had to hit rock bottom in a cemetery, surrounded by broken toys and the wreckage of a crashed sleigh, to realize that being the Pumpkin King was actually enough.
The craftsmanship is another huge factor. This wasn't CGI. Every time Jack’s mouth moves, an animator had to swap out a hand-carved head. There are hundreds of Jack heads with different expressions. You can feel that tactile energy on screen. It gives the characters a weight and a presence that digital animation often struggles to replicate.
Actionable Takeaways for Superfans
If you’re looking to dive deeper into the lore or just appreciate the film more this season, here’s how to do it:
- Watch the "The Movies That Made Us" episode on Netflix. It breaks down the grueling production process and the near-scrapping of the project by Disney, who originally thought it was too dark for their brand.
- Look for the Hidden Mickeys. They are everywhere, especially in the gifts Jack delivers. There’s a specific scene where a plush Mickey and Donald are being terrorized by a predatory Christmas tree.
- Analyze the color palettes. Notice how Halloween Town is strictly desaturated (oranges, blacks, purples) while Christmas Town is an explosion of primary colors. The transition Jack makes between these worlds is told entirely through lighting.
- Track the 12-frame rule. Stop-motion usually runs at 24 frames per second, but many movements in this film were done "on twos," meaning one pose for every two frames. This gives the characters that specific, slightly surreal jitter.
Jack Skellington and his cohorts have become more than just movie characters; they are a lifestyle brand for people who feel like every day is October 31st. Whether you're a Sally-type sewing yourself back together or a Jack looking for something "more," these stop-motion puppets remain the most human characters in holiday cinema history.