Prepare for a festive disaster as Christmas comes to town
Everyone in Halloween Town is in a great mood. It is just after midnight on the most special night of the year and spirits are high.
Halloween has been a great success. It has been the most horrible Halloween yet. Spooks have been spooked and flesh has crept. Vampires have drained blood and witches have uttered the most horrible curses. Men have leapt out of their skin, ghouls have scared children and ghosts have haunted innocent humans.
It has been a wonderful celebration. October 31st is the biggest night of the year for the citizens of Halloween Town and a lot of planning goes into its success. Life is no good without a good scare. And scaring is a thing that Halloween Town takes very seriously.
Jack Skellington is the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town and this year he has organised a wonderfully devilish Halloween. But instead of feeling pleased with himself, Jack is down in the dumps. He is bored with the same old routine. He is suffering from post-holiday blues and craves something different in his life, something that can't be found in Halloween Town.
He wanders through the graveyard, restless and deeply unhappy. Eventually he comes to an enchanted wood and finds himself standing in the middle of a clump of trees. There is a turkey painted on one of the trees, a brightly coloured egg on another and a third - a fir tree - is covered in lights.
Jack opens a door cut into the third tree and steps inside. Soon he is walking through the happy streets of Christmas Town. There are no monsters or nightmares here. Jack is captivated by the lights, the happiness and the bright colours. Why isn't his life in Halloween Town full of laughter instead of screams?
Jack suddenly has a brilliant idea. He will kidnap Father Christmas and take over the organisation of Christmas himself. He will persuade the bats, ghouls and monsters of Halloween to help him. Christmas is going to be very different this year.
* The Nightmare Before Christmas is a film written by Caroline Thompson, based on characters by Tim Burton.
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