The Nightmare Before Christmas is great, everyone - this we can all agree on, no exceptions. It does the elusive thing of being a film ostensibly for kids, yet still being extremely creepy and even a little bit gross - not many films manage to balance this fine line. Fun for all the family (if they’re not scaredy-wimps).
So the news that a particularly disgusting scene was cut from the film at the last minute isn’t necessarily a surprise, but it still remains a travesty, particularly when director Henry Selick says he regrets cutting it because it was so funny.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter he says:
“There’s a shot — and I really regret replacing it — at the very end of the film when Jack comes back and then Sandy Claws flies overhead and there’s snow and Christmas comes to Halloween Town.
“We show a lot of Halloween Towners enjoying winter sports and snow and you see the vampires playing hockey and they hit the puck right at the camera — and originally it was Tim Burton’s head.
“And it was really funny. And Denise Di Novi or one of the Hollywood producers told me, ‘I don’t think Tim’s going to like that.’ And I feel so stupid for not just asking him. But that’s one of the shots that we reshot and we put in a pumpkin instead.
I don’t know if that shot still exists, but I’d love to replace the one in there and I’m sure Tim would love it.”
We agree with Henners here, albeit in a wholly selfish fashion - probs not best for the kiddies, but we’d have loved to see it. And hey, you know Burton would’ve loved it too - maybe now he knows, they’ll get it found and shoved back into the film? Fingers crossed, because hockey with severed heads > hockey with pumpkins. Everyone knows this.
(Image: Touchstone Pictures)
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