Christmas Nightmare

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Director: Vince Di Meglio Year: 2001 Runtime: 90 min IMDb: ⭐ 1.5
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Synopsis

After witnessing the brutal assassination of presidential candidate Francis Mohan, a young married couple (Edward and Alice Anderson) are taken to a safe house miles from civilization. Upon their arrival at the safe house, the trio is shocked to find it abandoned and their stay takes a sudden turn for the worse. Their guardian begins undergoing dark and unsettling changes to his personality.

Halloween Town is a fantasy world populated by various monsters and supernatural beings associated with the eponymous holiday. Jack Skellington, the well-respected Pumpkin King, leads the town in organizing its annual celebrations. This year however, Jack is weary of the same routine and longs for something new. Upon discovering trees containing doors to other holiday-themed worlds, Jack stumbles through the one leading to Christmas Town and is fascinated by the unfamiliar holiday. Jack returns home and shares his discovery with his friends and neighbors, but they struggle to grasp the concept of Christmas, although they relate to its ruler, Santa Claus, or "Sandy Claws" as Jack mistakenly dubs him. After several futile attempts at finding a way to rationally explain Christmas, Jack decides to "improve" the holiday instead. He announces that Halloween Town will take over Christmas this year and assigns Christmas-themed jobs, such as singing carols, making presents and building a sleigh pulled by skeletal reindeer, to various residents. Sally, the feminine creation of local mad scientist Doctor Finkelstein, experiences a vision predicting that their efforts will end disastrously. Jack, whom she secretly loves, dismisses her warnings and instructs her to make a Santa Claus suit for him. He tasks mischievous trick-or-treating trio Lock, Shock and Barrel with abducting Santa; however, he orders them not to involve their superior Oogie Boogie, a bogeyman with a passion for gambling and Jack's long-time rival, in their plot. When Lock, Shock and Barrel bring Santa to Halloween Town, Jack tells him that he will take care of Christmas this year and orders the trio to keep Santa safe. However, they disobey Jack's orders and bring Santa to Oogie Boogie, who plots to play a game with Santa's life at stake. As Jack departs to deliver presents in the real world, Sally, after failing to stop him beforehand, attempts to rescue Santa from Oogie Boogie, only to be captured herself. Jack's Halloween-themed presents terrify the real world's populace, who contact the local authorities and are instructed to lock down their homes for protection. The military is alerted and Jack is shot out of the sky, leading Halloween Town's populace to believe he is dead. It is revealed that he survived and has crashed into a nearby cemetery. Bemoaning the trouble that he has caused, Jack realizes he nonetheless enjoyed the experience and that it gave him new ideas for celebrating next Halloween, reigniting his love for the holiday. Upon returning home, Jack rescues Santa and Sally, confronts Oogie Boogie and defeats him by unraveling a thread holding his cloth form together, causing all of the insects inside Oogie Boogie to spill out and reduce him to nothing. Though displeased with Jack for his foolish actions and not listening to Sally earlier, Santa makes amends with him and resumes his yearly duties, replacing Jack's presents with genuine ones and saving Christmas. All of Halloween Town celebrates Jack's return. Santa brings a snowfall to the town, thereby bringing the Christmas spirit upon it, while Jack and Sally finally declare their love for each other.

Summary adapted from TMDb and Wikipedia sources.

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