Tim Burton's the Nightmare Before Christmas

August 1, 2023
The Pumpkin King of Halloween Town misguidedly tries to give Santa an enforced rest. Joining pop-up, picture-book, movie novelization, video game, and multiple manga versions of the original film, not to mention a heavily illustrated 2021 deluxe adaptation and a YA sequel (Shea Ernshaw's Long Live the Pumpkin Queen, 2022), this effort to squeeze the last drop of market juice from the macabre holiday classic presents a clunky prose rendition set within wide black borders, unadorned with atmospheric spot art, original illustrations, or even stills. Shepherd does largely preserve the film's plotline and dialogue, if not always with literary flair: "Almost moving as one amorphous blob, the crowd pressed even closer," and "All his renewed confidence moved aside in one fell swoop." Readers are likely to find her gothic tweaks, which range from a reference to the "possessed gunshot-ridden duck" that Jack-as-Santa delivers to an unsuspecting household to villain Oogie Boogie's lecherous assault on rag doll Sally ("He ran his sack hand down the curve of the leg and tossed off its black boot..."), discomfiting--and not in a good way. Ultimately, the tale stumbles to a close with the Undead Ensemble serenading "everyone who treasured the beautiful darkness of Halloween." An ill-wrought, not to mention superfluous, tie-in. (Holiday fantasy. 12-14)

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