You’d be hard pressed to find a singular soul who never takes a second to step back to say, “holy sh*t, am I really that old?” Well, folks, it’s true — time is completely unforgiving, and it stays that way once we’ve passed the years of our nostalgic childhoods. Of course, it doesn’t help when we soon discover that an abundance of movies we watched as kids simultaneously grow old with us and remind us all of our inevitable aging.
Funnily enough, this is precisely the case for most ‘90s kids who enjoyed a handful of Halloween-inspired movies. These movies interestingly include Hocus Pocus and The Nightmare Before Christmas — both of which were released back in 1993. So, if you didn’t feel old already, then the realization that both of these movies will turn 30 years old in 2023 might knock you off your rocker completely.
For those that might have forgotten, Hocus Pocus was released back in July 1993 (which was definitely a mistake since it’s a Halloween movie), and centered on three witches who wreak havoc on the town of Salem. On the other hand, The Nightmare Before Christmas — which is often slapped with the argument of strictly being a Christmas movie — will officially turn 30 this October.
Do both of these movies still hold up today?
This argument could go either way, honestly. On one hand, you’ve got Sarah Sanderson in Hocus Pocus being waaaay too creepy around little boys and wanting to “play” with children while all 3 sisters are literally cannibals who eat children and use their youth to stay young forever — so there’s no telling if that would necessarily fly in today’s society.
On the other end, the stop-motion technique utilized in The Nightmare Before Christmas is typically a formula which would likely be frowned upon now due to how overly “cartoonish” and “silly” the movie appears as an adult. So, one could argue that the effects used in the Halloween classic would be picked apart and made fun of by today’s generation.
Despite each individual movie’s flaws, there’s absolutely no denying that both projects have become undisputed staples in plenty of childhoods. From Bette Midler’s rendition of “I Put A Spell on You” to Jack Skellington leading Halloween Town to all sing together, both Halloween movies are perfect in their own way. Of course, that doesn’t make us feel any less old seeing as they’re both going to be 30 years old, but at least we’re all still kickin’.
