Oogie Boogie

## Personal information

### Personality

boisterous, vile, unhinged, evil, envy, dangerous, monstrous, blunt, sinister, sneaky

**Oogie Boogie** is the main antagonist in the 1993 stop-motion Disney film, *The Nightmare Before Christmas*. He is the infamous Boogeyman, depicted as a bug-filled burlap sack with a penchant for gambling. Oogie lives on the outskirts of Halloween Town, in a casino-like lair underneath the treehouse of his henchmen Lock, Shock, and Barrel. He is both feared and detested for his ghastly nature, cannibalistic appetite, and rivalry with the Pumpkin King, Jack Skellington.

Oogie has a son named Oliver Boogie and was banished to the Isle of the Lost along with Lock, Shock and Barrel.

## Character Information

### Personality

Oogie Boogie is boisterous and vile, with flamboyance to his mien. He is a member of the resident of Halloween Town, his mannerisms resemble that of a snazzy showman, as he typically enjoys dancing about his lair and singing jazzy show tunes. He is rather jovial, despite his heinousness, but is also quick-tempered, making him somewhat unpredictable. According to "Kidnap the Sandy Claws", Oogie is regarded as the "meanest guy around", to the point that even his loyal henchmen fear him. He even has a personal hit list known as the "Boogie List", which helps Oogie keep track of his victims. Oogie's sadism is prominently displayed in the film, as he refuses to simply kill and eat his prisoners immediately; instead, he enjoys taunting and mocking their helplessness—in addition to subjecting them to one of his many instruments of torture—before finally adding them to his Snake and Spider Stew and feasting on their remains.

Oogie's life revolves around gambling, and he loves gambling with others' lives. His lair was modeled after casinos, with its architecture taking inspiration from poker tables, slot machines, and the like. Oogie often carries dice on his person, which he uses to decide the fate of his prisoners—though he will always skew the odds in his favor, regardless. Ironically, Oogie has no skills for gambling; on three occasions he rolls snake eyes and admits he has to resort to cheating, usually by slamming his fist on the table to change the dice, resulting in a more desirable number.

Oogie has a rather creative mind, which enables him to innovate the contraptions he has installed in his lair to act as both a mechanism for his gambling and defense in case of emergencies (i.e. unwanted visitors).

## Appearances and Timeline

### Before the Isle of the Lost

#### Jack and Oogie's History

Oogie and Jack were very good friends and worked together to scare kids but then when Jack was named the Pumpkin King by Zeus and the Olympian Gods, Oogie grew extremely jealous. Oogie wanted that title for himself but he could not have it and was denied. Oogie then started to turn more sinister and go beyond just scaring children, and turned into a monster who would kidnap, torture, and murder children. Jack drew the line at harming humans and Oogie was banished from the town as punishment.

#### The Nightmare Before Christmas

Although he is the main villain, his role in the film is small. After discovering Christmas Town, Jack decides to put a spin on the holiday season by bringing the joyous holiday of Christmas to Halloween Town. As part of the plan, Jack orders Lock, Shock, and Barrel to kidnap Santa Claus, whilst he takes the jolly ruler's place in delivering gifts to the children of the world for the night. Though the trio of trick-or-treaters was specifically ordered to leave Oogie Boogie out of the festivities, the trio takes a successfully kidnapped Santa to Oogie's funhouse, where the sadistic gambler teasingly tortures the confused victim, wanting to have a little fun before devouring him. Meanwhile, Jack's close friend, Sally, realizes the trouble that's been caused and rushes to Oogie's lair to rescue Santa. As Oogie begins the process of turning Santa into his latest meal, Sally arrives and uses her detached leg to distract a lustful Oogie. While the boogeyman is distracted, Sally and Santa try to make their escape, only to be caught before they can do so. Furious by being made a fool of, Oogie captures the two and sentences them both to painful deaths.

Back in the human world, Jack's present deliveries were a failure, and the former Pumpkin King was shot down by human military forces after being conceived as a threat. As Halloween Town mourns the apparent loss of their king, the Mayor announces the tragedy throughout the town on his megaphone, which catches the attention of Oogie, Sally, and Santa. Believing there's now no one capable of rescuing his victims, Oogie continues onward with his scheme, while Jack (who survived the attack) awakens in the human world and quickly rushes back to Halloween Town after coming to a realization that Halloween is his rightful holiday. Without wasting any time, Jack arrives at Oogie's funhouse after learning his friends were kidnapped and successfully rescues Sally and Santa just in time before they fall in a magma pit.

A shocked Oogie cowers at the sight of a survived Jack, but instead of surrendering, he triggers his various torture mechanisms to battle the Pumpkin King. As Jack avoids Oogie's attacks one by one, the latter attempts to make an escape, just as one of his threads loosens. Noticing this, a furious Jack grabs the thin thread and unravels Oogie's sack, causing a majority of his bugs to fall into the fiery, molten pit, while one, seemingly his brain, is crushed by Santa stomping on it ending his threat.