My Love of Tim Burton Movies

I hate scary, creepy, or gory movies. That being said, I love Tim Burton films. It's quite a conundrum. So today I thought it would be fun to discuss Tim Burton movies and why I love them so much.

Fun fact before we begin- The Nightmare Before Christmas is actually not a Tim Burton movie. It is based on a poem he wrote, and helped with the movie, it was actually directed by Henry Selick, the same person who did Coraline.

Unique

If you've seen a Tim Burton movie, you know that his movies look a certain way, especially the older ones. He uses stop-motion monsters and a lot of practical effects. They might look weird, but that's part of what makes them so different.

I like that his films look different. Even if they take place in the real world, he manages to transport you to a more eccentric version of it. A place where people can have scissors for hands, or bringing dogs back to life is possible.

The Characters

Burton characters are just as different as his films. They're outcasts, quirky, and often with unusual looks or abilities. Normal people don't understand them. I get the impression that they're sort of reflections of the director himself.

As an enneagram type 4, his protagonists appeal to me because of all those things. I find them kindred spirits a lot of times. Sure, some of them are creepy and evil, but a lot of them are just different.

The Spooky Edge

I admit, some of his films are too scary for me. I couldn't make it through his Batman movie, and I will never watch Sweeny Todd. But in many of the others, I kind of like the spooky edge they have. It can be creepy. It can be unsettling, but he also presents the unusual as interesting and almost magical.

I've kind of tried to emulate that energy in my own semi-spooky work, and while I don't think I've succeeded very well, it's what I'm kind of going for. He can take places like the world of the dead or a scary house on a hill and still make them interesting and curious.

His Storytelling Abilities

I think the thing I like best about his movies are how he combines all of the elements above and makes it into a fascinating story. Even when it gets scary, you don't want to turn it off because you're so interested in what's happening. His movies have a depth to them that not a lot of other spooky movies have. They have themes or leave you thinking.

I like when stories have layers to them. As I said before, fluff pieces are fine, and almost necessary. But the ones that really stick with you after the credits roll are the ones that go a little deeper.

Recommendations

If you'd like to try a few Tim Burton yourself, here are five you can try.

1. The Corpse Bride (a stop-motion animated movie about a young man who accidentally marries an undead bride)

2. Big Fish (a young man tries to find the truth about his father's past through all the stories he told)

3. Alice in Wonderland (you know the story, or I would hope so)

4. Beetlejuice (a recently deceased couple tries to free their house from intruders)

5. Edward Scissorhands (a man with scissors for hands tries to fit in a cookie cutter neighborhood)

Have you ever watched any Tim Burton? If you have, what are some of your favorites of his films? Tell me in the comments!

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