The Man-Eating Wreath is a character that was featured in Tim Burton's 1993 animated feature film, The Nightmare Before Christmas. It is a vicious anthropomorphic man-eating plant resembling a Christmas wreath who is part of Jack Skellington's plan to take over Christmas, which only caused a disaster in the real world until Jack saved Santa Claus to help him undo the mistake he did.
The Man-Eating Wreath is a monstrous Christmas wreath with menacing eyes with a red bow on it. When Jack Skellington places it on the front door, the Wreath wakes up and searches for a person to capture. It is also able to grow arm-like vines to help grab any victim nearby (though not seen in the film). However when Jack defeats Oogie Boogie and rescues Santa Claus in time, the wreath was removed (and possibly replaced with an actual ordinary wreath), undoing all the mistakes Jack did in the real world.
Role in the film[]
In the film, the Man-Eating Wreath is seen during the part where Jack Skellington places the Wreath in the front door of an elderly woman's house during Jack's plan to take over Christmas. As Jack places it in the front door, the wreath comes to life and begins to growl menacingly. Later when Jack's Christmas presents are scaring people in the real world, the Man-Eating Wreath ferociously roars as it prepares to grab the elderly woman as she screams in fear, worried that this is the most unusual wreath she has ever seen.
Later at the end of the film when Jack manages to defeat Oogie Boogie and save Santa Claus to help him undo the wrongdoings he did, the Wreath is then taken away along with the rest of the gifts Jack mistakenly gave to the people during Christmas as it is shown that Santa is replacing all the Halloween-themed Christmas presents frightening people with real Christmas gifts in order to make them happy.
The Wreath can also be seen in the entrance of the seasonal Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay attraction at Disneyland on the "Haunted Mansion" sign albeit with a banner on its lower "jaw" saying "Holiday", though the sign itself is only seen in the overlay at Disneyland in California, not in the Tokyo Disneyland version.
During the ride where the guests pass through the Corridor of Doors hallway area in both versions, the Man-Eating Wreath appears in the attraction where it is seen preparing to grab the guests with its vines where it is seen accompanied by a couple of other man-eating plants, singing the melody to "Kidnap the Sandy Claws" throughout the attraction.
Trivia[]
In the original book, it was listed as "a man-eating plant disguised as a wreath".
Despite its short amount screen time in the film, the Wreath is occasionally featured in certain merchandises inspired by Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Although it’s theme park appearance and certain merchandises depict the Man-Eating Wreath with teeth, the Wreath itself lacks any teeth throughout the entire film compared to the one depicted in merchandise.
Gallery[]
The Man-Eating Wreath in "Haunted Mansion Holiday" accompanied by some other man-eating plants
