4. Edward Scissorhands (1990): This one has a little bit of everything. Dark, foreboding stretches; a few uptempo, almost silly numbers; some fast-paced, threatening moments; and, at its core, a romantic and heart-rending choral suite. Come on, you remember, when Winona Ryder is dancing in the fake snow... yeah. Wipe your eyes there, chief.

3. Batman (1989): Possibly the most iconic of Elfman's orchestral scores, who can forget the little fanboy chill that ran down your spine the first time you heard that score played over footage of a slowly rotating Batman logo? The movie was decent enough, if blatantly disrespectful of the Batman canon - The Joker as a mob enforcer? Batman shooting machine guns and blowing people up? - but the hardest thing for Christopher Nolan to top with his Batman franchise has to have been this score. He kind of did, but only by outnumbering Elfman two to one with veteran composers Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard.

2. A Simple Plan (1998): An extremely underrated heist film directed by Sam Raimi, A Simple Plan features Elfman's most subtle, nuanced score to date. It's dark, yet in a creeping sinister way instead of a booming, melodramatic way. It's mature and intelligent, and bears repeated listening.

1. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993): The score, the songs, the voice... this one is the peak of Elfman's genius. The orchestral score is amazing enough, but then the songs kick in. They're so gleefully, anarchistically fun and twisted and sweet, you'll be surprised that a couple of grown-up Goth kids named Tim and Danny could have this much fun. Elfman provides the singing voice of Jack Skellington, and can therefore land any Goth girl in the world from now until the day he dies.