My Review of Beetlejuice (1988)

 

Written by Michael McDowell And Warren Skaaran And Larry Wilson

Directed by Tim Burton 

Betelgeuse: "These aren't my rules. Come to think of it, I don't have any rules."

With a certain sequel making the rounds, I thought it was time I got back to the original before seeing it. Has it held up after 36 years? Of course it has. This was always one of Tim Burton's finest movies.

You've got nice married couple Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara Maitland (Geena Davis) who died at the start of the movie. Instead of moving into the afterlife, they find themselves stuck in their home and are determined to ensure that no one moved in to their humble abode.

What they didn't anticipate was the arrival of the Deetz clan. A family that included Charles (Jeffrey Jones), Delia (Catherine O'Hara) and goth daughter, Lydia (Winona Ryder). It also didn't take long for Lydia to be able to see Adam and Barbara and form a connection with them. Considering that Charles and Delia aren't the greatest parental figures, it's not to see why Lydia would gravitate towards a ghostly couple instead.

Of course, there's also the title attraction of this movie itself. Before he became Batman, Michael Keaton really excelled as the chaotic "bio exorcist" Betelgeuse. Initially he was meant to help the Maitlands with their human problem before he ended up being a bigger problem himself for everyone involved.

Betelgeuse enjoyed toying with the Deetz and their eccentric friends, including Otho Fenlock (Glenn Shadix), the latter being something of an amateur exorcist himself. Otho even proved to be a right danger to Adam and Barbara until Lydia brokered her own deal with Betelgeuse to save them.

Now, I'll admit Betelgeuse's determination to marry Lydia might be the creepiest thing about the movie, but like most of his plans, it's not quite a success and soon enough, he's hoisted by his own petard. As for Lydia, she got to save her surrogate parental figures and co-existence between the living and the dead was achieved. 

- There's a great from Sylvia Sidney as case worker, Juno and a funny last scene where Betelgeuse's attempt of skipping the queue resulted in a shrunken head.

- An animated series came hot off the heels of this show and ran for four seasons. It was loosely based on the movie.

- A sequel called Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian almost happened before Tim Burton lost interest in the idea.

- Would be titles for this movie included House Ghosts and Scared Sheetless. 

- Standout music: Dayo (The Banana Boat Song) for obvious reasons.

- Chronology: The movie's set in Winter River, Connecticut with the Deetz being from New York City.

Beetlejuice is an extremely fun movie, affectionately playing on the usual haunted house tropes and subverted them. Everyone gave a fantastic performance with both Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder being the obvious stand outs. Now I'm ready to watch this sequel.

Rating: 9 out of 10