Mutant Reviewers from Hell do
“I'm the ghost with the most, babe.”

1988 PG / Comedy Horror Directed by: Tim Burton Starring: Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder

Tagline

The Name In Laughter From The Hereafter.

Summary Capsule

Two boring dead people enlist the help of Beetlejuice to scare the crap out of the people who bought their house. And people calypso.

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DVD | Soundtrack (Score)

Andie's Rating: If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have had my little accident.
Andie's Review: Wow, I had forgotten how great a movie Beetlejuice was until I watched it again the other day. This movie has everything. Michael Keaton is wonderful as Beetlejuice, he's really funny and plays the character just sarcastically enough so that he's not too scary. It does have some spooky/scary parts to it, like when the main characters discover that they're dead. And I love the depiction of the afterlife.

"It was just weird enough, that I sort of believed it."

For those of you weirdos who haven't seen Beetlejuice, it is the tale of boring old Adam and Barbara (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) who die in a car accident and are confined to their house for all eternity. The Deitzes, some yucky people from the city, move in and start tearing the house apart. Adam and Barbara want them out of the house, so they try to be scary. They pretty much suck at it, but they do befriend the daughter, Lydia (Winona Ryder). When they enlist the help of Beetlejuice, the bio-exorcist, to get the people out of the house, he turns out to be really mean and scary and tries to take Lydia. So the ghosts defeat Beetlejuice and they make peace with the family and everybody's happy.

Personally, I love the way Tim Burton made the afterlife. It was just weird enough, that I sort of believed it. Like every ghost has a case worker and a handbook for being dead. And I love the lame attempts Adam and Barbara make at scaring the living. They start out in sheets with holes cut out for eyes! That obviously doesn't work, so they movie up to making a whole dinner party dance to The Banana Boat song (Which is my favorite scene, by the way. It makes me laugh everytime). And I also love Delia Deitz' little minion Otho. He's so cynical and pretentious that you can't help but love him. Beetlejuice is a must have for anybody's film collection.

A girl wearing all black and in love with death? Gee, you don't see that every time you open your eyes on the internet today. Harry, to put it frankly, is a god among other shrunken heads Threesomes don't work. Like the movie Threesomes!

Didja Notice? [some sources: IMDb]

• In the original version, when Adam and Barbara leave the model, Beetlejuice kicks over a model tree, screams "Wow! Nice F---ing model!" and then makes honking sounds while he yanks himself in an obscene way. In the Disney version he kicks over the tree, spits, and stares up at Adam and Barbara. The scene where the receptionist in the Afterlife Waiting room reveals she killed herself was also removed. A scene during the dance number where the Deitz's all moon each other was removed as well.
• Betelgeuse wears 8 different costumes through the course of the movie: convict suit, cowboy clothes, tour bus driver's uniform, plaid shirt and slacks, 1940's detective attire, bathrobe, a black and white striped suit, and the pink tuxedo.
• Looking into the mirror, the ghosts prove that they have no reflections, but are later reflected in the attic windows.

Is It Worth Staying Through End Credits?

Nope. Boo!

Intermission! [some sources: IMDb]

Originally planned as a supernatrual drama entitled "The Maitlands" about a deceased couple dealing with the troubles of the afterlife. The scenes were scripted much more morbidly than they appear (most notably the waiting room scenes, which were supposed to be particularly ghoulish), and most of the characters were much darker. Only when Michael Keaton began filming his scenes and asked for creative freedom did Tim Burton realize the potential of a dark comedy.

Frustrated with the studio at one point, Tim Burton threatened to submit the film for release under the title "Scared Sheetless."

Groovy Quotes

Otho: Deliver me from L.L. Bean

Delia: I will live with you in this hell hole, but I must express myself. If you don't let me gut out his house and make it my own, I will go insane and I will take you with me!

Adam: We were trying to scare your mother.
Lydia: STEP mother. And you can't scare her. She's sleeping with Prince Valium tonight.

Adam: What are your qualifications?
Beetlejuice: Well, I attended Julliard, I'm a graduate of the Harvard Business School, I travel quite extensively, I lived thru the Black Plague and I had a pretty good time during that, I've seen The Exorcist 167 times and it keeps gettin funnier every single time I see it, not to mention the fact that you're talking to a dead guy! Now whatta you think? Do you think I'm qualified?

Lydia: My life is a dark room. One big dark room.

Lydia: I myself am... strange and unusual.

Betelgeuse: I'm the ghost with the most, babe.

Soundtrack Review

Great theme music from Beetlejuice and of course The Banana Boat song, but other than that, nothing much to speak of.

If you liked this movie, try these:

• Beetlejuice the cartoon
• Ghostbusters
• Edward Scissorhands