Beetlejuice!!
By Stephanie Zhang
Entertainment Editor
With the recent release of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the sequel to the original 1988 movie, I’ve decided to finally watch the latter. It did not disappoint at all. In fact, it was a very worthy 92 minutes of my evening spent de-stressing and fully absorbed into the cinematic world of Beetlejuice.
Considered a classic, this comedy horror is one of Tim Burton’s earliest works. It possesses a particular strangeness and dark humour that really drew me in. The plot introduces us to Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara Maitlands (Geena Davis), a couple who died after a car accident. Trapped in their own house as ghosts, they desperately want to drive away the new tenants, the Deetzes (played by Jeffrey Jones, Catherine O’Hara and Winona Ryder), but here’s where it got tricky: the Maitlands couldn’t seem to scare them away! And, to make it worse, the living can’t see the dead! So what do they do? They hire Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton), a self-proclaimed bio-exorcist. Beetlejuice…Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice! Say its name three times and the sleazy spirit will appear, offering to “help” the recently deceased with mischief, humour and some danger.
While Beetlejuice is a nearly 40-year-old film, it has plenty of intriguing elements such as the soundtrack, the costumes, the acting, the makeup and the cinematography. The references to German Expressionism and stop motion animation as well as the zero use of CGI in favor of practical effects was enjoyable and definitely helped set the tone of the film. The set designer, Bo Welch, stated that: “[in] production design for movies […] I was working in, people were pretty hung up on literalism and realism, and ‘that door doesn’t match that interior.’ Stupid stuff. When I met Tim, it was like a breath of fresh air in terms of liberating me from dreary realism.”
Beetlejuice is a little slow at the beginning but it quickly gets more interesting. It’s a weird funny film, and, now that I’ve seen the original, the 2024 sequel goes onto my “To Watch list” for sure. On a final note, I’ll leave you guys with a few quotes from Beetlejuice.
“What’s the good of being a ghost if you can’t frighten people away?”
- Barbara
“My whole life is a darkroom”
- Lydia
“Ah. Well, I attended Juilliard. I’m a graduate of Harvard business school. I travel quite extensively. I lived through the Black Plague and had a pretty good time during that. I’ve seen the Exorcist 167 times, and it keeps getting funnier every single time I see it. Not to mention the fact that you’re talking to a dead guy! Now, what do you think? You think I’m qualified?”
- Beetlejuice