Beetlejuice ***** (1988, Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton, Catherine O’Hara, Jeffrey Jones, Winona Ryder, Sylvia Sydney, Glenn Shadix) – Classic Movie Review 189

Tim Burton’s 1988 dark American fantasy horror comedy film Beetlejuice is an early sign of his genius and a near-perfect little masterpiece.

Tim Burton’s 1988 horror comedy film Beetlejuice features the cinema’s craziest attic, with a miniature of the town Adam and Barbara Maitland (Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis) live in. They die in a car accident and call on the help of the demonic Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) when the ditzy Deetzes move in.

The year before he made Batman, Tim Burton’s 1988 American fantasy horror comedy film Beetlejuice is an early sign of his genius and a near-perfect little masterpiece. A huge surprise at the time as he had then only directed one feature film, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985), it is one of the most astonishing and iconic movies of the Eighties. Burton describes it as a ‘comic version of The Exorcist from the dead people’s point of view.’

Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis are ideal as Adam and Barbara Maitland, a nice young married couple who buy their dream home in a New England barn. They spend all their time doing it up and decorating it in the best possible taste, with a miniature of their town in the attic, but then suddenly are killed in a car crash drowning accident.

But they find they have a haunting experience with the afterlife when they come back from the dead as ghosts to find their house is already newly inhabited by a family of obnoxious, dead-trendy morons, Delia and Charles Deetz (Catherine O’Hara, Jeffrey Jones) and their daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder), who have located from the big city.

So, obviously, the Maitlands must find a way to scare the Deetzs off. They summon up the services of a bio-exorcist, the wicked spirit Betelgeuse/ Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton), who soon terrifies the new folks with his crazy antics. Unfortunately, he has other things in mind too…

Deliciously quirky, funny, delightful and imaginative, this movie is lovingly made by Burton. It started as a serious horror movie but the comedy element gradually took over as they re-wrote and re-wrote the original screenplay. So now it is a lot of fun, with a few scares and a creepy atmosphere on the side.

Of course it more than just helps that the movie looks so stupendous, with those brilliant special effects (Peter Kuran, Alan Munro, Ted Rae, Robert Short) and set designs by Bo Welch). And it sounds great, thanks to Danny Elfman’s catchy score (that’s him singing ‘Day-oh…’ at the start).

Burton seems to have a special way with his performers. Keaton is wonderful. The movie would not work if he weren’t. His hilarious and inventively staged tour-de-force as the title spook character Beetlejuice (‘the Ghost with the Most’) never runs out of juice. There’s just the right amount of him to propel the entire movie, without overbalancing it or letting him get boring.

Taking it this big is risky, but Keaton pulls it off magnificently. With his only two weeks of filming, there is only 17 and a half minutes of screen time for Keaton but he dominates the entire 92-minute movie. No wonder it is his favourite film. Keaton’s much-deserved reward was to be cast as Burton’s Batman in both Batman and Batman Returns.

Baldwin and Davis are likeable and appealing leads, O’Hara (then best known as mum in Home Alone), Jones and old Sylvia Sydney (as Juno) are just superlative, while Glenn Shadix (as Otho), talk show host Dick Cavett and singer Robert Goulet add to the fun. The dinner-party dance to the ‘Banana Boat Song’ (sung by Harry Belafonte) sequence is side-splitting. The song was played at Shadix’s funeral in 2010.

The makeup won an Oscar for Best Makeup (Ve Neill, Steve La Porte, Robert Short).

Betelgeuse is named after a bright red star in the Orion constellation.

Burton proposed the title Scared Sheetless when the studio objected to Beetlejuice.

Burton hired Bo Welch as production designer, who worked with him again on Edward Scissorhands (1990) and Batman Returns (1992). Catherine O’Hara (replacing a sick Anjelica Huston) met her future husband Bo Welch while filming.

After its box-office success, two sequels were proposed – Beetlejuice in Love and Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian – and scripts were commissioned and written, but the films were never made when Burton went on to two Batman movies, Batman and Batman Returns.

Burton wanted Sammy Davis Jr for Beetlejuice, but Warner Bros refused, and later Dudley Moore was considered.

Principal photography began on March 11, 1987. Exteriors were filmed in East Corinth, a village in Corinth, Vermont, standing in for the fictional village of Winter River, Connecticut. Interiors were filmed at The Culver Studios in Culver City, California.

Beetlejuice was released on March 30, 1988. It was a hit critically and commercially, grossing $74.7 million on a budget of $15 million.

Michael Keaton returned for Tim Burton’s Batman 1988 and Batman Returns (1992). He also plays Batman in The Flash (2023).

Tim Burton’s belated sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice opened the 81st Venice International Film Festival on August 28, 2024, and was released overseas on September 4, 2024, and in the US on September 6, 2024, by Warner Bros. It stars Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, and Willem Dafoe.

Glenn Shadix (1952–2010) gets his film breakthrough role as Otho, the pretentious interior designer who dabbles in the paranormal. Burton also cast Shadix as the voice of the Mayor of Halloween Town in The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and as Senator Nado in Planet of the Apes (2001).

The cast are Alec Baldwin as Adam Maitland, Geena Davis as Barbara Maitland, Michael Keaton as Betelgeuse, Jeffrey Jones as Charles Deetz, Catherine O’Hara as Delia Deetz, Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz, Sylvia Sidney as Juno, Robert Goulet as Maxie Dean, Dick Cavett as Bernard, Glenn Shadix as Otho, Maree Cheatham as Sarah Dean, Tony Cox as the Preacher, Jack Angel as the voice of the Preacher, Susan Kellermann as Grace, Adelle Lutz as Beryl, and Annie McEnroe as Jane Butterfield.

Beetlejuice is directed by Tim Burton, runs 92 minutes, is made by The Geffen Company, is released by Warner Bros, is written by Michael McDowell and Warren Skaaren, based on a story by Michael McDowell and Larry Wilson, is shot by Thomas E Ackerman, is produced by Michael Bender, Larry Wilson and Richard Hashimoto, and is scored by Danny Elfman.

© Derek Winnert 2013 Classic Movie Review 189
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