Beetlejuice (1988)

[Giuseppe]

I searched and searched and didn't find a topic for Beetlejuice, and then I couldn't believe I'd never searched for it before since it's my all-time favorite movie. I'm beyond excited about Beetlejuice 2 coming out next year, but in the meantime I thought maybe we should have a topic for the OG? I'd start one for Beetlejuice 2, but I'm not sure it's allowed since I don't think it's officially been announced yet even though production has definitely begun. Or maybe we can just discuss both movies here.

Anyway, I was ten when the movie came out, and much like Adventures in Babysitting the year before, I'm pretty sure my dad immediately regretted taking me to see this not knowing there'd be so much crude humor, haha. I pretended like most of it went over my head, but inside I was rolling laughing. Absolutely love this film. When it started airing on the movie channels, I would watch it every opportunity I could get. When I got it on VHS, I'm pretty sure I watched the "exorcism" at the end on loop for several weekends in a row. I used to be able to recite the entire movie line for line (and probably still could if I tried). I fell in love with Catharine O'Hara because of this movie and still snort laugh at my favorite line "if you don't let me gut out this house and make it my own, I will go INSANE, AND I WILL TAKE YOU WITH ME!!!" Her facial expression and line delivery were just perfect.

Anyway...love it or hate it, talk about Beetlejuice, Lydia, Delia, Charles, Otho, Adam, and Barbara here!!

[Annber03]

I discovered this movie in a roundabout way of sorts. Looking it up, I was three when the film came out, so obviously far too young to even be aware of it at that time. My first exposure to anything Beetlejuice-related was the cartoon series - I absolutely LOVED that show as a kid, it was (and still is) one of my favorite animated series. 

So imagine my surprise, when I was about thirteen, fourteen years old or thereabouts, to be in a store one day looking through the DVDs and seeing this movie! And then to find out it came out before the cartoon to boot! And that the movie was, uh, very different, to say the least, from the cartoon, especially in terms of the interaction between Beetlejuice and Lydia :p. 

But anywho, yeah, great movie, indeed. It's a kick to see how many notable names are in this, and I like the appearances from people like Dick Cavett and Robert Goulet as some of the snooty dinner guests. And I like that this movie features some people who would go on to further collaborate with Tim Burton on some of his other films. 

I also love Lydia - I thought the cartoon version of that character was so cool as a kid, and then seeing this Lydia as a teenager just further added to my love of her as a character in general (to this day, Lydia is one of my favorite names for a girl :D). 

The world Burton creates is fun, too, with the labyrinth afterlife and his usual quirky, surreal designs and whatnot. And it's got a fantastic score by Danny Elfman, who apparently was involved in a lot of TV/movies and such that I liked as a kid/teenager :D.  So, yeah. Just good stuff the whole way around. 

I'm genuinely curious how the sequel will play out. I hope it's good and keeps the same kind of weird humor that made this movie so fun. 

[Blergh]

I know they toned down the title character and made Lydia more cheerful for the cartoon but did the showrunners think that none of the cartoon viewers had seen the movie with the title character having nearly forced the teen Lydia to marry him?! And what kind of parents would think.it' OK for their (now preteen)daughter to have hang out with even the toned-down version?

I'm not saying the movie or cartoon weren't entertaining on their own but the latter definitely had its 'what were they thinking?' humdingers.

[Cobb Salad]

I first saw Beetlejuice when it first came out on rental years ago and loved it.  I couldn’t get enough of it so I bought a copy on VHS when it was available.  I still have it.  (Yes, I’m old 😊).  Anyway, whenever I mentioned the movie to anyone back then I always got a negative reaction that I have never understood.  It has a quirky humor that I enjoy.    I never saw the cartoon but I’m wondering why it’s taken so long for a sequel to be released.  

[Giuseppe]

On 7/13/2023 at 11:41 PM, Annber03 said:

My first exposure to anything Beetlejuice-related was the cartoon series

 

On 7/14/2023 at 2:25 AM, Blergh said:

I know they toned down the title character and made Lydia more cheerful for the cartoon but did the showrunners think that none of the cartoon viewers had seen the movie with the title character having nearly forced the teen Lydia to marry him?! And what kind of parents would think.it' OK for their (now preteen)daughter to have hang out with even the toned-down version?

I never paid much attention to the cartoon...I remember it coming on in-between other cartoons that I would watch, so I sat through it, but it was usually background noise. I knew it was different plot-wise from the movie with Lydia and Beetlejuice being 'friends', but I always assumed the cartoon was just kind of an alternate version of the movie, not meant to reflect the events of it or be a continuation of it. That said, I hope the sequel is more true to the film and ignores the cartoon.

Anyway, I did a re-watch of the original the other day. Can't remember the last time I actually watched it. It's probably been over ten years since I watched the whole thing. Still as fun and enjoyable as ever, but I realized that there's lots of missing holes for me that never get explained. For instance, Adam and Barbara drowned, but their appearance in the after-life could be almost as if they died in their sleep. Nearly everyone else they encountered had a rather gruesome appearance, or you could readily see how they kicked the bucket. Like, if they drowned, why weren't their faces blue and bloated? I mean, I know why for movie-plot purposes, but still..

Also, how did the ghosts in the after-life help center (I don't know what else to call it) get those jobs? How do you become a receptionist or janitor mopping the halls? Why do ghosts need jobs anyway? Lol. Maybe it's some sort of 'punishment' for taking your own life...seemed like a lot of the workers there committed suicide (I hope that doesn't come off as insensitive). The receptionist who'd slit her wrists, the guy floating around from a noose around his neck...maybe the street pizza dude who called Adam and Barbara back jumped in front of a truck on purpose? Plus you had the receptionist say something like "if i knew then what I knew now, I wouldn't have had my little accident" while holding up her slit wrists. Also, at the dinner party, Otho said he'd read that people who commit suicide end up as civil servants in the after-life. I never thought about any of this before, but this time, things like that stood out to me.

Additionally, I wonder if there were many deleted scenes that would have filled in some gaps. After Beetlejuice turns into the snake and scares everyone, why did Lydia suddenly get so emotional and scream "why are you doing this to me?? Leave me alone, all of you!" It seemed out of place. Adam and Barbara had been so nice to her, so it didn't make any sense for her to feel like they were coming for her. Felt like we missed a scene where she started to question whether or not they were being deceitful or something. And then after Barbara vanishes Beetlejuice away...what happens next? Delia ran into her room, Otho got knocked down the stairs, Charles was dropped off the balcony...but then the next time we see them they're all gathered on the porch preparing for Maxie Dean's visit, a little shaken but still content to stay there. Did they just say, well that was scary! Sure hope nothing else comes alive and tries to eat us! Just seems there were some transition scenes and beats that didn't make the movie.

Biggest plot hole of all though: WHY didn't Charles just hire a locksmith to unlock the attic?? They apparently lived there for MONTHS and had the whole house renovated, but were perfectly content to not get into the attic until after the dinner party.

And while I'm on the house renovations (the budding architect in me actually loved what they did to the exterior), I find it hard to believe that Delia would agree to return the house to its original state at the end of the movie. What, did Barbara threaten to haunt them forever unless they un-decorated? Maybe they worked out a compromise.

Obviously I don't care about any of this, but I'd love to see some behind-the-scenes/extras features of this movie, but to my knowledge, we never got anything like that.

Speaking of Maxie Dean...as a kid, I always thought that after Beetlejuice strong-manned him and his wife through the ceiling, they just flew out the roof, landed on the ground outside and scrambled to their car and left. It wasn't until a few years later watching with my older brother that he pointed out, yeah no, I'm pretty sure they died. He's probably right, but I still prefer my version, lol.

[Tenshinhan]

On 7/14/2023 at 2:25 AM, Blergh said:

I know they toned down the title character and made Lydia more cheerful for the cartoon but did the showrunners think that none of the cartoon viewers had seen the movie with the title character having nearly forced the teen Lydia to marry him?! 

 

A lot of kids probably watched the cartoon before they had seen or even heard of the movie.  Also, yeah, it's a forced marriage, but it was a fantasy/comedy film.  It's an easy hand wave for me, especially if the characters continue on in cartoon form.  Children particularly won't really care.

[dewelar]

19 hours ago, Giuseppe said:

Also, how did the ghosts in the after-life help center (I don't know what else to call it) get those jobs? How do you become a receptionist or janitor mopping the halls? Why do ghosts need jobs anyway? Lol. Maybe it's some sort of 'punishment' for taking your own life...seemed like a lot of the workers there committed suicide (I hope that doesn't come off as insensitive).

This is actually hinted at -- there's a throwaway line by Otho, something like, "if you commit suicide, you become a civil servant in the afterlife." Glenn Shadix was great in that role. The overall casting of this movie was mostly great -- the mains (Keaton, Davis, Baldwin, Ryder) were all pretty perfectly cast, and then Shadix, Sylvia Sidney, Jeffrey Jones (if you can put aside his real-life loathsomeness), Robert Goulet all nailed their parts. Surprisingly, I think Catherine O'Hara was kind of the weak link as Delia -- unlike the other characters, she didn't come off as real to me. Anyway, a great movie, and required watching every October in the Dewelar house.