A couple returns from the dead to find that their spirits are trapped in their home. Desperate, when the house is sold to a pretentious couple, they enlist the help of a demonic phantom, despite having been strongly advised against it. A film by Tim Burton, starring Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Jeffrey Jones, Catherine O’Hara, Winona Ryder, Sylvia Sidney, Robert Goulet, Dick Cavett, Glenn Shadix, Annie McEnroe, and Michael Keaton.
BEETLEJUICE
Tim Burton
(1988)
In Winter River, Connecticut, Barbara (Geena Davis) and Adam Maitland (Alec Baldwin), a happily married couple, plan to spend their vacation decorating their charming home. Adam is the owner of the Maitland Hardware Store, and his hobby is crafting an expansive miniature town in the attic. Their peaceful morning is interrupted by Jane Butterfield (Annie McEnroe), a local real estate agent, who arrives with unexpected news. She informs them that a New Yorker, having only seen a photograph, has offered $260,000 for their house.
Caught off guard, Barbara firmly tells Jane to stop sending photos of their house to other people. She makes it clear they have no interest in selling and just want to enjoy their home in peace. But Jane, seemingly oblivious to Barbara’s comments, plows ahead. She suggests the house is too big for just the two of them and would be ideal for a family with kids – like the interested New Yorker. Barbara, growing increasingly frustrated, insists that she and Adam are perfectly content with their quiet life. As she ushers Jane towards the door, it’s obvious the realtor’s persistent sales pitch has fallen on deaf ears.
Adam asks Barbara to give him a lift into town as he needs to pick up a new brush and some parts for his miniature models from his store. On the drive back home, things take a sudden turn. A little dog darts out into the road, catching them off guard. Barbara, trying to avoid hitting the dog, jerks the wheel. Before they know it, their car smashes through the side of the old covered bridge and plummets into the river below.
Later that evening, Barbara and Adam stumble back into their house, their clothes still dripping from the river. Something feels off right away – the fireplace is crackling, even though Barbara is certain they didn’t leave it burning when they left. Then things get really weird. Barbara’s hands suddenly burst into flames, but she doesn’t feel a thing. Adam is totally confused, saying he can’t remember how they got home. He wants to head back to the bridge to retrace their steps. But when Adam steps out onto the front porch, he’s suddenly transported to the middle of a vast desert, where he encounters a massive sandworm.
Barbara yanks Adam back into the house, panicking because he’s been gone for two whole hours. While he was away, Barbara’s been dealing with her own share of weirdness. She discovers that she has no reflection in the mirror. Then, she stumbles across a book on the side table that definitely wasn’t there before. The title of the book is “Handbook for the Recently Deceased.” Piecing together these strange occurrences with the earlier events, Barbara comes to a chilling realization: they didn’t survive the crash.
Frustrated by the unhelpful handbook, Barbara struggles to understand their situation. Adam tries to reassure her, suggesting that being ghosts in their own home isn’t so bad. However, their peace is short-lived. Jane has sold the house to her New York buyer. Soon, Charles Deetz (Jeffrey Jones), a real estate developer, his wife Delia (Catherine O’Hara), an eccentric artist, and their unusually gloomy daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder) arrive to move in.
While Delia and her peculiar interior designer Otho Fenlock (Glenn Shadix) plan to revamp the entire house, they roam about with spray cans, marking Barbara’s cherished wallpapers. Adam and Barbara attempt to frighten the new family away, but their efforts prove futile as the humans can’t see them. Charles manages to negotiate with Delia and Otho to leave his study untouched after Delia threatens to lose her mind if she can’t redecorate the house to her liking.
When Adam overhears Delia and Otho discussing the attic space on the third floor, he realizes he forgot to lock the door. Concerned about the fate of his miniature town, Adam rushes past them and locks the attic door just before they can enter. Frustrated that she can’t stop Delia and Otho from wrecking their beloved house, Barbara decides to storm out. Adam warns her against it, reminding her that they have no clue what’s actually out there in the afterlife.
Shocked and frightened, Barbara suddenly finds herself transported to a surreal desert. Adam follows her there, and they are both attacked by a sandworm. They quickly return to the door leading back to their home just before the sandworm strikes again. In that moment, they realize they are forever trapped in the house, unable to escape.
As Otho and Delia continue to wreck their house, the couple turns to the Handbook, hoping to find something useful for their situation. An old flyer of Betelgeuse, the Bio-Exorcist ad, falls out of the handbook, with the words “CALL BETELGEUSE BETELGEUSE BETELGEUSE” at the bottom of the page. However, Adam mispronounces it as “Betel-Guise.” They are both confused, as there are no instructions on how to contact Betelgeuse or a phone number listed on the ad.
Lydia discovers the house is haunted when she’s taking photos and unexpectedly spots Barbara and Adam through the attic window. Barbara is convinced Lydia saw them, but Adam doubts it, pointing out that the Handbook clearly states humans can’t see ghosts. As Jane arrives with her young daughter (Rachel Mittelman) to give Charles the key, they run into Lydia instead. Lydia, curious, asks Jane about the previous owners. Jane hands over a skeleton key that can unlock any door in the house, urging Lydia to pass it on to her father.
Lydia tries to use the skeleton key to unlock the attic door. On the other side, Adam and Barbara desperately hold it shut, trying to protect their last sanctuary and Adam’s treasured miniature town. Suddenly, the TV set in the attic flickers to life, revealing Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton). He promises to solve their afterlife problems if they say his name three times, as shown on the screen. However, the ad doesn’t clarify how to pronounce it correctly. Lydia watches in astonishment as the skeleton key is pushed out of the keyhole, confirming there’s something supernatural inside the attic. Unnerved by this bizarre occurrence, Lydia backs away.
At his wit’s end, Adam resorts to the emergency instructions in the Handbook. The couple manages to transport themselves to an afterlife waiting room crowded with troubled souls. The receptionist (Patrice Martinez) informs them that they must spend 125 years in the house to earn three intercession vouchers, which are necessary to schedule an appointment with their caseworker, Juno. Without an appointment, they face an indefinite wait until Juno becomes available. Left with no alternatives, Adam and Barbara decide to wait. Meanwhile, Lydia returns to the attic and gains entry using a screwdriver. Inside, she discovers the “Handbook for the Recently Deceased,” which Adam inadvertently left behind.
Moments later, the messenger (Carmen Filpi) appears, summoning the Maitlands to the sixth door. Upon entering, they find themselves back home, but the house has been transformed beyond recognition by Delia and Otho. Their caseworker, Juno, materializes and informs them that three months have passed in the waiting room. She explains that her role is to assess individual cases and determine if intervention is necessary.
When the couple expresses their unhappiness and desire to remove the Deetzes, Juno (Sylvia Sidney) directs them to study the Handbook, particularly the Intermediate Interface chapter, which contains all they need to handle the situation themselves. Lacking confidence in their abilities, the Maitlands inquire about the “Betel guy” from the flyer.
Juno’s frustration becomes evident as she insists they don’t need his help. She reveals he was once her assistant who went rogue, marketing himself as a “bio-exorcist” who could remove the living, but only caused more problems. She suspects he’s lurking around the miniature town’s cemetery and warns that he can be summoned by saying his name three times. Before vanishing into thin air, Juno strongly advises the couple to deal with the Deetzes on their own.
Directed by American filmmaker Tim Burton from a screenplay written by Michael McDowell and Warren Skaaren, based on an original story created by Michael McDowell and Larry Wilson, BEETLEJUICE is a wild ride that really shows off what makes him such a unique filmmaker. The entire film feels like stepping into Burton’s twisted imagination, with its weird and wonderful visuals that somehow manage to be both creepy and fun at the same time.
The concept for the film originated in the mid-1980s when McDowell aimed to write a supernatural movie script inspired by films like Ghostbusters and Poltergeist. The initial idea involved a darker tone, with the character Beetlejuice originally conceived as a murderous demon rather than the comedic figure portrayed in the final film.
I love how they brought this crazy world to life using a combination of practical effects and puppetry. It gives everything this tangible, handcrafted feel that you just don’t get with CGI. Even today, it looks impressive and has way more charm than a lot of modern flicks.
At the center of this bizarre spectacle is Michael Keaton’s iconic performance as the titular Beetlejuice. Keaton’s manic energy and comedic timing bring the character to life, creating a memorable antihero that walks the line between repulsive and oddly charming.
Betelgeuse is the name of a prominent red supergiant star in the constellation Orion. In the film, the character’s true name is Betelgeuse, but it is pronounced as “Beetlejuice” by the characters. The studio likely changed the title to the phonetic spelling “Beetlejuice” so people would pronounce it correctly in marketing and on posters, even though it is spelled “Betelgeuse” in the movie itself. The character Beetlejuice himself demonstrates the pronunciation in the film by transforming into a giant beetle and magically creates a carton of orange juice out of thin air, showing Lydia how to say his name.
Complementing the on-screen action is Danny Elfman’s memorable soundtrack. Elfman’s quirky, carnival-esque score perfectly captures the film’s offbeat tone, enhancing the whimsical yet eerie atmosphere that permeates the entire movie.
The filmmaker integrates musical scenes seamlessly into the narrative, with standout moments like the possession dinner party set to Harry Belafonte’s “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song).” These scenes blend humor and the supernatural in a way that’s become a hallmark of Burton’s style.
BEETLEJUICE is one of those films that reminds you how much fun movies can be when filmmakers let their imaginations run wild. It’s quirky, it’s spooky, it’s funny – and even after all these years, there’s still nothing quite like it.
BEETLEJUICE was theatrically released in the United States on 30 March 1988, and has since become a cult classic. The film grossed over $74 million against a budget of approximately $15 million, marking it as a significant commercial success. It won the Academy Award for Best Makeup, highlighting its innovative visual style and artistic achievements.
The 4K UHD Blu-ray of BEETLEJUICE was first released on 1 September 2020 in the United States. This edition features a stunning 2160p UHD transfer with HDR10, restoring the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, which enhances depth, clarity, and color vibrancy, making it the best visual presentation of the film to date. Additionally, it includes a new Dolby Atmos audio mix, significantly improving the sound experience compared to the original 5.1 mix from the 2008 Blu-ray release.
With the 4K remaster, you can actually spot Barbara and Adam in the attic window. While the 4K disc does not add new extras, the accompanying Blu-ray includes about 37 minutes of bonus content, such as three episodes of the Beetlejuice animated series and the original film trailer. In comparison, Overall, the 4K UHD Blu-ray of Beetlejuice provides a substantial upgrade in both visual and audio fidelity.
