After an unexpected family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. It’s only a matter of time until someone says Beetlejuice’s name three times and the mischievous demon returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem. A film by Tim Burton, starring Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Jenna Ortega, and Willem Dafoe.

36 years after the events of BEETLEJUICE, Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) is now a widow and the famous host of a supernatural talk show, GHOST HOUSE with Lydia Deetz. While filming an episode in front of a live audience, where she investigates the Welch farm owned by Jody (Rebecca O’Mara) and Emmet Welch (Adam Speers), Lydia is startled when she suddenly hallucinates Betelgeuse sitting among her viewers.

Lydia becomes petrified, prompting television producer and her boyfriend Rory (Justin Theroux) to pause the taping. She leaves the studio and heads to the restroom, where she takes a capsule of benzodiazepine and talks to Nadia (Bea Svistunenko), a ghost who was accidentally killed by a magician who refused to wear contact lenses.

Benzodiazepines are a class of medications that act as central nervous system (CNS) depressants. They are commonly prescribed for their sedative, anxiolytic (anti-anxiety), muscle relaxant, and anticonvulsant properties. These drugs enhance the effects of the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) at GABA receptors in the brain, which helps to reduce nervous system activity.

Rory follows her into the restroom to comfort her. While there, Lydia receives multiple text messages from Delia, her artist stepmother, demanding that Lydia meet her at the gallery, insisting it’s urgent and concerns her father, Charles.

At the gallery, Delia (Catherine O’Hara) has a heated argument with Le Tigre (Sami Slimane), a French graffiti artist she collaborates with. She has to cancel their project due to the tragic news she just received: her husband Charles has been killed by a shark after surviving a plane crash in the South Pacific Ocean while returning from a bird-watching expedition to Funafuti Atoll.

Funafuti Atoll is a coral atoll that serves as the capital of Tuvalu, an island nation located in the west-central Pacific Ocean. It is the most populous of Tuvalu’s nine atolls, with its main islet, Fongafale, housing the village of Vaiaku, where most of the country’s government offices are situated.

Meanwhile, in the Afterlife, the Janitor (Danny DeVito) gets electrocuted while cleaning the floor, sending shockwaves that knock several crates off the shelf. One crate suddenly opens, revealing Delores (Monica Bellucci), who has been cut into pieces and contained in multiple crates. She wakes up and stitches her body parts together using a heavy-duty staple gun. Then, she kills the Janitor by draining his soul. Delores is a soul sucker capable of decimating any spirit that gets in her way as she relentlessly searches for Betelgeuse.

Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton) is summoned to the Afterlife Crime Unit by ghost detective Wolf Jackson (Willem Dafoe), a former movie actor who met his demise while attempting one of his own stunts. Wolf shows Betelgeuse a photograph of a suspect, Delores. Though visibly shocked, Betelgeuse denies any knowledge of her, claiming that he has never seen her in his life or the afterlife. Unconvinced, Wolf leads Betelgeuse to a wall bearing an ominous message: “BETELGEUSE IS MINE!” Despite this unsettling evidence, Betelgeuse insists he has no idea who Delores might be.

Delia and Lydia decide to bring Charles’s body back to Winter River. On the way, they pick up Lydia’s estranged daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega), from school. Astrid had been ignoring Lydia’s calls, so they have to break the sad news about her grandfather’s passing in person. Astrid harbors resentment towards Lydia over the loss of her father, Richard (Santiago Cabrera). After separating from Lydia, Richard had gone to Brazil, where he tragically died in a boat accident. His body was never recovered, leaving Astrid without closure. Adding to Astrid’s frustration is Lydia’s supernatural powers that allows her to connect with the spirits – the thing Astrid doesn’t believe in. Despite Lydia’s claim that she can see “random ghosts,” she insists she has never encountered Richard’s spirit. This discrepancy only fuels Astrid’s skepticism and deepens the rift between mother and daughter.

In his office, Betelgeuse reveals to his staff that Delores is his ex-wife, whom he met and married in Italy during the bubonic plague pandemic known as the Black Death over six centuries ago when he was a grave robber. However, their marriage was short-lived after he discovered that Delores was the leader of a soul-sucking death cult.

The Black Death was a devastating pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1347 to 1351, primarily caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which is transmitted through fleas that infest rats. It is estimated to have killed between 25 million and 50 million people, which represented about 30% to 60% of Europe’s population at the time. This catastrophic event had profound social, economic, and cultural impacts on European society, marking it as one of the deadliest pandemics in human history.

During Charles Deetz’s funeral reception, Rory seizes the solemn moment as an opportunity to propose to Lydia. In front of Delia and the mourners, he asks Lydia to marry him on Halloween. Caught off guard and in a vulnerable state, a confused and frustrated Lydia reluctantly accepts. Upset by this turn of events, Astrid abruptly leaves the reception and rides her bicycle into town.

Distracted by townspeople decorating their houses for Halloween, Astrid loses control of her bicycle and crashes into a treehouse, where she meets Jeremy Frazier (Arthur Conti), a teenage boy who reads Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. This piques Astrid’s interest, as she has already read the novel three times. The two quickly become friends, and Jeremy is surprised to learn that Astrid’s mother is the legendary Lydia Deetz. Just before Astrid is about to leave, Jeremy invites her to come back again tomorrow.

Crime and Punishment is a novel by Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky, first published in 1866. The story follows Rodion Raskolnikov, an impoverished former student living in St. Petersburg, who believes he is an “extraordinary” person who has the right to commit crimes for a greater purpose. After successfully committing the murder, he becomes consumed by guilt and paranoia, leading to a psychological struggle as he confronts the consequences of his actions. Crime and Punishment is regarded as one of Dostoevsky’s masterpieces and a seminal work in psychological literature. It delves deeply into the human psyche, making it a profound study of guilt, morality, and redemption.

Astrid returns to Jeremy’s house the next day. He takes her to his room, where Astrid browses through his vinyl collection and comments that he has a lot of ’90s records. She then spots the Handbook for the Recently Deceased, which Jeremy claims he got at a yard sale in town. Later, he invites Astrid to come back on Halloween, suggesting they could order pizza and hand out candy to children. Astrid accepts his invitation, feeling drawn to Jeremy, completely unaware that he is not human.

Directed by American filmmaker Tim Burton, BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE is a direct sequel to the 1988 film. The screenplay is written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on characters created by Michael McDowell and Larry Wilson, the original writers of Beetlejuice. Catherine O’Hara and Winona Ryder return to reprise their roles, with Michael Keaton once again starring in the titular role of Betelgeuse.

Overall, this film is entertaining to watch, especially given that it received a significantly larger budget compared to its predecessor. It exudes Tim Burton’s signature style throughout, marking only the second time Burton has directed a sequel to one of his own films since Batman Returns in 1992.

The cast delivers hilarious performances, with Catherine O’Hara and Michael Keaton particularly standing out. However, the film falls short of its predecessor’s charm, largely due to the introduction of several underdeveloped characters with questionable behaviors. For instance, Astrid is initially portrayed as a smart young woman, but her actions become unconvincing when she falls for a simple trap after realizing the Afterlife is real and she can reunite with her deceased father. Similarly, there’s a scene where Beetlejuice conveniently injects Rory with truth serum, causing him to spill all his dark secrets.

The film features several memorable scenes. One highlight is the “Soul Train” sequence, which parodies the iconic American musical variety show that celebrated Black culture through dance, style, and music from 1971 to 2006. Another standout moment is the wedding scene, reminiscent of the original Beetlejuice’s iconic dinner sequence. In this new take, the cast dances and lip-syncs to Richard Harris’s “MacArthur Park.”

Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don’t think that I can take it
‘Cause it took so long to bake it
And I’ll never have that recipe again
Oh, no~

Monica Bellucci and Willem Dafoe bring intriguing characters to life as Beetlejuice’s ex-wife and a ghost detective, respectively. However, their roles feel somewhat sidelined in the main narrative. It’s a shame we don’t get to explore more of Delores’s backstory, particularly how she became the only vengeful spirit capable of destroying other souls. Her seemingly invincible power raises interesting questions that are left unanswered. I would have loved to see her character fleshed out more, given how pivotal her abilities are to the story.

BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE premiered at La Biennale di Venezia on 28 August 2024. It was theatrically released in South Korea on 4 September, and in the United States on 6 September. The film has grossed over $405 million worldwide against its $100 million production budget.