Beetlejuice [M]

Death isn’t meant to be a walk in the park, but for Adam and Barbara Maitland it’s going to be a high speed train ride to hell. When Adam and Barbara are killed in a car crash, they have difficulty adjusting to the afterlife. To top things off, a family of eccentric and obnoxious trendies from the city move into their house with a plan to completely remodel it. Unable to leave the house and unable to cope with these invaders, Adam and Barbara contact the afterlife’s freelance bio-exorcist to scare the family away. But once the B man is loose, everyone is in for more than they bargained for.

So last night, I booked airline tickets to Melbourne to go the Tim Burton exhibition and I figured what better way to celebrate than to watch a Burton movie? So I curled up with my glass of wine and dived right into the hysterical mayhem that is Beetlejuice.

Spending their vacation at home to do a little renovating, everything seems great for Adam and Barbara Maitland. But when they are killed in a car crash on the way back from town, their perfect vacation takes a turn for hell. Having trouble adjusting to the afterlife, Adam and Barbara are horrified to see a family of modern trendies from the city move into their house and decide to completely destroy the place doing their own renovations. Unable to leave the house and unable to cope with these invaders, Adam and Barbara call upon Beetlejuice, the afterlife’s freelance bio-exorcist, to scare the family away. However once the B man is loose, the Maitlands and the family get more than they bargained for.

This movie had everything right. A fantastic story, a really funny script, wonderful actors, brilliant sets, amazing costumes and makeup, and a hauntingly great soundtrack. One of my favourite scenes is when the Maitlands are waiting to see Juno, their case-worker, and we see all these other dead people in line. It’s just really funny to all the different ways these people have died. There’s a magician’s assistant sawn in half, a safari explorer with a shrunken head, a char grilled skeleton smoking a cigarette, a fat man with a bone bulging in his throat, and a man in a sleeping bag with a snake rattling beside him. And some of the little jokes that are put into the script are very funny, like the guy who burned to death offering Adam a cigarette and when Adam declines he says, “I’m trying to cut down myself.” 

Visually, this film was an absolute knock-out especially how it uses bright colours for the people who are dead. Similar to Corpse Bride, although this movie actually did come first. 

Now, of course we have to look at Michael Keaton who played the B man himself. He’s absolutely hysterical. Rude, perverted, scary, dirty, and wonderfully funny. Constantly harassing Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis who play the couple in distress, he turns the movie into a freight train ride to hell, keeping all passengers in hysterics the whole way. 

Just a little bit of trivia now. Beetlejuice was the movie that established Burton’s relationship with a number of actors, whom he would use for movies yet to come. Michael Keaton, after doing this, played the caped crusader himself in Batman. Catherine O’Hara later provided voices in The Nightmare Before Christmas. Jeffrey Jones popped up Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow. And Wynona Rider later appeared in Edward Scissorhands. Isn’t that lovely? Using the same actors for your movies. It’s like a family, I think it’s pretty cool. Not to mention that Danny Elfman provides the soundtrack and he’s probably the most prominent member of the family, having gone on to compose the soundtracks for The Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, Mars Attacks, Corpse Bride, Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice In Wonderland. 

Positively filled with wonderful characters, haunting music, scary sculptures, and even scarier wallpaper, Beetlejuice is a fantastic comedy and the name of laughter in the hereafter.