A few weeks ago, I had friends over to celebrate my birthday. To get us into the fall spirit, we decided to watch Beetlejuice, which I had never seen before. However, I had heard a lot about it, so I was curious to see what the excitement was all about!
For those who don’t know, Beetlejuice is an 80s dark comedy directed by Tim Burton, whose signature gothic and expressionistic style is on full display here. It follows the tale of Adam and Barbara Maitland, an adorable couple stuck in a tricky situation when they (spoiler alert) die and have to watch the quirky and slightly dysfunctional Deetz family move into and take over their house. They attempt to scare them away, but when that doesn’t work, they hire Beetlejuice, a demon exorcist, to get the Deetz’ to leave. Beetlejuice, however, loves to cause mischief, and things go awry!
One of the first things I loved about the movie was the acting and the characters. The Maitlands are probably my favorite characters in this movie, mainly due to the likable performances of Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin. They play sweet, innocent members of suburbia so well, and they make a great comedic foil to Beetlejuice’s shenanigans (more on that later).
While talking about the Maitlands, it’s essential to bring up the equally hilarious and entertaining Deetz family. Winona Ryder (who was only 16 years old when this was filmed) expertly plays Lydia, the original girl who is “not like other girls” and is the only one able to see the Maitland ghosts. Jeffery Jones and Glenn Shadix are hilarious in their roles as Charles, Lydia’s father, and Otho, a quirky family friend. However, the best performance in the whole movie is Catherine O’Hara as Delia Deetz, Lydia’s stepmom, who is obsessed with weird artwork, yelling, and just being hilariously overdramatic… and we love her for that!
However, the performances aren’t the only thing carrying this movie, because it looks and sounds just as amazing! I love watching older movies because many of the sets and effects are done practically and without the use of computers, giving them a more fun and authentic feel. Accentuating the look is the quirky and gothic score, composed by Danny Elfman, a regular coworker of Tim Burton’s, and an odd collection of licensed music. “Banana Boat (Day-O)” and “Jump in the Line” are synonymous with this movie, and their use makes for some really funny scenes.
Weirdly enough, the thing I liked least about this movie is the titular character of Beetlejuice himself. He isn’t on screen for long, and when he is, he’s gross, creepy, annoying, and not very funny. Michael Keaton doesn’t give a bad performance as this character, but I found him to be rather unlikable as opposed to the opinions of others who I’ve heard rain praise on him and this character.
Overall, I thought Beetlejuice was a rather enjoyable and crazy watch, and I highly recommend watching it with your friends this Halloween season!
Want to keep up with HCBU? Make sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, check out our Pinterest board, watch us on TikTok, and read our latest Tweets!