Beetlejuice

:For the entertainer, see Beetlejuice (entertainer).

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Beetlejuice is a film, directed by Tim Burton and first released in the USA on March 30, 1988 by Warner Bros.. It features two recently deceased ghosts, Adam Maitland (Alec Baldwin) and his wife Barbara (Geena Davis), who seek the help of an obnoxious bio-exorcist, Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton), to remove the Deetz family—yuppies who recently moved from the city and now occupy their old house. The Deetz family consists of Charles (Jeffrey Jones), his second wife Delia (Catherine O'Hara), and moody goth teenage daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder).

Related Topics:
Film - Tim Burton - USA - March 30 - 1988 - Warner Bros. - Alec Baldwin - Geena Davis - Michael Keaton - Yuppie - Jeffrey Jones - Catherine O'Hara - Goth - Winona Ryder

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The name of the film is the phonetic pronunciation of the lead character's name Betelgeuse who shares his name with a large red star in the constellation of Orion. Repeating this name three times is all that is required to summon him and also makes him leave. Adam and Barbara are not his only victims, as scams are his specialty. He used to be an assistant to Juno (Sylvia Sidney), the Maitlands' case worker, before getting into trouble. Beetlejuice is rude, vulgar, eats insects, and loves to terrify people.

Related Topics:
Betelgeuse - Star - Constellation - Orion - Sylvia Sidney

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A typically dark and humorous Tim Burton film, most of Keaton's lines were apparently improvised on set. Notable guest appearances include Robert Goulet and Dick Cavett (Delia's art agent). Songs from Harry Belafonte are featured quite heavily in the movie, especially in one scene where Delia starts belting out "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)"—in Belafonte's voice, thanks to some spectral trickery; at a dinner she and Charles are hosting. The movie paints the picture of the afterlife as stuffy and bureaucratic rather than Dantean, with waiting rooms, oceans of red tape, and required reading (The "Handbook for the Recently Deceased"). People who commit suicide, for example, are bored civil servants (the receptionist Adam and Barbara meet slit her wrists) rather than trees, as in the Inferno. Adam and Barbara are trapped in their house. The world outside is a parched nightmare of sand dunes and a sandworm (Betelgeuse calls this place Saturn). Lydia is the only living character who sees the couple, and is tapped to help them deal with both her obnoxious parents and with the crass and impetuous Beetlejuice.

Related Topics:
Robert Goulet - Dick Cavett - Harry Belafonte - Dante - Handbook for the Recently Deceased - Inferno - Dune - Saturn

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An animated television series loosely based on the film also called Beetlejuice ran on ABC from September 1989 to December 1991, featuring the voices of Stephen Ouimette, Alyson Court, and Tara Strong. Lydia and Beetlejuice are friends, and she frequently visits him at home in the Netherworld. Many of the jokes revolve around toilet humor and visual puns. Beetlejuice had a cast of wacky neighbors including Jacques, a French skeleton fitness buff; Ginger, a tap-dancing spider; The Monster Across the Street, a boisterous Texas redneck; and a nasty clown named Scuzzo who is his arch-nemesis.

Related Topics:
Animated - Television series - Beetlejuice - ABC - 1989 - 1991 - Stephen Ouimette - Alyson Court - Tara Strong - Toilet humor

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A sequel to the movie has been in the works for over fifteen years, without any results, although Michael Keaton has expressed interest in reprising his role. Tim Burton, however, is not interested.

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