BEETLEJUICE (1988)

My first exposure to Tim Burton;s work was either with Batman or Beetlejuice. I honestly can’t remember which one I saw first but I think that my initial rejection of Michael Keaton as Batman may have been in response to his performance in Beetlejuice, or maybe, being brought up on Adam West’s Batman that I didn’t believe anyone else could do it.

Obviously that was false, as Keaton has a massive amount of versatility that allows him to do any role, though I suspect that the crazier the character, the more at home he may be.

Burton’s work appealed to me for so many reasons: the Charles Addams-esque art style, the sublime comedy and his passion for Danny Elfman’s musical work, which was something I had discovered a few years earlier when a friend told me I’d probably love Oingo Boingo because of my love of The Cure, and other bands of that type.

This film also had appeal to me because of the actors involved. The aforementioned Keaton was someone I liked in Mr. Mom and Night Shift and Geena Davis who I fell in love with while watching David Cronenberg’s remake of The Fly.

The perfect storm for my taste at the time.

You should have seen Beetlejuice by now, but if you haven’t… and WHY haven’t you… here’s a brief synopsis.

Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara (Geena Davis) are living their perfect life in the country when tragedy happens and they die! What’s worse is they are trapped in the house they loved for eternity… and by worse I mean their quaint cottage is purchased by an obnoxious city couple, Charles (Jeffrey Jones), Delia (Catherine O’Hara) and their daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder) whose intention is to change everything.

However, Adam and Barbara find out that in the afterlife there are things called ‘bio-exorcists’, ghosts who have the skill set of getting rid of anyone living, and so they hire Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton), but what happens if you find out the pest controller is worse than the pests…

The short description of this film is brilliant.

It’s funny but not stupid, the cast all play their parts just so perfectly, and even the smaller parts of the ‘city folk’, like interior decorator Otho ( Glenn Shadix) are such wonderful parodies of ‘that type of person’ with their obsessions of image and status. Baldwin and Davis’s character are such victims of the oppressive ‘progressive civilised’ world, and are so… well, normal… that the anxiety ridden, heavily medicated city family are almost alien in their outlandish behaviour and dress.

Winona Ryder must be also pointed out as a standout role. She certainly is the patient zero of the bored teenager type, that unfortunately we see in the real world today, taking personalities like Ally Sheedy’s in The Breakfast Club and turning up the volume.

The visual style of the film is perfectly Burton’s, over the top and cartoonish, but totally acceptable within the confines of the world, and the macabre shapes suit both the world of the dead and the world of the people from the city, both intruding on the simplicity of country styling with a similar invasive quality. The juxtaposition of these two ‘enemy’ worlds with the rural atmosphere are such a visual feast.

All in all, Beetlejuice will forever be a classic of its type of film… I can’t define what type of film that is, but it is a classic of it!

Extras: The 4K disc in this package doesn’t have any extras with it, but the accompanying Bluray has three episodes of the cartoon: A-ha!, Skeletons in the Closet and Spooky Boutique. I never thought this was a great cartoon but I know it certainly does have a huge fan base so those people will enjoy those extras. It also has an option to watch the film with the music only, which is a great way to highlight Elfman’s wonderful score, and it also has the original theatrical trailer.

Film: 10/10

Extras: 6/10

Rewatchability: 10/10

This 4K Bluray was purchased from Metal Movies