The Creative Chaos of ‘Beetlejuice’
Michael Keaton in Beetlejuice | Credit: Warner Bros.
A recently deceased couple is eternally stuck at their home but when a living family moves in, they go to extreme lengths to get them to leave.
In some ways, I think that Beetlejuice is a bit of a miracle. This movie is so wildly creative that it’s surprising to me that it got made. I imagine that a million little things had to go right for someone to greenlight this production. The premise is so fun and effectively combines horror with comedy, resulting in a film that is beloved by many.
You can see Tim Burton’s creative fingerprints all over this. There are symbols and styles that he uses that show up in some of his other films later on, like Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s so interesting to see how Burton’s visual style evolved over time and how some of the images show up throughout his impressive career.
But Beetlejuice isn’t wholly Tim Burton’s creation. Actors like Michael Keaton had a large say in their characters. He had a hand in creating Beetlejuice’s unique look and ad-libbed many of his lines, making Beetlejuice his own.
I love it when a director gives the actors the room to be creative. Especially because Beetlejuice is an incredibly creative film, so it just makes sense that the set would be an incubator for their creativity.
Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis in Beetlejuice | Credit: Warner Bros.
What really impressed me about rewatching Beetlejuice as an adult is the lengths that it goes to tamp down the horror. Though this is a film about ghosts who are haunting a family and trying to get them to leave their home, it’s not a scary movie. It’s a comedy that’s playing with horror concepts.
I think this is part of the reason why this has become such a great Halloween movie. If you’re not in the mood for a horror movie, you can watch this and feel festive without being scared. Honestly, for a non-horror movie person like me, that’s a win-win!
There are so many great comedic moments throughout this film, delivered by many cast members. This creates space for different types of humor that will resonate with different people. That variety of comedy helps make this a film that maintains a broad appeal.
Michael Keaton is hilarious as Beetlejuice in all of his crass glory. It’s his rudeness and pretty off-putting personality that brings a lot of color to this character. But the film doesn’t rely on him to be the source of humor — in fact, he’s on screen for less than 20 minutes.
Instead, most of the film follows Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara (Geena Davis) as they navigate the difficulties of being recently deceased. They find themselves in increasingly odd situations, like having to wait in an eternally long line for their case worker. Or being chased by sandworms when they try to leave.
When a new family moves into their beloved home and begins making changes, Adam and Barb go to extreme lengths to try and scare them. Watching these two try to scare this family is hilarious. They try making spooky sounds to scare the humans. They even don bed sheets at one point, trying to look like your made-for-movie ghosts. But nothing works.
Watching them work through that process is so silly and endearing. I also wouldn’t know how to haunt a family out of my home. Those moments are interesting, creative, character-revealing, and move the plot forward.
Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder in Beetlejuice | Credit: Warner Bros.
I read that Tim Burton intentionally wanted this film to look campy. They had a small budget for this film, so he decided to film it like a B-movie. And that’s part of the enduring charm of this film. In an odd way, the rough edges of this film help make it timeless.
And that creative choice has really influenced a whole genre of films. I recently watched Lisa Frankenstein, which has a very different premise but seems to draw some inspiration from this film. It’s filmed as a campy 80s movie, blending comedy and horror together in a way that Beetlejuice does as well.
Beetlejuice has not only become a cult classic and pop culture icon, but it has influenced other films in the genre. And now it’s getting a sequel after three decades. I’m so curious about this sequel and what it will entail.
Releasing a sequel decades after the original beloved movie is a difficult task. It’s going to be interesting to see if Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will be able to hold up to the beloved first film.