MIDDLE-AGED MATINEE! #16 - 'Beetlejuice' (1988)

5/5 Stars!

Now that I’ve expanded the list for “Middle-Aged Matinee!” to cover films ranging from 1984 to 1999, I can now cover more titles in my quest to get to 40 reviews! Today, I took a look at Tim Burton’s classic, “Beetlejuice”, since the sequel, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”, has opened this past weekend.

It’s hard to think about it now, but when writers Michael McDowell and Larry Wilson first wrote what would become “Beetlejuice”, it was a far more sinister and graphic film. The deaths of Adam and Barbara Maitland (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) were far more graphic and Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton) was far more demonic and murderous. It was when writer Warren Skaaren tackled the script that it changed into the comedy horror film that we know and love today.

Director Tim Burton had worked with McDowell and Wilson in television and Burton had just directed the smash hit “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure”, so he was now a sought after director. He had already started to develop “Batman” with Sam Hamm, but Warner Bros. was initially reluctant to greenlight the movie, so Burton decided to make “Beetlejuice” instead.

The movie begins with Adam and Barbara living in a house that overlooks the small town of Winter River, Connecticut. Adam needs some supplies for his model of the town so they head out. When they head back to their house, they end up crashing into a river and dying. They then come back to their house as ghosts where they discover that a rich family from New York has bought their house and the mother, Delia Deetz (Catherine O’Hara), wants to renovate the home with a more “modern” look.

The Maitlands request the assistance of Betelgeuse in "Beetlejuice"!

Adam and Barbara try to scare them out of the house, but they’re not very good at being ghosts. They end up summoning a “bio-exorcist” named Betelgeuse (pronounced “Beetlejuice”), a perverted demon who eventually sets his sights on marrying Charles (Jeffrey Jones) and Delia’s daughter, Lydia (Winona Ryder), so he can escape back into the real world permanently.

This is one of the most solid horror comedies ever created. That’s why it surprised me to learn that writer Wilson presented the script to Universal and he said that the unnamed executive told Wilson that he thought the script was a piece of shit and that Wilson shouldn’t be trying to get it produced. It was not long after this that Wilson and the other producers sold it to The Geffen Company.

All of the performances are great including Baldwin and Davis as the Maitlands, our “hero” ghosts that you want to cheer for due their wholesome nature and their relationship with Lydia who can actually see them while others can’t.

Then there is O’Hara as Delia Deetz, a character that you initially despise but you also understand that she has been ripped away from her New York lifestyle by her husband who wanted to get away from the big city. While you hate that she’s trying to “modernize” the Maitlands’ home, you get that she’s just wanting to bring a little bit of her old lifestyle to the new house while trying to support her husband so her motives are not completely sinister.

Betelgeuse attempts to scare Lydia and her family in "Beetlejuice"!

Ryder had her true breakout performance in this movie after Burton had seen her in 1986’s “Lucas”. Lydia is a semi-goth kid that hates her stepmother Delia and it is her weird personality that allows her to see both Adam and Barbara while others cannot. While she is goth, she is also a decent kid that wants to help Adam and Barbara and when you think about this movie, you almost instantly think about Ryder and her performance as Lydia.

Of course, we’re not here simply for the story of Adam and Barbara trying to scare the Deetz family out of their house. We’re here for the demon they summon to help them get the job done. I’m talking about Michael Keaton as the ghost with the most… Betelgeuse!

It surprises me every time that I watch this movie that Keaton is only onscreen for a little over 15 minutes of the movie. It probably feels like he’s in here more than that because he makes every single scene that he’s in count for something. He has a manic and improvisational performance that leads to genuine hijinks and even more genuine laughs.

The role was originally written to be played by a small Middle Eastern man and thank the makers that they didn’t go in that direction. It was Geffen that suggested Keaton for the role and while Burton was unfamiliar with his work, he was quickly convinced to hire him after meeting with him and seeing what he wanted to do with the role.

"It's showtime!"

Of course, there is also the look and style of the movie. This is the movie where we truly got Burton’s distinct visual style and direction for the first time. Knowing that he had a limited special-effects budget, he intentionally decided to do most of the effects with a B movie sensibility and it works like gangbusters with cool stop-motion effects and great make-up jobs and detailed sets that look like they came out of a 1950s B movie rather than something from the ‘80s.

At the end of the day, “Beetlejuice” was a massive success and today, it has earned its status as a genuine classic. It convinced Warner Bros. to move forward with Burton’s “Batman” film in ‘89 and Burton would go on to cast Keaton in the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman. There was also an animated series that ran for 94 episodes from ‘89 to ‘91.

Over the years, there were several attempts at getting a sequel off the ground but none of the scripts appealed to Burton or the stars. Director Kevin Smith remembered that when he came in to work on the ill-fated “Superman Lives” script, they initially gave him a script to work on called “Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian”. It sounds like the studio initially wanted a sequel that was more in line with the kids show.

Now, 36 years later, Burton has finally returned with Keaton, Ryder, O’Hara, and newcomer Jenna Ortega for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”. As of this writing, I haven’t seen the movie yet, but if it is just half as good as this original masterpiece, then I think it’ll work out.