Beetlejuice (1988)

It may be over thirty years old, but this comedy still packs a punch. And with a musical adaptation taking Broadway by storm at the moment, the original story is back in the public consciousness again.

Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara Maitland (Geneva Davis) are a young married couple living in an enormous house in Connecticut. With no children yet, they are under constant pressure from a local realtor to sell the property, but they have no interest in doing so.

While driving back from town one day, their car comes off the road and falls into the river. They find themselves back in their house some time later, and it isn’t long before they realise what has happened: they died in the accident and are now confined to their home, unable to leave.

Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton).

Now that the house is presumed unoccupied, it is quickly sold to New Yorkers Charles (Jeffrey Jones) and Delia Deetz (Catherine O’Hara). The newly married couple, along with Charles’s teenage daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder), begin making the house their own, or more specifically, Delia makes it her own, with the help of her assistant, decorator Otho (Glenn Shadix).

Adam and Barbara, furious with this invasion of their privacy, and still a little new and naive to the afterlife, enlist the help of a bio-exorcist named Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton). Betelgeuse is a demon of the worst possible kind, however, a perverted narcissist at best, and at worst, well, something much worse.

Together, the three of them set about trying to scare the Deetzes out of the house, to varying degrees of success as the film goes on.

Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara (Geena Davis).

The screenplay, by Michael McDowell and Warren Skaaren, is clever enough, at least for the time in which the film was made. There are plenty of gags relating to life and the afterlife, and a healthy amount of jump scares and sight gags as well. The characters are relatively well-defined, again at least enough considering the era of the film and the comedic nature of the story. There aren’t a lot of twists and turns to the plot, though; it is instead a little cliched if anything, and certainly more predictable than one would have hoped.

Danny Elfman’s score is - by now - iconic, and certainly filled with themes and leitmotifs (as the majority of his work has been). At times, the film does feel a little overscored, but somehow, the brilliance of the music seems to cover over this heavy-handed ness well.

The cinematography is quirky and unique, thanks to Thomas E. Ackerman. Of course, as this film has the distinctive stamp of director Tim Burton all over it, quirky, unique camera angles and lens lengths should not really come as a surprise.

Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder).

Another result of Burton’s unique viewpoint, the production design - by Bo Welch - is definitely a large part of this film. In fact, the design and look of the film seems to be the main driver of the story in many ways, perhaps more than the performances of the cast, or of the plot itself.

Speaking of performances, there are some great performances in this film. The clear standouts are definitely Keaton and Ryder in their respective roles, while the rest of the cast give adequate - though not brilliant - performances.

Director Tim Burton has made a decent-enough film here, one that has certainly stood the test of time. The fact it has been adapted for the Broadway stage seems proof enough that the story - and the film - continue to resonate with audiences, and will do so for years to come. If you haven’t seen it yet, I would certainly suggest you check it out, or better yet, have a listen to the Broadway cast recording of the musical.

6 out of 10.