| Beetlejuice | |
|---|---|
.png) Theatrical release poster by Carl Ramsey | |
| Directed by | Tim Burton |
| Screenplay by | |
| Story by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Thomas E. Ackerman |
| Edited by | Jane Kurson |
| Music by | Danny Elfman |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
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Running time | 92 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15 million[1] |
| Box office | $84.6 million[2] |
Beetlejuice is a 1988 Americangothicdark fantasycomedy horror[3][4][5] film directed byTim Burton from a screenplay byMichael McDowell andWarren Skaaren based on a story by McDowell andLarry Wilson. The film starsMichael Keaton as the title character, along withAlec Baldwin,Geena Davis,Jeffrey Jones,Catherine O'Hara, andWinona Ryder.
The plot revolves around a recently deceased couple. Asghosts, they are not allowed to leave their house. They contact Betelgeuse,[a] a sleazy "bio-exorcist", to scare the house's new inhabitants away. The film prominently features music fromHarry Belafonte's albumsCalypso andJump Up Calypso.
Beetlejuice was released in the United States on March 30, 1988, byWarner Bros. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing $84 million on a $15 million budget. It won theAcademy Award for Best Makeup and threeSaturn Awards:Best Horror Film,Best Makeup, andBest Supporting Actress forSylvia Sidney. The film's success spawned amedia franchise, consisting of ananimated television series,video games, a 2018stage musical, and a sequel entitledBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, which was released on September 6, 2024.[6]
In Winter River,Connecticut, Adam and Barbara Maitland are spending their vacation decorating their large country home that local real estate agent Jane Butterfield constantly pesters them to sell. As a hobby, Adam is building a scale model of the town in the attic. While driving home from town, the Maitlands’ car plunges off a bridge and into the river. Barbara and Adam arrive home but are unable to recall how they got there. When attempting to leave the house, Adam enters an otherworldlydesert-like landscape populated by enormous sandworms. The encounter lasts mere seconds for him, but after Barbara rescues him, she claims he was gone for two hours. After discovering aHandbook for the Recently Deceased and noticing they have no reflections in a mirror, the couple realizes that they drowned in the river and areghosts.
The house is sold to New York real estate developer Charles Deetz and his second wife Delia, a talentless sculptor. Charles' teenagegoth daughter, Lydia lives with them. Under the guidance ofinterior designer Otho, Delia begins renovating the house with a new-wave aesthetic ofpostmodern art.
While consulting theHandbook on how to eject the Deetzes, the Maitlands see an advertisement for 'Betelgeuse'. Following the handbook's guidelines, they travel to an otherworldly waiting room filled with other distressed souls. After navigating the afterlife's complex bureaucracy, the Maitlands return home only to realize three months have passed and the house has been completely redesigned. Their caseworker Juno arrives and discloses the Maitlands must remain in their house for 125 years before "moving on". Juno discourages them from contacting Betelgeuse, her former assistant and now a freelance 'bio-exorcist', to drive out the Deetzes. Betelgeuse can only be summoned by uttering his name three times. Juno recommends that the Maitlands haunt the Deetzes themselves.
Adam and Barbara are invisible to Charles and Delia, which thwarts their fright attempts. Lydia, however, can see them, which she attributes to her peculiar nature. The Maitlands invoke Betelgeuse and are transported into the model. Betelgeuse's crude and morbid demeanor is offensive and they exit the model. The Maitlands possess Charles, Delia, and their wealthy friends during a dinner party. Unexpectedly, their antics only amuse the group, inspiring Charles to pitch a supernatural theme park to investor Maxie Dean. The Deetzes uncover the town model in the attic, where Otho finds the Maitlands'Handbook. Betelgeuse transforms into a giant snake and terrorizes the Deetzes before Barbara banishes him back to the town model.
Juno calls Barbara and Adam back to the afterlife office and berates them for releasing Betelgeuse. Meanwhile, Lydia, depressed and blaming the Maitlands for Betelgeuse's attack, writes a suicide note. Lydia discovers Betelgeuse inside the model. She almost summons him in exchange for passage to the afterlife, but the Maitlands return and stop her.
Maxie Dean arrives and demands evidence of paranormal occurrences, but the Maitlands refuse to manifest again. Otho uses theHandbook and conducts what he believes is aséance. Hesummons Adam and Barbara by using their wedding clothes, but they begin aging and decaying rapidly as Otho has mistakenly performed an exorcism.
A horrified Lydia invokes Betelgeuse, who will help if she marries him so he can remain in the mortal world. He saves the Maitlands, drives away Otho and the Deans, then prepares to wed Lydia. The Maitlands attempt to banish Betelgeuse, who teleports Adam to the town model and Barbara to the desert-land. Barbara rides back into the house on a sandworm, which devours Betelgeuse.
The Deetzes and the Maitlands agree to harmoniously live together, and the Maitlands are close to Lydia. Betelgeuse is seen sitting in the afterlife waiting room, waiting his turn to see a caseworker. When he attempts to steal a witch doctor ghost's numbered ticket, his head got shrunk.
After the financial success ofPee-wee's Big Adventure (1985), Burton became a "bankable" director and began working on a script forBatman withSam Hamm. While Warner Bros. was willing to pay for the script's development, it was less willing togreen-lightBatman.[7] Burton had become disheartened by the lack of imagination and originality in the scripts he had been sent, particularlyHot to Trot.
Michael McDowell and Larry Wilson formed a partnership (Pecos Productions) with entertainment attorney Michael Bender, andBeetlejuice was their first original project. After developing the story, McDowell and Wilson decided they would write the first draft of the screenplay together, while Wilson would only take 'Story By' credit, as well as his 'Producer' credit.
Burton had gotten to know and worked with McDowell and Wilson (who co-wrote the script for "The Jar", an episode ofAlfred Hitchcock Presents that Burton directed).[7] Burton read their first draft ofBeetlejuice, liked it but had other projects that kept him from becoming involved at that time.
The original script is far less comedic and much darker; the Maitlands' car crash is depicted graphically, with Barbara's arm crushed and the couple screaming for help as they slowly drown.[8] A reference to this remains: Barbara remarks that her arm feels frozen upon returning home as a ghost.[9] Instead of possessing the Deetzes and forcing them to dance during dinner, the Maitlands cause a vine-patterned carpet to come to life and attack them by tangling them to their chairs.
The character of Betelgeuse—envisioned in the first draft as a winged demon who takes on the form of a short man—is also intent on killing the Deetzes rather than scaring them and wants sex from Lydia instead of marriage. In this version of the script, Betelgeuse need only be exhumed from his grave to be summoned, after which he is free to wreak havoc; he can be summoned, but not controlled, by saying his name three times and wanders the world freely, tormenting different characters in different manifestations.
In another version of the script, the film concludes with the Maitlands, Deetzes, and Otho conducting an exorcism ritual that destroys Betelgeuse, and the Maitlands transforming into miniature versions of themselves and moving into Adam's model of their home, which they refurbish to look like their house before the Deetzes moved in.
Co-author and producer Larry Wilson has talked about the reaction to the first draft by a prominent executive atUniversal, where Wilson was employed at the time:
I won't name names here, but I worked at Universal Studios at the time. I was director of development for the directorWalter Hill. I had a very good relationship with a very prominent executive at Universal. He liked me, and he liked what I was doing with Walter, and the material I was bringing in.
I gave himBeetlejuice to read, and I gave it to him on a Friday, and on Monday his assistant called me and said "well, he wants to meet with you". My initial reaction was "wow! He'd read it. He must have loved it or he wouldn't have wanted to see me so soon." But I went into his office, and he literally said, "what are you doing with your career?"
"This piece of weirdness, this is what you're going to go out into the world with? You're developing into a very good executive. You've got great taste in material. Why are you going to squander all that for this piece of shit" was basically what he was saying. It goes to show, right? Shortly after that, we sold it to theGeffen Company.[10]
Skaaren's rewrite shifted the film's tone, eliminating the graphic nature of the Maitlands' deaths and further developing the concept created by McDowell and Wilson that theAfterlife is a complex bureaucracy.[11] Skaaren's rewrite also added to McDowell and Wilson's depiction of the limbo that keeps Barbara and Adam trapped inside their home; in the original script, it takes the form of a massive void filled with giant clock gears that shred the fabric of time and space as they move. Skaaren had Barbara and Adam encounter different limbos every time they leave their home, including the "clock world" and the sandworm world, identified asSaturn's moonTitan. Skaaren also introduced theleitmotif of music accompanying Barbara and Adam's ghostly hijinks, although his script specifiedR&B tunes instead ofHarry Belafonte[11] and was to have concluded with Lydia dancing to "When a Man Loves a Woman".
Skaaren's first draft retained some of McDowell's Betelgeuse's more sinister characteristics but toned the character down to make him a troublesome pervert rather than blatantly murderous. Betelgeuse's true form was that of the Middle Eastern man, and much of his dialogue was written inAfrican-American Vernacular English. This version concluded with the Deetzes returning to New York and leaving Lydia in the care of the Maitlands, who, with Lydia's help, transform their home's exterior into a stereotypical haunted house while returning the interior to its previous state. It also featured deleted scenes such as the real estate agent, Jane, trying to convince the Deetzes to allow her to sell the house for them (having sold it to them in the first place—Charles and Delia decline) and a revelation of how Betelgeuse had died centuries earlier (he attempted to hang himself while drunk—having been rejected by a woman—only to mess it up and die slowly by choking to death rather than quickly by snapping his neck) and wound up working for Juno before striking out on his own as a "freelance bio-exorcist".
Retrospectively, McDowell was impressed with how many people made the connection between the film's title and the starBetelgeuse.[12]
Burton's original choice for Betelgeuse wasSammy Davis Jr. The producers also consideredDudley Moore andSam Kinison for the role, but Geffen suggested Michael Keaton. Burton was unfamiliar with Keaton's work, but was quickly convinced.[13][14] Several actresses auditioned for the role of Lydia Deetz, includingSarah Jessica Parker,Brooke Shields,Lori Loughlin,Diane Lane,Justine Bateman,Molly Ringwald,Juliette Lewis, andJennifer Connelly.[15]Alyssa Milano was the runner-up for the role.[16] Burton cast Winona Ryder upon seeing her inLucas.Anjelica Huston was originally cast as Delia Deetz but dropped out because of illness.[15] Catherine O'Hara quickly signed on, while Burton claimed it took a lot of time to convince other cast members to sign, as "they didn't know what to think of the weird script".[17] Burton also felt that O'Hara and Jeffrey Jones would make a "cute couple".[18] Lydia Deetz was notably cast with the look and persona of theGoth subculture.[19][20][21][22]
Beetlejuice's budget was $15 million, with just $1 million given over to visual effects work. Considering the scale and scope of the effects, which includedstop motion, replacement animation, prosthetic makeup, puppetry andblue screen, it was always Burton's intention to make the style similar to that of theB movies he grew up with as a child. He said that he wanted to make the effects look cheap and purposely fake-looking.[23] Burton wanted to hireAnton Furst as production designer after being impressed with his work onThe Company of Wolves (1984) andFull Metal Jacket (1987), but Furst was committed toHigh Spirits, a choice he later regretted.[24] He hiredBo Welch, his future collaborator onEdward Scissorhands andBatman Returns. Thetest screenings were met with positive feedback and prompted Burton to film an epilogue featuring Betelgeuse foolishly angering a witch doctor.[25] Warner Bros. disliked the titleBeetlejuice and wanted to call the filmHouse Ghosts. As a joke, Burton suggested the nameScared Sheetless and was horrified when the studio actually considered using it.[26] While the setting is the fictional village of Winter River,Connecticut, all outdoor scenes were filmed in East Corinth, a village in thetown ofCorinth, Vermont.[27] Interiors were filmed atThe Culver Studios inCulver City, California.Principal photography took place from March 11 to June 11, 1987.[28]
TheBeetlejuice soundtrack, first released in 1988 on LP, CD, and cassette tape, features most of the film's score, written and arranged byDanny Elfman. Geffen reissued the original 1988 soundtrack on vinyl in 2015, which was remastered and pressed to vinyl byWaxwork Records in 2019 for the film's 30th anniversary.[29] The soundtrack features two original recordings performed byHarry Belafonte used in the film: "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)" and "Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora)". Two other vintage Belafonte recordings that appear in the film are absent from the soundtrack: "Man Smart, Woman Smarter" and "Sweetheart from Venezuela". The soundtrack entered theBillboard 200 albums chart the week ending June 25, 1988, at No. 145, peaking two weeks later at No. 118 and spending a total of six weeks on the chart. This was after the film had already fallen out of the top 10 and before the video release in October. "Day-O" received a fair amount of airplay at the time in support of the soundtrack.
The complete score (with the Belafonte tracks included) was released in both the DVD and the Blu-ray as an isolated music track in the audio settings menu; this version of the audio track consists entirely of "clean" musical cues, uninterrupted by dialogue or sound effects.
Beetlejuice opened theatrically in the United States on March 30, 1988, earning $8,030,897 its opening weekend, which at the time, was an Easter weekend record. The film eventually grossed $75.1 million worldwide.Beetlejuice was a financial success,[30] recouping its $15 million budget and becoming the 10th-highest-grossing film of 1988.[31][32]
Beetlejuice was met with a mostly positive response. Based on 115 reviews collected byRotten Tomatoes,Beetlejuice holds an 83% overall approval rating with an average rating of 7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Brilliantly bizarre and overflowing with ideas,Beetlejuice offers some of Michael Keaton's most deliciously manic work—and creepy, funny fun for the whole family."[33] OnMetacritic, the film has aweighted average score of 71 out of 100, based on 19 reviews.[34] Audiences surveyed byCinemaScore gave the film a B on a grade scale of A to F.[35]
Pauline Kael called the film a "comedy classic".[26]Jonathan Rosenbaum called it a "creative mess" in a positive review in theChicago Reader.[36]Desson Howe ofThe Washington Post feltBeetlejuice had the "perfect" balance of bizarreness, comedy and horror.[37]
Janet Maslin ofThe New York Times gave the film a negative review, writing that the film "tries anything and everything for effect, and only occasionally manages something marginally funny" and "is about as funny as a shrunken head".[38]Roger Ebert gave the film two out of four stars, writing that he "would have been more interested if the screenplay had preserved their [Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis] sweet romanticism and cut back on the slapstick". Ebert called Keaton "unrecognizable behind pounds of makeup" and said "his scenes don't seem to fit with the other action".[39]
In his bookComedy-Horror Films: A Chronological History, 1914–2008, Bruce G. Hallenbeck praised the film's lively script, assured direction, offbeat casting, and "delightfully off-kilter,Edward Gorey-like look", citing the explorer with the shrunken head and the animated sandworm as particularly memorable visuals.[40]
At the61st Academy Awards,Beetlejuice won theAcademy Award forBest Makeup (Steve La Porte,Ve Neill, andRobert Short),[41] while theBritish Academy of Film and Television Arts nominated the film forBest Visual Effects andMakeup at the42nd British Academy Film Awards.[42][43]
Beetlejuice won Best Horror Film and Best Make-up at the 1988 Saturn Awards. Sidney also won the Saturn for Best Supporting Actress, and the film received five other nominations:Direction for Burton,Writing for McDowell and Skaaren,Best Supporting Actor for Keaton,Music for Elfman, andSpecial Effects.[44]Beetlejuice was nominated for theHugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.[45]Beetlejuice was 88th in theAmerican Film Institute's list ofBest Comedies.[46][47]
A sequel,Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, produced byBrad Pitt's studioPlan B Entertainment alongside Warner Bros.,[48] withMichael Keaton,Winona Ryder, andCatherine O'Hara reprising their roles, was released in theaters on September 6, 2024.[49]
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The film's success spawned ananimated television series,video games and a 2018stage musical.
On March 10, 1998,Beetlejuice became the first of more than 5.2 billion DVDs shipped byNetflix, which launched as a mail-based rental business.[50][51]
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