‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’: Don’t Say His Name

Is your home haunted by the living? Are there fleshbags running your ghostly activities? Then look no further for famed bio-exorcist is the solution to all your problems. Just say his name thrice and voila.

Except this time even Beetlejuice can’t really exorcise all the plots crammed into this too-haunted house.

The original Beetlejuice (the film not the character) was charming, delightful and funny with just the right amount of absurd ghoulish macabre. The technical jargon and red tape that the dead deal with which make the unlife as vexing as living was a completely novel concept at that time. There aren’t a lot of films where we see things from the perspectives of the deceased and there still aren’t, which is what makes the original stand out.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, on the other hand, focuses on the living rather than the dead which is what ironically sucks the life out of film; just like the Delores (Monica Bellucci) does to her unsuspecting victims.

The original Beetlejuice revolved around the sweet and recently deceased couple, the Maitlands (played by Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin), who are vexed by the presence of the unwanted houseguests.  Desperate to drive them out, they contact the sketchy conman Beetlejuice. The latter proves to be more of a liability than anything and the Maitlands take it upon themselves to drive out the living.

Their plan backfires when the new occupants of the house sense a business opportunity and seek to turn the house into a paranormal theme park. Only Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) is sympathetic to the Maitlands’ plight and helps them escape the grave they dug. The film ends on a happy note with the Maitlands and the Deetz family settling their differences and sharing the house in harmony. Which answers the question that yes, the living and the dead can peacefully coexist (at least in their case). All the plots are laid to rest in a six-foot-deep grave surrounded by flowers loving left by fans for the past 36 years.

Until now, 2024 AD where once again the Juice is well and truly loose.

With Beetlejuice Beetlejuice we are once again haunted by the Deetz family.

Lydia Deetz, who was last seen dead set against supernatural exploitation, is now doing just that. She’s hosting a successful T.V. show where she communes with the spirits and questions “Can the living and the dead really coexist?” The smart little goth girl we once knew has metamorphosized into an anxious pill-popping wreck managed by her sleazy fiancé. If only the Maitlands were there to give her guidance, but sadly they’re not in the picture anymore. Which is such a pity because the original film was almost entirely their story.

Lydia’s relationship with her stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara) seems to have dramatically improved ever since she became a “sellout,” in Delia’s words. Delia has been left untouched by the sands of time, maintaining a questionably successful art career in NYC.

We also have Lydia’s estranged sullen teenage daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) who wants virtually nothing to do with her mother. Ortega once again plays an emo teen with a bad relationship with her goth mom and falls in love with a mysterious monster boy who is bad news. Unsurprising as the writers of Netflix’s Wednesday are the ones who’ve written Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Little wonder that her character arc is just Wednesday 2.0.

There’s also quite a lot of screentime given to the character of Charles Deetz who was played by Jeffery Jones. His death is the reason the Deetz family return to their previously haunted mansion. It is surprising that Jones’ character is so prominent this time, considering his marred record offscreen. It hurts even more that the Maitlands are just mentioned in passing while the Deetz patriarch is everywhere you look. If Charles Deetz could merit a stop-motion sequence, then the ghosts-don’t-age dilemma would be irrelevant in the case of Baldwin and Davis.

Beetlejuice (Micheal Keaton) is a lot less creepy the second time around. Like Delia, Beetlejuice also seems to have been frozen in time. Both are way more likable than the others in the film and their characters have maintained their modus operandi.

The only other exception is Bob, the shrunken head ghost/ Beetlejuice’s second in command. Bob carries this film through to the great beyond. The Afterlife should build monuments in his likeness, Bob spinoff film when? 

Monica Bellucci’s Delores had great potential but, erasing her from the film would have changed nothing. The character of Delores is initially set up to be the main antagonist, a live action mix of the Corpse Bride and Sally Skellington. But her only role in the film is to stalk menacingly down the halls searching for her ex-husband Beetlejuice.

Willem Dafoe’s character also had a lot of potential, the actor who played good cop now is undead actual cop. Him and his team of minions provide some weak comic relief, but we’ve seen his comedic potential shine in several other films.

We get to see even more of the red tape in the Afterlife this time. It’s busier, crowded, larger and more colorful than when last we visited. There are quite a few dance numbers thrown in, as Beetlejuice Beetlejuice skirts the edge of being a musical and a Soul Train to the Great Beyond. But ironically for everything that makes it livelier, the Afterlife feels dull.

Maybe it is the nostalgia tinted glasses at work here, but the original Afterlife with its small waiting room, and overworked case workers seemed so much more alive. The plight of the dead — who have no idea they were dead — perfectly captured how death just looms around every corner, waiting to sneak up on unsuspecting victims. There were more unforgettable undead characters last time.

The cinematography, especially in the opening sequence when the camera pans across the model town going all the way up to the infamous house on the hill expertly sets the scene. With the advent of technology there’s a lot more scope for gore, gags and ghouls. The film is bloodier and grosser than the original.

The crux of the problem with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice lies with the script. There’s too many and at the same time too few callbacks to the original film. Each callback forces you to compare the original to sequel, which does not work in its favor.

The reason the original has a cult following is because there’s nothing like Beetlejuice. Perhaps the era of campy, gothic comedies is over. It’s best to visit their graves, flip through the memories and rewatch them rather than digging them up and creating new and ‘improved’ versions to get with the times.