The trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hovKm9oFiM
Beetlejuice- 1988
The only knowledge I have of Beetlejuice is of the cartoon series I
watched of it as a child. I hadn't seen the movie up until now, and so
I had little but basic knowledge going into the film.
The plot revolves around a newly dead couple who become ghosts and
haunt their former home. When they ultimately fail at scaring away the new tenants, the couple calls upon, and is joined by a "bio-exorcist" from
the underworld named Betelgeuse. Little is known about him in general,
like his age and of when he was alive. One of the darkly funny aspects
about him is that he has seen the exorcist 167 times, calling it the
"funniest film he's seen".
In a nutshell, this is one strange flick… Though I wouldn’t really expect any less from Tim Burton. Something fun for me, was watching the 1989 version of Batman before this film and then seeing the film’s classic ‘Bruce Wayne’ become transformed into Beetlejuice. It was creepy. Though I suppose that Batman came out after this film was made so it is interesting how the actor for Beetlejuice became cast as the Batman. Another fun familiar face would be that of Jeffrey Jones, or, Mr. Rooney from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Which was again, very weird. Because he was in such an iconic film, it is difficult for me to see him as anything else...
This film won an award for best make up, which as soon as Beetlejuice’s character is seen it becomes obvious why. I especially enjoyed the costumes and make up of the film, along with all of the scary and entirely random jumpy acts and film points Tim Burton always enjoys including in his films. It reminded me highly of The Nightmare Before Christmas (the jumpy and extra character elements anyway). The movie as a whole carried his trademark.
After watching the movie again, I decided to re-watch one of the cartoon series Beetlejuice episodes. I found it a lot stranger than I remember… Maybe I just hadn’t realized that the main female character is a little goth girl involved in witchcraft, spiders, skulls, and a creepy old poltergeist, but it seemed plenty clear the second time around. The cartoon was still a cartoon though, even if it was a kind of disturbing one…
Here is part one of one of the episodes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrKwvrvAJv0
1 comment:
Beetlejuice was great. I think I saw it three or four times.
Your connection to Nightmare Before Christmas is a good one.
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