Beetlejuice is a 1988 comedy horror film directed by Tim Burton. The film stars Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Jeffrey Jones and Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice. The plot revolves around a recently deceased couple who seek the help of obnoxious “bio-exorcist” Beetlejuice in order to remove the new owners of their quaint New England house, a family of metropolitan yuppies from New York City.
After the success of Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Burton was sent scripts and became disheartened by their lack of imagination and originality. Burton agreed to direct Michael McDowell’s script for Beetlejuice, but Larry Wilson and Warren Skaaren performed rewrites. Beetlejuice was a financial and critical success, garnering an animated television series and an unproduced sequel titled Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian.
Newlywed couple Barbara (Geena Davis) and Adam (Alec Baldwin) Maitland decide to spend their holiday decorating their idyllic New England country home. Upon returning from the trip to town, however, Barbara swerves to avoid a dog wandering the roadway. The couple’s vehicle crashes through a covered bridge and plunges into the river below, thus killing Barbara and Adam. The couple soon returns home in spirit form and, based on the fact they have no visible reflection in the mirror, quickly come to the conclusion that they are dead. A book entitled Handbook for the Recently Deceased confirms the couple’s suspicion that they are, in fact, dead. Adam then attempts to leave the house to re-trace his steps, but finds himself in a strange otherworldly dimension known as Saturn, which happens to be covered in sand and populated by enormous sandworms.
After going back into their home to seek refuge, Barbara and Adam’s peace is soon shattered when their house is sold and the new residents arrive from New York. The Deetzes, consisting of Charles (Jeffrey Jones), aspiring sculptor and Charles’ second wife Delia (Catherine O’Hara), stepmother to Charles’ Goth daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder) from his first marriage.
They are under the guidance of interior designer Otho (Glenn Shadix), and begin transforming the house into a horrific piece of modern art. The Maitlands seek help from their afterlife case worker, Juno (Sylvia Sidney), who informs them that they must remain in the house for 125 years. If they want the Deetzes out, it is up to them to scare them away. The Maitlands’ attempt to haunt their home proves ineffective.
Although the Maitlands remain invisible to Charles and Delia, their daughter Lydia can see Adam and Barbara and becomes their friend. Against the advice of Juno, the Maitlands contact the miscreant Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton), a freelance “bio-exorcist”, to scare away the Deetzes, but Beetlejuice is more interested in marrying Lydia in order to re-enter the land of the living. It takes the combined efforts of the Maitlands and Lydia to defeat Beetlejuice and banish him to the afterlife. The Deetzes and the Maitlands decide to live together in harmony.
