Our Favorite Things: Beetlejuice by Monica Burres

            Ghosts, hauntings and exorcisms have become mainstay programming for television stations looking to fill their nighttime slots with spooky material. Shows like Paranormal State on A&E and Ghost Adventures on Syfy are very similar, sticking to the common “haunted house” plotline and feature ghost hunters and exorcists looking to relieve residents of their ghost problem. The common ideology of these shows states that ghosts are the problem, messing up the resale value of these young professionals’ homes. Those bored with these yuppified ghost tales may want to revisit Tim Burton’s cult 1988 classic, Beetlejuice.  The film takes role reversal to a whole new level when an exorcist is called in to exorcise the living. Beetlejuice challenges common ideologies on the afterlife and takes them - to the other side!

            Who knew that the dead could exist happily ever after? Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara (Geena Davis) are two lovebirds enjoying their freshly decorated home, living a happy married life...except they happen to be dead. But just as they are beginning adjust to the afterlife, and just when they think they’re getting settled in, new residents show up to take over the couple’s home. It’s time to call in bioexorcist, Beetlejuice, to cast out those pesky fleshies.

            Beetlejuice is a journey to the afterlife that one is unlikely to forget, revealing the hereafter as a mystical, fantastical world where all things are possible, featuring quirky special effects, dreamlike set designs and out-of-this-world makeup. Stop-motion animation and claymation enable the film to delve into a mysterious, if not frightening world filled with protoplasmic sandworms, doors leading to inescapable nightmares and offices preparing newly deceased beings to haunt and terrify the living. Burton, as shown by classics like Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood and Frankenweenie, is a fearless artist and certainly takes chances in this, his second full-length film. Some of the characters are outrageous; over-exaggerated with makeup and costume, and some of the sets are over the top...but who’s to say the afterlife isn’t actually like that? That’s where the film sets itself apart from others depicting life after death, taking its audience to a place not usually displayed by the film industry.

            Beetlejuice presents the theme of death comedically, helping the audience swallow the rather difficult subject matter of death and what’s beyond. Don’t forget, once you’re dead, you have work to do - you’d better get started on reading The Handbook for the Recently Deceased. When Barbara tells Adam that she can’t understand the book, Adam remarks “Honey, we’re dead, we don’t have much to worry about anymore.” In fact, being dead is almost as much work as being alive.

            Beetlejuice, played memorably by the high-energy Michael Keaton, is one bioexorcist who takes his work less seriously than others. One of the  most memorable scenes occurs when Beetlejuice is released from his grave inside of Adam’s miniature model of the town and introduces himself to the couple. Adam asks Beetlejuice just what exactly his qualifications are for exorcising their new residents. After clearing his throat by hawking a loogie, and straightening out his moth-eaten outfit, Beetlejuice describes his credentials as a Harvard Business School graduate, a Juliard attendee, a survivor of the Black Plague and a viewer of The Exorcist over 167 times! Keaton masters a role unlike any other he has portrayed, including the two Batman films with Burton. Beetlejuice’s exterior is frightening, with mold peaking around his temples and dead insects falling out of his coat pockets. The character of Beetlejuice is raunchy, grotesque and hilarious-truly unforgettable.

             

            Let’s talk about the music in this raunchy classic. With a soundtrack featuring hits from Harry Belafonte’s 1961 hit LP “Jump Up Calypso”, Beetlejuice is a party surely to wake the dead. One of the most popular scenes from the film incorporates Belafonte’s classic music: the “Day-O” scene. When fleshy newcomers Delia Deetz and Charles Deetz invite over their coworkers to show off their “infestation” of ghosts and hopefully make a profit from them, Adam and Barbara possess these party guests and force them to boogie to Belafonte’s 1950s hit “Day-O”, while startling them at the end of their jam by forcing their faces into moving shrimp cocktail hands! Belafonte’s music is eerie yet danceable, stemming from Belafonte’s Jamaican roots where voodoo and and themes of death are ever-present. No other music would fit this film quite as well. The “Day-O” scene is hilarious and encompasses what the entire film is about-showcasing death through comedy.

            Keaton gives a beautiful performance and carries the film through to the very end In the final scene, Beetlejuice gets what he deserves after attempting to trick Lydia into helping him gain access to the breathing side of life. Forced into the realm of lost souls-in a waiting line where Beetlejuice’s number won’t be called for another 9,998,383,750,000 more turns-Beetlejuice seems glum. This doesn’t stop him from using his personality to swindle people, though, as he steals the number from a voodoo master next to him, so as to be next in line. Beetlejuice’s tricks aren’t enough to fool this dead man; after sprinkling some voodoo dust onto Beetlejuice, the bioexorcist reveals his freshly shrunken head! Beetlejuice is a riot until the very end, showcasing death through comedy and music to get you jigging toward the graveyard.