Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – 36 years after almost being forced to marry the mischievous demon, Betelgeuse, Lydia Deetz hosts a supernatural talk show, Ghost House. Widowed after husband Richard went missing in the Amazon and estranged from her daughter, Astrid, she begins to see the demon wherever she goes. Hoping to snap her out of her ‘delusions’ new Beau, Rory, says ‘his’ name three times, unleashing the demon. However, when Astrid is put in danger, Lydia seizes the opportunity to use Betelgeuse to save her daughters life.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) – Director: Tim Burton

Rating: 12A

Running Length: 105 mins

Starring: Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega, Michael Keaton

Genres: Horror, Comedy

REVIEW: ‘BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE’

Tim Burton’s quirky horror comedy, ‘Beetlejuice’, has been a go-to Hallowe’en staple since its release in 1988 so it’s sequel has been hotly anticipated for many years. ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ has been a long time coming so is it worth the price of admission? Well, unlike many recent decades-later sequels, this movie maintains the essence of what made the original so popular while giving us a brand new story.

The plot introduces several threads to vary the narrative. This results in less time for satisfying conclusions, as although each member of the main cast gets a full storyline of their own they all lack substance and end in mostly ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ moments which deflate their conclusions.

That said, considering the serious felony crimes for which actor Jeffrey Jones has long ago been convicted of it would be understandable for the movie to reference legacy character Charles respectfully as a plot point but then move on. Despite his Charles’ death being a catalyst for the story, Burton cannot be blind to the very poor taste in providing multiple scenes with Jones’ image and lines of dialogue (especially from Delia (O’Hara)) lavishing praise upon him, especially considering other absent characters don’t get the same treatment.

Overall, ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ was good, lots of fun (although there are quite a few dated sexist jokes) and hasn’t lost what made the original a hit while remaining fresh. Michael Keaton is excellent once again and the song and dance number at the end is truly superb. With the number of times the character’s name needs to be spoken for him to appear matching the names of the movies, one can only assume a third movie is at least hoped for but for now, these two movies live up to their hype and will keep audiences happy for years to come.

CONTENT: IS ‘BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

The movie opens showing Lydia’s TV show, ‘Ghost House’. This is very spooky and when a video is shot with night-vision, Lydia’s eyes glow white and together with the scary look of the show, it could be frightening for younger kids. When looking into the audience, there is a jump-scare with a loud, sharp musical sting when Lydia briefly sees Betelgeuse sitting among the crowd.

When she goes to a public bathroom, a young woman speaks to Lydia and when she turns, she is shown with a knife sticking out of her head with some blood around the wound. When Lydia looks towards her again, she has disappeared.

At an art exhibition, one of the pieces is of a naked woman, split in half lengthways with each half encased in glass. There is no blood or gore but her breasts are shown fully on screen.

There is an animated sequence where a plane crashes and survivors are shown floating in water. A character holds onto some debris but a shark lunges at the camera from behind him and when the jaws snap shut, a huge blood spurt lands on the camera.

The afterlife is shown to be a spooky, unsettling place with darkened, empty corridors and those who are there exist in the way they died – headless, drowned in a box of water, body parts missing, with objects sticking out of their bodies, etc. A major character has his brain on show throughout the movie.

A janitor working in the afterlife casually drinks a toxic household substance (possibly bleach or drain cleaner) this doesn’t harm him and it could be imitable by kids.

Several boxes are knocked over and the lids open up, revealing the body parts of a woman. These come to life and put themselves back together, the woman uses a large staple gun to connect the parts together, this is quite gruesome but very stylised so isn’t overly disturbing. She then attacks a man by grabbing him by the throat, blood and saliva fall from his mouth and she then sucks the life from him. His body shrinks as the life is drained and she throws it onto the floor, the eyes are gone.

In the afterlife, Betelgeuse is in charge of an office and speaks to a man on the phone who is angry that his wife  has remarried too soon after his death. Betelgeuse offers to kill the new husband, make the wife ‘do some unseemly things’ and post the photos publicly. Parents may be uncomfortable with the crime of revenge porn being made into a casual joke, especially as the wife has actually done nothing wrong and the dead husband wants to punish her for perfectly normal behaviour.

When asking about the killer, a character holds up a photograph of the woman asking ‘Do you recognise this puss? She’s a soul sucker’ to which Betelgeuse suggestively replies ‘Oh yeah, you can say that again!’

When two characters get married, they bite the heads off chickens and then on their wedding night it is made clear that they are very energetic and passionate. The scene shows them in silhouette but it is not otherwise coy in what is being shown.

Lydia’s boyfriend, Rory, is manipulative and dismissive. He behaves badly but his behaviour is ignored and excused by Lydia. However, when he does something particularly unpleasant, Lydia is clearly unhappy about it but Astrid blames her for it rather than Rory.

Someone tries to make a female character grateful for a the attention of a man by saying ‘He was turned on by you at the lowest point in your life’.

A book has a drawing of the grim reaper cutting a man in half with his scythe – this is in silhouette so no blood is shown.

A character gives birth to a baby Betelgeuse, it drops heavily to the floor and Betelgeuse kicks it over a sofa.

After meeting teen boy, Jeremy, for the first time, Astrid goes to his house for a date. He takes her to his bedroom and tells her he’d prefer to stay there rather then go out. Astrid, nervous but happy, agrees. They kiss but nothing sexual happens.

Lydia enters a ‘Murder House’ and sees two ghosts with weapons sticking out of their faces. They happily talk to her but their injuries are disturbing.

A woman in bitten by two snakes, her neck snaps unnaturally and she collapses to the floor. She later complains that they should have been defanged.

A character gives out sweets to trick or treating kids on Hallowe’en he says ‘and raisin because no-one likes a big fat clown!’

Faces of guests at a wedding all distort grotesquely, this could be quite scary for kids.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE’ FOR KIDS?

‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ is unlikely to disappoint fans of the original. It may not be perfect but, for a sequel that has been 36 years in the making, it is very good. As many of the visuals and dialogue are quite disturbing, younger kids will probably find it too strong but as it is quite a cartoony look, we recommend this movie for kids aged 11 and over.

• Violence: 2/5 (several deaths throughout, some of which are horrific in nature)
• Emotional Distress: 1/5 (established characters mourn loved ones but this is never overly emotional)
• Fear Factor: 3/5 (lots of scary moments although much of these are bookended by jokes which lighten the spookiness)
• Sexual Content: 3/5 (lots of innuendo, a sex scene shot in silhouette, Betelgeuse has several of his own paper advertisements – one has ‘SEXY’ written in big letters. A woman laments the loss of her husband, saying ‘I’ve lost my horny handyman’. )
• Bad Language: 4/5 (moderate cursing throughout the movie, one strong word is used explicitly, it is used later but is bleeped)
• Dialogue: 4/5 (a man calls a woman ‘toots’. A character says to another ‘I think we should lay off the pills!’)
• Other Notes: Deals with themes of mother-daughter estrangement, having a manipulative partner, death, life, obsession and love.

Words by Laura Record