Beetlejuice Beetlejuicetakes Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) and the title character (played by Michael Keaton) on a new adventure through the afterlife and the world of the living, but it copies many things from the first movie. Tim Burton isn’t a filmmaker known for making sequels to his movies, so it was a huge but pleasant surprise when he returned to directBeetlejuice Beetlejuice36 years after the release of the first movie. Back in 1988, Burton introduced the world to chaotic bio-exorcist Beetlejuice, teenager Lydia Deetz, and Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara Maitland (Geena Davis), who die but don’t cross over.
When the Deetzes move into the Maitlands’ home in Winter River, the Maitlands do what they can to scare them out of the house but fail – however, they bond with Lydia, the only one who can see them. The Maitlands summon Beetlejuice for help, but he only unleashes major chaos at the Maitland/Deetz home. Over three decades later, the audience reunited with Lydia, Delia (Catherine O’Hara), and Beetlejuice and met new characters Astrid (Jenna Ortega), Rory (Justin Theroux), and Delores (Monica Bellucci) – butdespite being a new story,Beetlejuice Beetlejuicecopied some elements from the first movie.
10The Opening Credits Go Over Winter River
Welcome To Winter River
The main events of bothBeetlejuicemovies take place in the town of Winter River, in Connecticut. Winter River is a small town where the Maitlands have their country home, which real estate agent Jane Butterfield constantly tries to persuade them to sell. It’s in this town where Adam and Barbara have an accident as they’re about to cross a bridge and die – and as a result, their house is finally sold, with the Deetzes becoming the new owners.
As it’s the movies’ main setting,bothBeetlejuicemovies start with an aerial look at Winter River. As the camera goes through the town, the opening credits are shown, but these sequences end differently in each movie. InBeetlejuice, the town shown in the opening credits is revealed to be the model created by Adam, while in the sequel, the camera goes inside the window of Maitlands/Deetzes' house to meet Lydia on the set of her TV show.
9Both Beetlejuice Movies Start With A Death
R.I.P. The Maitlands & Charles Deetz
One of the main themes in bothBeetlejuicemovies is death, addressed in Burton’s unique style. As such, both movies kick off with a death, but these lead to different events.In the first movie, the death that kicks off the story is the Maitlands’. After collecting some items from their hardware store in town, Adam and Barbara drive back home. On their way home, a dog passes by and, to avoid running it over, the Maitlands’ car swerves and plunges off the bridge into the river. The Maitlands drown, but they don’t know they died until much later.
Where Alec Baldwin & Geena Davis' Characters Are In Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis' Adam and Barbara Maitland are absent from Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, but where exactly did their ghosts go?
InBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, the death that kicks off everything is that of Charles Deetz. Turns out that Charles was on a bird-watching trip when his plane crashed into the ocean. Charles survived the plane crash, but he was killed by a shark while trying to get to a safe spot with other survivors. The Maitlands’ death led them to try to get rid of the Deetzes, whileCharles Deetz’s deathbrought the Deetzes back to the house.
8Lydia & Astrid Are Outcasts
Like Mother Like Daughter
Lydia describes herself as “strange and unusual”, through which she justifies why she can see the Maitlands but other living people can’t. Lydia is definitely strange and unusual, so it’s not surprising that she’s an outcast, but her daughter, Astrid, is also an outcast, though for different reasons. When she was a teenager, Lydia had an interest in obscure things and topics such as death, which is why she wasn’t shocked by her ability to see ghosts like the Maitlands and Beetlejuice himself.
On the other hand,Astrid is mostly an outcast due to her family. Not only is her step-grandmother an eccentric artist, but her mother is the host of a paranormal talk show called Ghost House and has the ability to see the dead. This has led Astrid to be bullied by her classmates, leading her to isolate herself and find some comfort in literature and more – and both Lydia and Astrid bond with ghosts, but with completely different results.
7Lydia & Astrid’s Parents Have New Partners
New Families Aren’t Always A Good Change
When the Deetzes move into the Maitlands’ house inBeetlejuice, Charles and Delia are already married, and it quickly becomes clear that Lydia doesn’t get along with Delia.What happened to Lydia’s motherisn’t explained in the first movie, but inBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, Lydia mentions her mother is alive, so her parents simply got divorced and Charles remarried. InBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, Astrid goes through a similar situation but with a layer of tragedy.
Astrid’s father diedbefore the events ofBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, but at the beginning of the movie,Lydia is dating Rory, who is also her manager. Rory proposes to Lydia right after Charles’ funeral and she reluctantly accepts, but Astrid can’t support their engagement. Astrid is still trying to cope with her father’s death, and on top of that, Rory isn’t exactly the nicest and smartest man, so just like Lydia in the first movie, she’s dealing with one of her parents having a new partner with whom she doesn’t get along.
6Lydia Is The One Who Summons Beetlejuice
Lydia Has An Interesting History With Beetlejuice
InBeetlejuice, the first ones to summon the title character are the Maitlands. Curious about what the infamous bio-exorcist could offer and desperate to get rid of the Deetzes, Barbara says Beetlejuice’s name three times and so she and Adam meet him inside the town model. However, later on, when the Maitlands are about to disappear as Otho accidentally performs an exorcism on them,Lydia, desperate to save her friends, summons Beetlejuice, who saves the Maitlands but at a great price.
InBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, when Astrid is tricked by her supposed friend, Jeremy (Arthur Conti), into exchanging her life for his as he’s actually dead,Lydia has no other choice than to summon Beetlejuice to help her save her daughter. Unlike the first time, Beetlejuice acts a lot more like an ally to Lydia this time, helping her get rid of Jeremy and getting out of the Netherworld safely – but all this also came at a great (and similar) price.
5Newly Deceased Characters At The Afterlife’s Waiting Room
The Afterlife’s Waiting Room Is Back
When it comes to the Netherworld, the most memorable place is the waiting room. There, people who just died and don’t know what’s next wait for their turn to meet their caseworker, but given how many people arrive every minute, it’s a long, long wait.InBeetlejuice, the Maitlands are sent to the waiting roomafter finally reading theHandbook For The Recently Deceased, and they eventually meet their caseworker, Juno.
Every Ghost In Beetlejuice’s Neitherworld Waiting Room
The Beetlejuice waiting room scene is one of the movie’s most famous moments, so here’s a guide to every poor soul waiting to be called.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuicespends more time in the Netherworld as it follows the bio-exorcist running away from his ex-wife Delores, and thanks to this,it shows what’s left of Charles’ body as he wanders the afterlife, not knowing what’s next. Charles eventually makes it to the waiting room and is later sent to the Soul Train. When Delia wakes up after being bitten by poisonous snakes, she finds herself in the waiting room, and she summons Beetlejuice to help her get out of there.
4Beetlejuice & Lydia’s Wedding(s)
Beetlejuice Hasn’t Given Up Yet
One big thing in common between bothBeetlejuicemovies is the weddings between the title character and Lydia. As Beetlejuice is cursed, he needs to marry a woman who is alive so he can be free in the mortal world. When Lydia summons him to help her save the Maitlands from a second death,Beetlejuice agrees to help her under the condition that she marries himonce the Maitlands are safe – and that’s a deal he repeats when Lydia summons him again more than three decades later.
Why Beetlejuice Wanted To Marry Lydia In The First Movie
Beetlejuice has done a lot of questionable things, and one of the most controversial ones was trying to marry Lydia in the first movie.
Luckily, before the wedding can be finalized, Barbara arrives riding a sandworm that eats Beetlejuice, setting Lydia free. InBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, the bio-exorcist also takes advantage of Lydia’s desperation (though now to save Astrid) and makes her sign a marriage contract. Once Astrid is safe, she and Lydia run to the church where Lydia is supposed to marry Rory, but he’s exposed as a liar and a gold digger. After getting rid of Rory,Beetlejuice goes ahead with his plan to marry Lydia, but Astrid finds that the contract is void, so Lydia doesn’t have to marry Beetlejuice.
3Sandworms Helping The Characters Out
Sandworms Have Been Unlikely Allies
In bothBeetlejuicemovies, the desert land makes an appearance, and it’s a very strange world. As the name suggests, this realm is a huge desert with some strange surroundings (made in Burton’s signature visual style), and its first appearance is when Adam tries to leave the house in Beetlejuice. Barbara pulls him back into the house, but even though he is gone for a couple of seconds, to Barbara two hours pass. The desert and the sandworms appear again near the end ofBeetlejuice, whenBarbara crashes Lydia and Beetlejuice’s wedding while riding a sandworm, which eats Beetlejuice.
InBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, the desert makes its first appearance when Lydia and Astrid go through a door that takes them there while escaping from the Netherworld’s security guards.A sandworm later helps Astrid when she opens a portal on the church’s floorto bring in a sandworm, which then eats Delores and Rory.
2Lydia & Astrid Are The Only Ones Who Can See Ghosts
A Talent That Runs In The Family
As mentioned above, Lydia is the only one who can see and interact with the Maitlands, but she isn’t the only one in her family with this ability. This gift of Lydia is what makes her host her own paranormal talk show, in which she uses her skills to get messages from deceased people and help those who come to her asking for her services as a medium. However, Astrid is very resented with Lydia as she can’t see her deceased father, Richard, but this isn’t Lydia’s fault, as Richard started working as a civil servant.
Why Lydia Couldn’t See The Ghost Of Astrid’s Father In Beetlejuice 2
Lydia is capable of communicating with ghosts in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, yet she can’t seem to reach Astrid’s father. Here’s what we know.
To Astrid’s surprise, she can see the dead too, but she doesn’t know she has this ability until much later inBeetlejuice Beetlejuice.Jeremy turns out to be a ghost, and not only that, but he takes advantage of Astrid and tricks her into exchanging her life for his so he can return to the world of the living. It’s unknown how many more times Astrid saw ghosts without knowing it, as well as what could be next for her with this newfound skill.
All 9 Clues To Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s Jeremy Twist
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice features a major plot twist around the new character, Jeremy, and there are many hints leading up to the reveal.
1A Possession Dance Scene
Both Beetlejuice Movies Have Memorable Dance Scenes
BothBeetlejuicemovies have memorable musical scenes, and their most iconic ones involve a possession dance. In the first movie, in an attempt to scare the Deetzes and their friends out of the house, the Maitlands possess them during dinner, starting with Delia.The Maitlands make them sing and dance“Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)”, in one of the movie’s funniest scenes.Beetlejuice Beetlejuicealso has a possession dance scene, but this one happens during Beetlejuice and Lydia’s wedding, and it’s much longer.
Beetlejuice possesses everyone at church and makes them sing and dance to Richard Harris’ “MacArthur Park” in its entirety. What makes this scene funnier is how confused Lydia and the rest are as they suddenly find themselves singing and dancing, as well as cheesy details like the huge cake and Beetlejuice crying. Both scenes are pretty random, but also very funny.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is the sequel to the original Tim Burton classic that starred Michael Keaton and Wynona Rider in a horror-comedy that involved ghosts trying to scare off new homebuyers from taking their house. The sequel brings back Michael Keaton as the hilarious and sleazy ghost with selfish intentions, now joined by Jenna Ortega in a new role.
