Tim Burton’s classicBeetlejuicehas long been a favorite of the horror-loving, everyday-is-Halloween crowd, boasting fantastic, imaginative worldbuilding, amusing setpieces, and a wonderfully memorable performance fromMichael Keatonas the titular demon Betelgeuse (aka Beetlejuice). Audiences can finally see what happens next on the big screen in the sequelBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, directed by Burton, and seeing Keaton return to fill the ghastly striped suit. It’s a bold sequel in the spirit of the original that expands upon a lot of its lore, introduces new characters and elements, and carries forward all the musicality and inventive grossness of 1988 classic. But what’s it all about?
What Is ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ About?
The sequel sees the return of Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder), now and adult whose connection to the paranormal has been parleyed into fame as a professional TV psychic medium hosting “Ghost House with Lydia Deetz.” Lydia now has her own daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega),who resents Lydia and doubts her abilities because of the latter’s supposed inability to contact Lydia’s deceased husband Richard (Santiago Cabrera).Beyond the trappings of fame and the difficulties of raising a daughter who thinks you’re a fraud, Lydia’s world is sent reeling from two curious events. First, she’shaunted by flashes of Beetlejuice, who continues to believe marrying Lydia will allow him to pass into and live in our world. Lydia reunites with her stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara), now an awkwardly silly artist, at the family’s old home (now devoid of the ghosts that haunted the original) following the death of her father, Charles (played byJeffrey Jonesin the original).
Everyone Wants To Marry Lydia, and It Causes Problems
Beetlejuice may now have gainful employment in the afterlife as a call center boss, thoughhe still hasn’t gotten over the one who got away, Lydia,his supposed chance at escaping the afterlife.She’s still traumatized by his presencein her formative years (and seeing him everywhere doesn’t help). Lydia’s producer and creepy beau Rory (Justin Theroux) is clearly tied to the ship that is her success, so in a misguided attempt to assuage her fears of saying the demon’s name thrice,Rory belligerently takes it upon himself to say the demon’s name. Bad plan. The two are whisked away to the Deetz home’s infamous model town, then directly into the presence of Beetlejuice himself. He shows them a whirlwind of rapid-fire horrors, terrorizing Rory and forcing Lydia to give a supernaturally quick birth to a baby Beetlejuice before Lydia’s presence of mind allows her to say “Home, home, home,” taking her and her gothic beau back into our world. A relatively short time later, at Charles Deetz' funeral,the opportunistic Rory gets down on one knee to propose to Lydia, a Halloween wedding date (mere days later) already in his planned machinations.
Some Heartless Rogue Stole That Iconic ‘Beetlejuice’ Sculpture Straight Off the Sequel’s Set
Jenna Ortega joins Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara in the sequel… but will the sculpture?
Beetlejuice Has a New (Old) Enemy: His Ex-Wife
While Beetlejuice is certainly a danger to the Deetz family,he gets his own antagonist in the form of his ex-wife Delores (Monica Bellucci), who boasts both the film’s best entrance (stitching herself together in the afterlife after escaping a series of crates) and a deep connection to Beetlejuice’s origins. In the 14th century,Beetlejuice was a grave robberof the human variety who had a whirlwind marriage to the eerie vixen Delores. Unbeknownst to him, the latter was the leader of a soul-sucking cultwho wanted to kill and consume his soul in order to gain immortality. In the afterlife, she escapes to finish the job, traversing the great bureaucratic beyond in search of Beetlejuice and consuming every soul she meets along the way. This draws the attention of Wolf Jackson (Willem Dafoe),an actor in life turned afterlife gumshoe, now pursuing Beetlejuice’s murderous ex.
Astrid’s Endangered by Her New Beau, Giving Beetlejuice an Opening
Feeling trapped in familial weirdness, tension with her mom, and the Rory of it all, Astrid goes out for a bike ride before narrowly missing being hit by every single vehicle on the road. It sends her crashing down a hill and through a fence until she hits a massive tree and treehouse. There she meets Jeremy (Arthur Conti), a charming boy whose presence seems to be a sort of respite for the disaffected young woman. She visits his home (driven by Lydia), slides by his parents (stuck in numbed, monotonous home activities), and she and Jeremy bond thanks to his collected oddities and an exceptional attic record collection.Jeremy invites Astrid to spend time with him on Halloween nightbefore Lydia and Rory’s hasty wedding, to which she agrees.
Halloween. Astrid arrives, and Jeremy calls off their plan to hand out Halloween candy. The pair share a romantic moment, which finds them levitating (much like Lydia in the original). As it turns out,Jeremy’s a ghost, and (shocker!) Astrid, who doesn’t believe in the supernatural, can see them. He explains that he died in a tragic fall from his tree fort and would like Astrid to help him complete a ritual from his Handbook for the Recently Deceased that will bring him back to life. Astrid agrees to help Jeremy for reasons beyond the meet-cute benefits of aiding a charming ghost boy:Jeremy promises to help Astrid see her father in the afterlife. Meanwhile, Lydia discovers that the boy’s house was the location of an infamous tragedy: the seemingly nice local boy Jeremy killed his parents and died falling from the tree fort when officers were in pursuit. Astrid is in danger:Jeremy intends to sacrifice her life in his place so that he can live again. Lydia conjures Beetlejuice, and makes a devil’s bargain:if Beetlejuice helps Lydia save Astrid, Lydia will finally marry him.
How Does ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ End?
Lydia enters and transverses the afterlife in search of Astrid, as Jeremy elsewhere accompanies the latter through its bureaucratic pitfalls.When Astrid discovers she’s been betrayed, it’s too late. En route to fatefully boarding the Soul Train (turns out, yes, it’s THAT Soul Train), Astrid does get a peek at her worried father, Richard.Lydia and Richard intervene before Astrid departs (presumably) forever. The three share a lovely moment where Richard encourages the pair to bond, saying he’s always watching and there for them. Meanwhile, Jeremy can’t finish his escape from the afterlife without a passport stamp, but finds his bureaucratic agent is secretly Beetlejuice. Instead of letting him through,the latter sends the murderous ghost boy to Hell(presumably), while Lydia and Astrid return to the human world.
Back in the real world, Lydia’s wedding is almost upon the Deetzes.In a last-minute chapel surprise, Beetlejuice appears, aided by Delia(who died in an extremely stupid snake ritual, thinking the venomous snakes were no longer dangerous). He begins to exert power: pulling the church’s influencer audience onto their phones, cursing Rory to admit the truth (he never really loved Lydia, he just loved the money and privileges of riding her coattails), giving Lydia a stunner of a red wedding dress, and other magical machinations.Wolf Jackson busts in with a host of supernatural cops, pursuing Beetlejuice for breaking the afterlife’s rules during his supernatural shenanigans, and they’re easily frozen by Beetlejuice, who controls the entire affair while making everyone sing an extensive rendition of “MacArthur Park.“Delores appears to Beetlejuice’s surprise, but she and Rory are dispatched via supernatural sandworm with absurd easethanks to Lydia and Astrid opening a portal to the beasts and Beetlejuice luring it Delores' way. Astrid’s quick thinking allows her to regain power due to Beetlejuice’s breakage of said supernatural rules, negating the marriage deal he made with Lydia and allowing Lydia to banish him by saying his name thrice. Crisis abated, Lydia has a long dream sequence ofa beautiful life for Astrid that ends with the latter giving birth to the baby Beetlejuice from earlier in the dream.She’s safe for now, but clearly, her dreams aren’t.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuiceis in theaters now!
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: The sequel to the cult classic brings back the infamous ghost Beetlejuice, who is unleashed upon a modern family, setting off a chain of hilarious and supernatural events. As mischief ensues, both the living and the deceased must deal with the resulting chaos, blending comedic antics with ghostly intrigue.
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