Thirty-eight years later, “Beetlejuice” reminds audiences that not all ghosts are bad.
Geena Davis (left) as Barbara Maitland, Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice and Alec Baldwin as Adam Maitland are outside their quaint farmhouse in the fictitious town of Winter River, Connecticut. (Courtesy of Warner Bros.)
Then came the end of the harvest and the dark nights. Bonfires were lit, costumes donned and treats set out, a custom of offering hospitality to entities and ancestors who lived beyond the veil in the Netherworld. This was Samhain, a 2nd-century CE Gaelic ritual practiced in ancient northern Europe before winter’s threat began. It was a celebration that shaped Halloween and historical ghost stories.
This Halloween, as we remember Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice” (1988), thirty-eight years after it first haunted theaters, the most trustworthy characters in Winter River, Connecticut, are still the dead.
The Melodious Report visits Burton’s classic, where the satire has grown sharper and the title character’s humor has not aged well.
Read the full review to find out why “Beetlejuice” earns a Melodious Thumbs Up, with a caveat.
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