Adam and Barbara Maitland (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) live in the tiny town of Winter River, Connecticut. The Maitlands decide to spend their summer vacation at home instead of going away. In the attic, Adam is working on building a scale model of the town. Needing something from the hardware store they drive into town. After Adam gets what he needs the couple head back home. A dog runs in front of the car causing an accident. The car goes through the wall of a covered bridge and lands in the river below.
The Maitlands make their way back to the house not realizing that they are actually dead. Through trial and error, they learn that their ghosts are confined to the house. On a table is a copy of a handbook for the recently deceased.
While they are trying to figure out what’s next, the Maitlands’ former realtor, Jane Butterfield (Annie McEnroe), sells the house to Charles Deetz (Jeffrey Jones). Charles bought the house without telling his second wife, Delia (Catherine O’Hara). The Deetz, along with their Goth daughter, Lydia (Winona Ryder), move in. Delia, with the help of a pretentious interior designer named Otho Fenlock (Glenn Shadix), immediately starts to modernize and redecorate the house, much to Barbara’s dismay. The Maitlands decide that the Deetzes’ must go. They try to scare them but only Lydia can see them.
In desperation the Maitlands contact someone who advertises himself as a bio-exorcist, or a spirit that drives the living out of a place. All you have to do to summon him is to repeat his name three times. His name is Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) or Betelgeuse. The Maitlands death caseworker, Juno (Sylvia Sidney) warns them that Beetlejuice is trouble and not to summon him. The Maitlands try to scare the Deetzes but to no avail. In desperation they call Beetlejuice’s name three times and summon the bio-exorcist.
Once they meet Beetlejuice, they find him obnoxious and his methods crude. They reconsider and double down on their haunting attempts on their own. This results in the Deetzes finding out that the house is haunted. Charles and Delia are thrilled that they have ghosts and decide to exploit them. Otho, having stolen the handbook, attempts to resurrect the ghosts but ends up exorcising them. Lydia calls on Beetlejuice for help. The specter appears and begins causing chaos.
“Beetlejuice” was released in 1988 and was directed by Tim Burton. It is an American gothic horror comedy. The film was based on a story by Michael McDowell and Larry Wilson. The movie spawned an animated television series as well as a 2018 stage musical. In 2024 a sequel, “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice” was released.
In 1998 a new start-up company called Netflix wanted to get into the mail-order DVD business. Co-founder Marc Randolph shipped a DVD to his home to see if it was possible to ship movies through the mail undamaged. The DVD he shipped was Beetlejuice.
Keaton ad-libbed most of his dialogue. His character, Beetlejuice, drops an “F” bomb in the movie just after he kicks over a fake tree in Adam’s model of the town. The film was still released as PG.