Director
Tim Burton
Leading Actors/Actresses
Geena Davis, Alec Baldwin, Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder
Supporting Actors/Actresses
Sylvia Sidney, Glenn Shadix, Jeffrey Jones, Catherine O'Hara
Genre
Horror/Comedy/Fantasy/Sci-Fi
Language
English
Awards
Academy Award for Best Make-Up
Date of Release
1988
Producer
Michael Bender, Richard Hashimoto, Larry Wilson
Setting and Context
Sleepy New England town, late 1980s
Narrator and Point of View
No narrator; the movie's action is primarily, but not exclusively, from the perspective of the Maitlands.
Tone and Mood
Threatening, Foreboding, Irreverent, Comic, Grotesque, Fantastical, Quirky, Weird
Protagonist and Antagonist
The Maitlands are the protagonists and Beetlejuice is the antagonist
Major Conflict
The first conflict is that the Maitlands are trying to scare the Deetzes out of their house, and when they cannot, they misguidedly enlist the help of the nefarious Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice's presence becomes the next conflict, in that he does more harm than help, and wants to marry Lydia. Complicating things further is the fact that Charles Deetz is trying to buy up the whole town and use the Maitlands' ghostly presence as a money-making scheme, which would harm the world of the dead.
Climax
The climax occurs when the Maitlands vanquish Beetlejuice once and for all and save the day.
Foreshadowing
Lydia finding the Handbook for the Recently Deceased foreshadows her discovery of the Maitlands living in the attic. Also, we get several clues to the existence of Beetlejuice before he appears in the film. We see him in his underground lair, reading the paper and talking to himself, but he does not reveal himself until the Maitlands visit him in the model.
Understatement
An example of understatement is the nonplussed attitude that the Deetzes have about the ghosts. Every time the viewer thinks that the Deetzes are going to be startled by the presence of the ghosts, they are completely nonplussed.
Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques
The main innovations are in the makeup and the lighting used. The visual world of the film is fantastical and over-the-top, and the many absurd and supernatural elements of the plot are reflected ingeniously in the visual world of the film.
Allusions
Harry Belafonte music is used throughout. Beetlejuice makes reference to the movie "The Exorcist." Ozzy and Harriet, the television characters, are referenced.
Paradox
Lydia is suicidal and tells two ghosts who would rather be alive that she yearns to be dead like them, and the ghosts tell her that being dead is no easier than being alive.
