Beetlejuice is back after more than 30 years. Photo: Warner Bros.
By Velvet Winter of the ABC
It's showtime! Decades after cult film Beetlejuice exploded onto our screens, the 'Juice' is loose once again with the sequel: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
For the uninitiated, Beetlejuice is set in a world where homes are haunted by ghosts, the afterlife exists (and is cartoonishly gory), and all the grottiest parts are rolled into one ghoul - Beetlejuice (well, technically, Betelgeuse). He's a self-professed "bio-exorcist", a pro at ridding houses of pesky humans so the ghosts that inhabit them can get a bit of peace and quiet.
Back in 1988 when the original film was released, director Tim Burton was still the relatively new kid on the block, having only just hit success with his first feature film, Pee-wee's Big Adventure.
Willem Dafoe is one of the newest ghouls on the block in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Photo: Warner Bros.
Enlivened by Michael Keaton's madcap showing in the titular role, as well as a breakout performance from Winona Ryder, Beetlejuice helped put Burton and his trademark gothic sensibilities on the map.
Now, after 36 years, the highly anticipated sequel has hit cinemas.
Why has it taken so long to get a Beetlejuice sequel?
The original Beetlejuice was a commercial hit, pulling in almost $US75 million on a $US10 million budget, making it the 10th-highest-grossing film of 1988. As a result, movement for a sequel started almost immediately. A couple of scripts floated around in the '90s, including one that would see Beetlejuice transported to the sunny shores of Hawaii, but nothing materialised until the early 2010s.
In 2015, Ryder told Seth Meyers she was on board for round two, but there was no confirmation from Burton or Keaton. Two years later, Warner Bros let slip that a different screenwriter was working on a script but by 2019, they confirmed the project had been shelved.
Things picked back up in 2022, but Burton was still saying he wasn't going to be involved. Days later, he backtracked and was on board as director.
Do I need to see Beetlejuice to enjoy the sequel?
Not necessarily.
Of course, if you have the time, do yourself a favour and settle in for an '80s movie night with the original. It's definitely worth it and it means you'll catch more of the Easter eggs aimed at Burton-heads in Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice.
But if you're champing at the bit to see the sequel, there are a few things you should know before grabbing the popcorn.
The first film revolves around a recently deceased couple, the Maitlands - played by a shockingly young Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis. Struggling to adjust to their new status, they are sent into a tailspin when the Deetz family - gothy teen Lydia, snobby step mum Delia and clueless dad Charles - move into their old house and start drastic renovations. The Maitlands recruit Beetlejuice to get the family out of their house, but he eventually goes rogue and tries to marry Lydia in order to claw his way out of a purgatorial afterlife.
There are more intricacies to the story, but it was mostly a canvas for Burton's most vivacious ideas, from giant striped sandworms to reanimated shrunken heads.
Much of the iconic imagery is used again in the sequel so, as long as you're familiar with Beetlejuice and the Deetz family, you'll be OK.
What is Beetlejuice Beetlejuice about?
The sequel picks up in real time, 36 years after the first film. Lydia (Ryder) is now all grown up, working as a hokey TV medium while being bled dry by her oily boyfriend (Justin Theroux) and terrorised by flashes of the ghost with the most. She also has her own gothy teen now, Astrid (Burton's new muse, Jenna Ortega).
Astrid (Jenna Ortega) follows in her mother's gothic footsteps in Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. Photo: Warner Bros.
Lydia takes Astrid and heads back to the creaky manor from the first film after the death of her father, reuniting with Delia (Catherine O'Hara). Soon they're sucked back into Beetlejuice's orbit, as he once again tries to claw his way out of the afterlife via the living.
Have the original cast and crew returned for the sequel?
Most of the major players are back.
The biggest relief was seeing that Winona Ryder and Catherine O'Hara are back. Charles, the patriarch of the Deetz family, appears only as a headless corpse after being chomped in half by a shark. It's a neat way to politely do away with the need to bring actor Jeffrey Jones back into the fray, as he is now a convicted sex offender.
Michael Keaton reprises his role as the ghost with the most. Photo: Warner Bros.
Burton purposefully left the Maitlands out of the sequel's story, as he wanted to concentrate on the three generations of women.
But perhaps the biggest get is Michael Keaton reprising his role as Beetlejuice, one of the first characters that put him on the Hollywood map in the '80s.
Despite being the title character, Keaton infamously only had 17 minutes of screen time in the original, a quirk he insisted on in his return.
"The idea was, 'No, no, no, you can't load it up with Beetlejuice, that'll kill it'," Keaton told GQ.
"I think the Beetlejuice character doesn't drive the story as much as he did in the first one. He's more part of the storyline in this one as opposed to the first one, which is a case of, this thing comes in and drives the movie a little bit."
A few new players are on the scene in Beetlejuice; Monica Bellucci is Beetlejuice's soul-sucking ex, and Willem Dafoe appears as the afterlife detective trying to hunt her down.
What are the critics saying?
2024 is actually not a bad time to be a legacy sequel.
Twisters (released 28 years after the original) and Alien: Romulus enjoyed light critical praise for going back to basics, and it looks like Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice is getting the same treatment.
Vulture's Alison Willmore confidently declared Burton great again in her review: "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is … a return to form that finds Burton and much of the previous cast getting weird, gross, and, yes, goth in both an idyllic New England town and a gleefully bureaucratic afterlife."
But Rolling Stone's David Fear questioned if Burton could still manage the off-beat after years of shilling for Disney blockbusters like the live-action re-imaginings of Dumbo and Alice in Wonderland.
"This isn't the type of sequel to suffer from contract-obligation-itis; you never doubt that Burton's heart is 100-per cent in it. It's more like his magic touch with this type of material feels a little AWOL."
Will there be a third Beetlejuice film?
If the sequel's projected $US145 million box office opening weekend is correct it certainly seems like the franchise is ripe for a third bite. But Burton recently shut down any rumours for a threequel (for now).
"Let's do the math … it took 35 years to do this, so I'll be over 100," he told Variety.
"I guess it's possible with the advent of science these days, but I don't think so."
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is in cinemas now.
This story was first published by the [abc.net.au ABC.]