Beetlejuice [Blu-ray] [20th Anniversary Edition] [Digi Book Packaging]

Director: Tim Burton Tim Burton

Overview

Thanks to the carelessness of a cute little dog, newlyweds Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin are killed in a freak auto accident. Upon arriving in the outer offices of Heaven, the couple finds that, thanks to a century's worth of bureaucratic red tape, they're on a long celestial waiting list. Before they can earn their wings, Davis and Baldwin must occupy their old house as ghosts for the next fifty years. Alas, the house is now owned by insufferable yuppies Catherine O'Hara and Jeffrey Jones. Horrified at the prospect of sharing space with these obnoxious interlopers, Davis and Baldwin do their best to scare O'Hara and Jones away, but their house-haunting skills are pathetic at best. In desperation, the ghostly couple engage the services of a veteran scaremeister: a yellow-haired, snaggle-toothed, profane, flatulent "gonzo" spirit named Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton). The problem: Beetlejuice cannot be trusted-especially when he falls in love with O'Hara and Jones' gloomy, black-clad teenaged daughter Winona Ryder. Beetlejuice producer David Geffen, director Tim Burton, and composer Danny Elfman were also involved in an animated TV-series spin-off.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/07/2008
UPC:	0883929004300
Original Release:	1988
Rating:	PG
Source:	Warner Home Video
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:32:00
Sales rank:	1,611

Special Features

3 Hilarious Episodes from the Animated Beetlejuice TV Series: A-Ha! ; Skeletons in the Closet; Spooky Boo- Tique; Music-Only Audio Track (5.1); Theatrical Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Michael Keaton	Betelgeuse
Alec Baldwin	Adam Maitland
Geena Davis	Barbara Maitland,Dub Football Player
Jeffrey Jones	Charles Deetz
Catherine O'Hara	Delia Deetz
Winona Ryder	Lydia Deetz
Glenn Shadix	Otho
Sylvia Sidney	Juno
Patrice Martinez	Actor
Robert Goulet	Maxie Dean
Dick Cavett	Bernard
Annie McEnroe	Jane Butterfield
Simmy Bow	Janitor
Maurice Page	Ernie
Hugo Stanger	Actor,Old Bill
Rachel Mittelman	Little Jane
Cynthia Daly	Three-fingered Typist
Douglas Turner	Char Man
Carmen Filpi	Messenger
Susan Kellermann	Actor
Adelle Lutz	Beryl,Actor
Marie Cheatham	Actor,Actor
Tony Cox	Preacher
Harold Goodman	2nd Old Bill
J. Jay Saunders	1st Moving Man,Actor
Mark Ettlinger	2nd Moving Man
Gary Jochimsen	Dumb Football Player
Bob Pettersen	2nd Dumb Football Player
Jack Angel	Preacher
Patrice Camhi	Receptionist
Susan Kellerman	Actor
Danny Elfman	Composer

Technical Credits

Michael Bender

Larry Wilson

Michael McDowell

Warren Skaaren

Tim Burton	Director
Michael Bender	Producer,Screenwriter
Richard Hashimoto	Producer
Larry Wilson	Producer,Screenwriter
Michael McDowell	Screenwriter
Warren Skaaren	Screenwriter
Fred Lerner	Stunts
Robert Short	Special Effects
Chuck Gaspar	Special Effects
Janet Hirshenson	Casting
Charles Gaspar	Special Effects
Peter Kuran	Special Effects
Jane Jenkins	Casting
VCE, Inc.	Special Effects
Warren Hamilton	Sound Editor
David Ronne	Sound/Sound Designer
Steve Maslow	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Tim Burton caught audiences' attention with Pee Wee's Big Adventure (1985), but Beetlejuice established him as film's prominent imaginer of skewed fairytale worlds. Even after several subsequent collaborations with composer Danny Elfman and a couple of this film's stars (Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton), Beetlejuice still exists as the prototypical Burton film, if not actually his best. A veritable wellspring of imagination, the film removes ghosts from the horror realm and puts them in the slapstick world of Keaton's wisecracking title character, a con artist who specializes in expunging the living from the homes of the dead. Keaton's performance is spotty and over-the-top, but Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis are nicely understated as the mild-mannered spirits doomed to haunt their bucolic mansion (an architectural creation that's trademark Burton), even though they're more interested in peace and privacy than acting ghoulish. The film also features such hammy icons as Dick Cavett and Robert Goulet, giving a good preview of Burton's knack for oddball casting. The effects are first-rate for their time, and include such wonderful oddities as a snake creature that slithers through the dunes of an afterworld purgatory, and a dead waiting room occupant with a head shrunk to the size of a prune. The film is notable for providing Ryder her breakout role, and it represents one of the only times Jeffrey Jones hasn't played a weaselly villain.

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