Handbook For The Recently Deceased.

Rating: 8/10 (29 July 2018)

Adam and Barbara (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis), lead the perfect life, in their house atop a quiet hill in the country.
They have decided to spend their vacation at home rather than take a trip while strenuously avoiding their real estate agent/friend (Annie McEnroe) who thinks the house is to big for them, and should be sold to a family.
Then, on their return trip from the Hardware Store in town, disaster strikes when (while trying not to hit a dog), their car goes over a bridge, and plummets into the water bellow.
Soon after, they find themselves home again, and it's not long before they realize they haven't survived the crash.
At first they panic, then they find The Handbook For The Recently Deceased (which reads like an lnstructions Manual), and they dive into it, looking for an answer to their problems.
Unable to leave the house because the exterior is a Martian-like environment filled with dangerous creatures from outer space, they languish in their dust covered house (which they can't clean properly because the vacuum cleaner is in the garage).
But things are about to take a turn for the worse, as an excentric New York family has bought the house, and is determined to make it all their own.
There's the father, Charles Deetz (Jeffrey Jones), who just wants to be left alone:
"Now remember Delia, we're here to relax and enjoy the country. NOT TO TRASH THE PLACE!"
The pampered, atrociously misguided, and blythely disregarding mother Delia (Catherine O'Hara) who has no intention of respecting her husband wishes:
"A little gasoline...blow torch...No problem."
The suicidally depressed daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder) who states simply:
"My whole life is a dark room. One BIG...DARK...ROOM!"
And the pompously arrogant, and inept interior decorator, Otho (Glenn Shandix) who's appalled by the house he can't wait to destroy:
It has absolutely no organic flow-through." He scoffs, defacing the walls with spray paint "Ugh!" he breathes, looking in the closet "Deliver me from LL Bean!"
Meanwhile, Adam and Barbara have entered the Seventh Circle of Hell, as their beautiful home is being gutted by a group of crazy yuppies.
"What are we going to do?" Barbara wails "Is this some sort of punishment?"
"We're not completely helpless Barbara." Adam says with a wicked grin "I've been looking through that book, and there's a word for people in our situation: Ghosts!"
They then put all their energy into haunting their own house. Moaning their hearts out as they parade around in sheets, and cutting each other's heads off, in order to look more terrifying.
But the impostors, far from being frightened, seem bored, and a little annoyed by their theatrics.
It is then that a mysterious bio-exorcist named Beetlegeuse (Michael Keaton) appears on T.V. offering a "free demonic possession for every exorcism."
This gives Adam and Barbara hope that they might still drive these people out.
But there are rumors going around about this bizarre new character, so much so that calling on his name three times may not be a good idea.
Tim Burton has a knack for directing these types of movies, and does a good job with this one (although it's not as spectacular as Batman or Edward Scissorhands, and this is probably due to the script which could've been better written).
Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis are really excellent, and the scenes their in are really funny.
There's one really great scene in which the family is eating dinner, and Day-O starts playing, and they all sing as if possessed.
The last scene is also very noteworthy.
Winona Ryder is terrific as the dark, and dreary Lydia.
All the other characters are perfectly cast.
And Michael Keaton is great as Beetlegeuse.
Originally, Review #65
Posted On:
April 30, 2010