Surreal Gothic Comedy

Rating: 8/10 (7 January 2009)

Tim Burton who is the master of Gothic film making and has one hell of an imagination. Beetlejuice a film example of this and a very quirky film.
Beetlejuice starts with a young couple the Maitlands (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) who live in a large house in Connecticut. They unfortunately died in a car accident and end up trapped in their house for a 127 years. With their death their house was brought by Deetzs, a family from New York City. The wife Delia (Catherine O'Hara), starts to ruin everything that the Maitlands had set up. They want to get rid of the Deetzs from their house. They try to scare them away, but were very unsuccessful, so in their desperation call for the help from Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton). But at the same time the Maitlands start to befriend the Deetz's teenage daughter, Lydia (Winona Ryder), the only human who can see them.
Beetlejuice is a horror comedy, not recommended for children. The style of the comedy is mostly physical and fish out of water situations; it fairly humorous. Michael Keaton was funny and creepy with some good speeches as the sinister Betelgeuse/Beetlejuice. Winona Ryder was good as always, and Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis were pretty decent in their roles. This is a very different film which Tim Burton repeats with Edward Scirrorhands. The special effects were done with heart and had a real imagination behind them; I can see the roots of Burton's animated films The Night Before Christmas and Corpse Bride.
If you are a fan of Burton's work then you will enjoy this film.