Horror comedy: Beetlejuice: excited for a riot

For many fans, Tim Burton’s sequel to the 80s film classic “Beetlejuice” (1988) is almost like a dream come true. For the young director at the time, the riotous ghost comedy marked the breakthrough in his meteoric career as a filmmaker for his very own brand of shrill gothic pop. He himself wanted to shoot a second part of the successful film soon, but it took a whole 36 years until “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice” in the tranquil town of Winter River saw the title poltergeist (again played by Michael Keaton) emerge from the realm of the dead causes a lot of chaos. Despite the intervening decades, Burton continues to write his pop culture horror fairy tale almost seamlessly. This is achieved, among other things, by the fact that many of the actors from that time take part again. In addition to Michael Keaton, there is Winona Ryder, then the young and always a little insecure Lydia, who now has her own television show as a ghost-conjuring celebrity. Her daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega, with whom Tim Burton recently had great success with the Netflix series “Wednesday”) plays the stubborn teenager who doesn’t believe in ghosts. And Lydia’s mother Delia Deetz (Catherine O’Hara) is back as an annoying artist.

The plot begins when, after the death of her husband, Delia drives from New York to Winter River with her daughter Lydia, her slimy partner and TV manager Rory (Justin Theroux) and granddaughter Astrid, to their tranquil and somewhat spooky house on the hill. in which the spooky story of the first part began. Again it’s about generational conflicts and ignorance of the spirits of the deceased, which Astrid dismisses as a figment of her stupid mother’s imagination. Until she suddenly meets a young man who, like her, enthusiastically reads Dostoyevsky, begins to flirt with him and suddenly realizes, astonished, that he is actually a ghost. She also has the supernatural ability to see the dead, like her mother. Although there is a huge difference here compared to the 1988 film. While the young, always insecure Lydia felt drawn to ghosts over 30 years ago, the tough Astrid is a tough pragmatist who then fearlessly interacts with the ghosts when she finds out about their existence. Instead of a shy teenager who slowly learns to formulate her wishes and assert herself in the 1988 film, the new film features a young woman bursting with self-confidence.

This is entirely in keeping with the trend of today’s film productions, which would hardly tell a contemporary, convincing story with a shy teenager à la Lydia or Winona Ryder from 1988. Astrid is the only rational character in the slapstick comedy “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice”. There are a lot of crazy characters around her, such as Danny DeVito in a supporting role as a caretaker in the realm of the dead or Monica Bellucci as Beetlejuice’s ex-wife, who runs around murdering and gives the titular anti-hero a whole back story , which dates back to the Italian Middle Ages. And Willem Dafoe, as police chief in the realm of the dead, is allowed to make one stupid joke after another. The whole thing still works surprisingly well as an entertaining comedy, which of course leaves the 1988 original far behind in terms of tricks. The tragic story of Lydia’s father’s plane crash is even told as a standalone story with small animated puppets.

Of course, the all-devouring, somewhat ridiculous looking black and white sandworm that burrows its way from the desert of a Saturn moon to the realm of the dead is also present. But there are also a whole group of influencers who are filming and are swallowed up by their cell phones with distorted faces. “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice” is also a satire on the horror genre that is so popular today. Nobody has to be afraid or seriously frightened here. The grotesque mixture is implemented with lots of music from the Bee Gees to loud soul and big dance scenes in the style of a musical. The inevitable wedding of Beetlejuice and Lydia, which of course does not lead to marriage, is a broad final chord, a wild and impressive ride through Tim Burton’s fantastic world of images with a huge melting cake, a crazy poltergeist who bends reality and a spirit world that is completely out of control again.

»Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice«, USA 2024. Director: Tim Burton; Book: Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Seth Grahame-Smith. Starring: Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe. 105 min. Now in the cinema.

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