By Jessica Wolfgang, staff writer

The Return of a Beloved Film 

In 1988 film director Tim Burton released what I believe to be a classic movie, Beetlejuice. This film played on the idea of the dead and living interacting together. In short, the film does this by having a recently deceased couple, who (spoiler alert) die in a car accident, and try to scare away living inhabitants from occupying their beloved home. (The dead couple is known as the Maitlands, and the living occupants are called the Deetz family. The Deetz family consists of Charles Deetz: father, Deila Deetz: stepmother, and Lydia Deetz: daughter). They attempt to shoo the occupants out by contacting a bio-exorcist by the name of Beetlejuice. To summon him, they shout his name specifically three times. As the movie concludes, the couple grows to love the inhabitant’s daughter, Lydia, and realize summoning this bio-exorcist was quite frankly, a horrible idea for a number of reasons. They are able to banish Beetlejuice to where he came. 

To Infinity and Beyond 

Flash forward 36 years, the Maitlands no longer haunt the living world, and the Deetz family has some changes. (Enter Beetlejuice 2 2024!!) Lydia Deetz is a psychic mediator and a single mother with a daughter named Astrid. Her stepmother became a famous artist, and her father died a proudful birdwatcher from a shark attack injury. Without going into too much detail about the film and thus avoiding spoilers, two key characters in the plot are Lydia and Astrid. Astrid is a skeptical teenager and realist daughter obsessed with science and distraught by her father’s absence. Meanwhile, Lydia is too wrapped up in her ghost problems and potential new love interest, Rory. As for Beetlejuice, do not worry, he makes his appearance plenty of times! He is consistently in trouble just as much as the first film and has some issues with his former mistress.

What the Film Gets Right

Usually with many sequels, viewers make comments such as “Well it is simply not as good as the first film” or “they should not have changed this or that,” and “the plot should have gone like this instead.” I know this as I am quite guilty of making those comments in the past. However, for this sequel, the first statement may be true but, personally, I was quite pleased with the continuation of the film. (Just saddened it took 36 years!!!). So here are my hot takes on what the film did correctly:

1) Deila Deetz became a famous artist. 

  • Explanation: This makes sense as she was obsessed with weird sculptures in the first film. 

2) Killing off Charles Deetz. 

  • Explanation: This also makes sense as actor Jeffrey Jones has had real-life legal troubles.

3) Lydia Deetz being a psychic mediator. 

  • Explanation: In the first film, she was a goth kid who was able to talk and communicate with ghosts. 

4) Gruesome depictions of those who died. 

  • Explanation: Like the first film, the dead sometimes appear remarkably interesting, to say the least, to reflect how they died.

5) Making Lydia’s daughter Astrid a skeptic 

  • This is a good juxtaposition for Lydia. Lydia believes in ghosts and was formerly antisocial. Now her daughter is skeptical of ghosts and is also, in a sense, antisocial. This serves as a key role for plot progression in the second film (definitely watch!!!).

Moving Forward

With many popular movies, filmmakers think of making a sequel and will often tease about it at the end of the current film. In Beetlejuice 2, they played off the teasing by having Lydia Deetz experience a nightmare regarding Beetlejuice. (Even though everything is supposed to be solved now with no unfinished business.) Though Burton has not confirmed the coming of a third film, it is possible he may do one, considering how he ended this film. I think he did that as a means to be able to create a third film if he ever chooses. 

In my opinion though, the nightmare was quite something to say the least: In short, Astrid gives birth to a disgusting Beetlejuice baby. I adore Burton’s works and look forward to the plans he has next!