Beetlejuice

Theatrical Release Date: 1988 03 30 (USA)

UPC: 883929003556

Studio: Warner Home Video

MPAA Rating: PG   Contains:[Mild Violence, Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Adult Language]

Summary: 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. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Fantasy

Awards: Best Makeup – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Makeup – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Makeup – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

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

Beetlejuice

Format: DVD

Release Date: 09/16/2008

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, DD1 Dolby Digital Mono, DDS2.0 Dolby Digital w/ 4 channels

Runtime: 92 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French,Spanish

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Beetlejuice
1. Overhead Credits [2:36]
2. The Perfect Vacation [3:05]
3. A Wrong Turn [2:28]
4. Recently Deceased [2:43]
5. Persuing the Obits [2:22]
6. Enter the Deetzes [2:48]
7. Ghostly Gambits [3:27]
8. Wormlike Wildlife [2:35]
9. Moving Day [2:41]
10. The Power of Advertising [1:53]
11. The Afterlife [1:46]
12. Interview With Juno [3:09]
13. Help Me! [5:43]
14. Unspookable [:57]
15. Beetlejuice [5:29]
16. The Dinner Party (Day-O) [6:50]
17. No-Shows [4:16]
18. Turn on the Juice [3:51]
19. "Make My Millenium." [2:08]
20. Never Trust the Living [1:40]
21. Funny Faces [1:20]
22. Lydia Meets Beetlejuice [3:12]
23. Ortho's Seance [4:20]
24. "It's Showtime." [5:35]
25. Marriage of Inconvenience [2:13]
26. High Marks [5:23]
27. Lightheaded [2:13]
28. End Credits [1:17]

Derek Armstrong

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. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Michael Bender  Screenwriter 
Tim Burton  Director 
Danny Elfman  Composer (Music Score) 
Michael McDowell  Screenwriter 
Warren Skaaren  Screenwriter 
Larry Wilson  Screenwriter 
Alec Baldwin  Actor 
Geena Davis  Actor 
Michael Keaton  Actor 
Jeffrey Jones  Actor 
Catherine O'Hara  Actor 
Sylvia Sidney  Actor 
Glenn Shadix  Actor 
Winona Ryder  Actor 
Robert Goulet  Actor 
Dick Cavett  Actor 
Annie McEnroe  Actor 
Simmy Bow  Actor 
Marie Cheatham  Actor 
Harold Goodman  Actor 
Hugo L. Stanger  Actor 
Maurice Page  Actor 
Rachel Mittelman  Actor 
J. Jay Saunders  Actor 
Mark Ettlinger  Actor 
Patrice Camhi  Actor 
Cynthia Daly  Actor 
Douglas Turner  Actor 
Carmen Filpi  Actor 
Adelle Lutz  Actor 
Gary Jochimsen  Actor 
Bob Pettersen  Actor 
Duane Davis  Actor 
Tony Cox  Actor 
Jack Angel  Actor 

Country: USA