It’s been 36 years since the release of Tim Burton’s gothic farce, Beetlejuice (1988). The musical horror comedy told the story of newly dead couple the Maitlands (Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin), who summon a supernatural “bio-exorcist” (Michael Keaton) to scare away the appalling yuppie couple, the Deetzes (Jeffrey Jones and Catherine O’Hara), who have bought their house.
The film (along with the high school satire Heathers, released a month after Beetlejuice) helped make a name of then 16-year-old actress Winona Ryder, who played the Deetz family’s psychic goth daughter. She is the only one able to see the ghosts and by the end of the film, finds herself caught up in a Faustian bargain with Beetlejuice, and must be saved from becoming his bride.
It’s no surprise, given the current vogue for 1980s nostalgia (spurred initially by the success of Netflix series Stranger Things, which also stars Ryder) Burton has returned for a sequel – Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
