If I told you how many times I've rewound the part where Alec Baldwin's character Adam Maitland first encounters the titular ghost in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice, you'd give me a concerned look and immediately confiscate my TV remote. The actor's slack-jawed reaction is several seconds too late, absurdly hammy, and has been cracking me and my pals up since we first watched the film in the '90s. Back then, we'd play it on a loop in the wee hours of every sleepover, and roll about the floor giggling – eyes glistening with happy tears. I'm literally laughing at the thought of it as I'm writing right now…
It's just a split-second, silly goof that Burton clearly didn't think was noticeable enough to shoot again or cut out of the final edit but, to me, it perfectly sums up something I've long argued about Beetlejuice, and that's that Adam and his wife Barbara (Geena Davis) are the best, and funniest, part. Seeing the way they respond to the wild things that are happening around them is where the film's true magic lies. Given that, it'll probably come as no surprise that I'm concerned they won't be back for the upcoming sequel; a worry that has been ever so slightly amplified by the new movie's recently released glossy teaser.
