- Director: Tim Burton
- Screenplay: Alfred Gough, Miles Millar
- Cast: Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe
- Cinematography: Haris Zambarloukos
- Editing: Jay Prychidny
- Score: Danny Elfman
- Genre: Dark fantasy comedy horror
- Runtime: 104 minutes
Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice…he’s back! After 30+ years in the afterlife (and our world too), the ‘ghost with the most’ is ready to wreak havoc upon the living once again. I found the ending of the first ‘Beetlejuice‘ to be rather rushed so although the cinematic landscape is saturated with sequels, a follow up is warranted here. This means the somewhat unfinished business between Betelgeuse and Winona Ryder’s Lydia Deetz, including their wedding near-miss at the climax of the first film, can be resolved.
In this sequel, Lydia is all grown up with a daughter of her own (scream queen Jenna Ortega). She’s the host of ‘Ghost House’, a spooky chat show produced by her boyfriend, the slimy Justin Theroux. She inevitably returns to her childhood town of Winter River after her dad dies – killing his character off acts as a way of getting around actor Jeffrey Jones’ unsavoury criminal convictions (a creative animated sequence explains the character’s fate). There, she must face her haunted past and…Betelgeuse (try saying his name three times – I dare you).
While it doesn’t have the 80s charm of the original, it’s as deliciously dark as it is funny; the right amount of gore and more severed limbs than a butcher’s shop (12A level stuff, this isn’t a ‘Saw‘ movie). It’s ghoulishly good fun throughout, especially since we get to see more of the afterlife this time round – the macabre costume design, the makeup and visual effects are all spooktacular.
Michael Keaton appears in limited screen time – similar to the original premise, this allows the three generations of Deetz women to carry the story forward without being overshadowed by Keaton’s scene-chewing routine. He’s fortunately less irritating than before but just as gloriously politically incorrect. Catherine O’Hara steals every scene she’s in and franchise newcomer Willem Dafoe shines as a ‘ghost detective’ (in reality a hammy former B-movie star).
My rating: 8 / 10
SilverScreen 