Shane McKevitt delves into the underworld of Venice Film Festival to catch the world premiere of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the follow-up to Tim Burton’s beloved 1988 film, opens with a now-grown Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) hosting a campy, paranormal-themed talk show on a New York City soundstage. Lydia is a medium, ridding guests of their spectral dilemmas in front of a studio audience. She’s found a way to monetize her clairvoyant gift. Suddenly, she is startled by visions of a familiar figure in the crowd: the crude, obnoxious, bio-exorcist from the underworld, Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton).
Later, Lydia receives a barrage of texts from her stepmother (Catherine O’Hara), who breaks the news of her father’s passing. En route to the funeral in Winter River, they pick up Lydia’s daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega). Lydia describes them as “barely on speaking terms.” Their strained relationship stems from the death of Astrid’s father (Santiago Cabrera) and her disdain for Lydia’s rapport with the undead, which Astrid insists is a sham. After returning to Lydia’s childhood home, the Deetz family once again finds themselves in peril when Beetlejuice rears his ugly head and Astrid opens a portal to the underworld.
The events unfolding above ground are intercut with the afterlife, where Beetlejuice’s ex-wife, Delores (Monica Bellucci), has returned, hell-bent on finding him. A mistake by an undead janitor (Danny DeVito) triggers Delores’s resurrection. She then sews together her dismembered body in a very Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas type of way. She then storms through the winding, macabre corridors, prying information from unsuspecting ghouls by literally sucking the life out of them–a clever visual gag. There is a flashback to her and Beetlejuice’s chequered past which is also a lot of fun: an homage to low-budget, Italian horror films of the ’60s.
Meanwhile, Wolf Jackson (Willem Dafoe), a former action star now in the afterlife, is determined to track down Delores. Death has ironically given Wolf a new purpose, allowing him to finally “live” the character. Dafoe delivers the film’s biggest laughs, particularly where he recites lines in the mirror before rushing off to solve the case.
Visually, the film is a treat, with trick-or-treaters darting around, orange leaves blowing in the breeze, and houses decorated floor to ceiling with Halloween décor. The character designs are fun too. While the recently deceased bide their now-infinite time in a grimy waiting room, we get a look at a surfer with his bottom half bitten off, a hotdog-eating contestant who ate himself to death, and every form of wacky dismemberment and deformity. During the third act, there are some great set pieces where stop-motion is combined with digital effects, and it’s impossible to tell where one technique starts and the other ends. It was a really clever way to bridge the gap between the old and the new. The sound design is a huge stylistic factor as well. Every creaking door, squelching flesh, and wacky effect add to the magically morose tone.
Distinct visuals come with the territory for Burton’s work. However, where he struggles with this production is in the story; the narrative takes a backseat to aesthetic flair and excessive callbacks to the original. Plotlines are introduced without satisfying payoffs and the dialogue favours gags over meaningful character progression. There was a lot to play with regarding Astrid’s straight-laced cynic butting heads with Lydia’s clairvoyant medium: someone who believes in ghosts and someone who doesn’t. How did this affect their respective grieving processes and their relationship thereafter? It’s touched on briefly, early in the film, with Lydia telling Astrid “Death’s hard, life is harder.” Unfortunately, the theme is only superficially explored, leading to an emotional payoff that ultimately feels flat.
The Delores subplot allows for some great visuals, though it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when you stop to think about it, and she doesn’t have nearly enough screen time to be an interesting character in her own right. It mostly felt like a shoehorned way to work Beetlejuice into the story. Dafoe’s character, though a highlight, only pops up periodically. He’s absent from huge chunks of the second act, only to make an obligatory appearance in the film’s closing moments.
With all that said, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is paced well, looks great, and doesn’t overstay its welcome. It was clearly made for those who adore the original, which, considering the number of striped blazers at the screening, is quite a lot of people. Burton tackles familiar characters and themes with his trademark visual style, making for a love letter to a beloved classic that hardly stands on its own, but doesn’t fall on its face either.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is in cinemas 6th September 2024.
