I saw this for the first time in ages on TV last night and had pretty much forgotten what an utterly brilliant movie it is. The concept of the afterlife as bureaucratic and hidebound is hilarious, Michael Keaton is awe-inspiring, Geena Davis is cute as a button (though I would have preferred Earth Girls Are Easy-style bikinis over the Laura Ashley look 
), Jeffrey Jones is his usual amusing self, Winona Ryder looks great in black crepe, and Alec Baldwin manages not to be very irritating 
. Great special effects, of course, for which it won an Oscar. Top job, Tim Burton.
Have to agree. If I hadn’t seen it a hundred-bajillion times when I was younger it would certainly be in my collection already.
Day-O! Day-ay-ay-ay-O!
I’ll never think of that song the same way again.
The Day-O scene at dinner had me nearly rolling, the first time I saw it. I still love the movie.
This is absolutely one of my all-time favorites.
I love the waiting room. I can relate.
Look! There’s Elvis! Yo! King!
I still use that line when there’s a lull in the conversation. Some get it, some don’t.
I watched this film over and over as a kid. When I caught it on TV a while ago, I was kinda surprised to see that I still pretty much remembered every word. Oh, and ‘she’s just mad because somebody dropped a house on her sister’ is one of my favourite things to say.
One of the movies that contributed to my becoming a moviegeek. Also one of the greatest scores ever. I heard the score before I saw the movie, bought it, and played it for a friend who played cello for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, without telling her what it was. She “didn’t recognize it,” but thought it sounded Russian. Got me listening to Russian music, which sent me on a 4- or 5-year classical music tear, which was of course a GREAT education.
An aside: my theory has always been that Keaton’s performance is an homage to Jack Nicholson; this is confirmed for me every time I see this movie.
If this movie taught me anything, it’s that you should choose your daily outfits carefully. Choose something you like and feel comfortable in, because if you die you’ll have to wear it for all eternity! Unless you actually take the time to read your Handbook for the Recently Deceased. Perhaps it says something in there that allows you to magically change outfits.
One of my favorite lines is from Dick Cavitt: “Delia, you are a flake. You have always been a flake and if you insist on frightning people—do it with your sculptures.”
Or Lydia to Delia, “I told them you were too mean to be afraid.”
If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have had my little accident.
I am…utterly…alone.
Otho, you can’t even change a tire.
Beetlejuice is an incorrect answer in Trivial Pursit: The '80s Edition. The question is something like “What was Michael Keaton’s top grossing move during the decade?” I suspect it was written prior to Batman, either that or they meant “grossest” and not “top grossing”.
Alec (reading): “Handbook for the Recently Diseased” (ominous chord)
Geena: “That’s ‘Deceased’”
Alec: “Handbook for the Recently Deceased” (repeat ominous chord)
Otho: "I was one of New York’s leading paranormal reasearchers … (aside) until the bottom dropped out in '72. "
I love the part where Beetlejuice zaps him into a powder-blue leisure suit.
Delia: “I will live with you in this hellhole, but I must express myself. If you don’t let me gut out this house and make it my own, I will go insane and I will take you with me!”
Delia, “Don’t you dare speak about me to others!”
One of my favorite things about that movie is that they made him a little dense, but not overly, and made her just matter-of-factly smarter than him. It was subtle, with bits like that one, and when he mispronounces “Betelgeuse” and she doesn’t correct him until later when she needs to use it. They were just supposed to be bland caricatures of a boring, happy, married couple, and that added a neat bit of character without being too sit-com-like.
Alec: This book reads like stereo instructions.
In the commentary of Shakespeare in love, in the first scene, the camera circles around the theater, and then suddenly approaches the torture scene of the theater owner. The director made the comment that: “That was our Betelgeuse shot!”, showing how influential one of my favorite movies was.
One of those flicks I can watch over and over again. Anyone else a fan of the cartoon series too? Damn I wish that would come out on dvd, it was hilarious.