'Beetlejuice' a must-see film

Beetlejuice, a B-movie with a big budget (for it’s time) is very entertaining and it will make you laugh your socks off. The movie’s special effects and make-up work are excellent throughout ( Of course it’s out dated compared to today’s technology. The entire movie takes place in a house in a mountainside country town). The movie has comedy, sadness and even a bit of music.

The move is about a couple, played by Alec Baldwin and Gena Davis, who died together and must spend 125 years in their house, which is now purgatory, before they can move on to heaven. If the couple tries to leave the house before their time, they would enter into a sort of hell where the environment is like bizarre animation with giant sand worms roaming about. The couple doesn’t really know what to do, so they call for this crazy ghost who advertises himself on TV as the helper of recently deceased people.

The ghost Beetlejuice is played by Michael Keaton (remember him from the first batman movie, of the original series?), who gives one of his best performances.The couple summons the crazy ghost by saying his name three times. They think that he can help them solve their problem and direct them in what to do, but actually Beetiejuice is nothing but more trouble for them because he is, as he puts it “the ghost with the most”.

One of the scenes that will make you roll off your seat is where the ghosts possess the new tenants and their dinner guests, making them dance to the The Banana Boat Song.

The family who has moved into the house are really weird and “psyched” out. The mother, played by Katherine O’Hara, is sort of a modem, high society woman who has really extravagant taste and starts changing the house around with weird sculptures. The daughter, played by Winona Ryder, is very morbid and into death. She is the only one who can actually see the ghosts at first.

There are many funny-looking characters throughout the film. Many of these characters pop up in the waiting room of the After-life social worker’s office. This room is filled with creepy characters, recently deceased who are waiting to see their social workers and receive their “Handbooks For The (what else?) Recently Deceased.”

This movie has a great story line and it is very well done. It is a little confusing at first to follow what’s going on with the purgatory and the outside hell, but gets cleared up. Beetlejuice is a must-see. The film is very fast-paced and there isn’t a dull moment in it