Retro Spooktacles continues its Halloween Classics theme with Mitcz’s pick, Beetlejuice, the bizarre 1988 horror comedy that proved Tim Burton’s strangest instincts could work on a mainstream scale. The movie became a genuine hit, helped establish Burton’s unmistakable visual identity, and gave Hollywood enough confidence to hand him Batman shortly afterward.

Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin star as Barbara and Adam Maitland, newly dead homeowners trying to reclaim their house from the Deetz family, including Winona Ryder’s Lydia. Their desperation eventually brings in Michael Keaton’s Beetlejuice, a wildly unpredictable bio-exorcist who dominates the movie despite appearing for only a fraction of its runtime. Catherine O’Hara rounds out a cast that turns nearly every supporting character into something memorable.

Mitcz and Teddy get into Keaton’s lightning-in-a-bottle performance, how Beetlejuice changed the trajectory of Burton’s career, the movie’s wildly efficient worldbuilding, the iconic Harry Belafonte dinner scene, alternate casting choices, and why so many individually bizarre decisions somehow work together. Then Beetlejuice hits the Zeitgeistometer to determine where it belongs in Halloween canon.

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