Product Details

• Actors: Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton, Annie McEnroe, Maurice Page
• Directors: Tim Burton
• Writers: Larry Wilson, Michael McDowell, Warren Skaaren
• Producers: Eric Angelson, June Petersen, Larry Wilson, Michael Bender
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: August 24, 1999
• Run Time: 92 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (256 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0790742942
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #457,826 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Before making Batman, director Tim Burton and star Michael Keaton teamed up for this popular black comedy about a young couple (Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin) whose premature death leads them to a series of wildly bizarre afterlife exploits. As ghosts in their own New England home, they're faced with the challenge of scaring off the pretentious new owners (Catherine O'Hara and Jeffrey Jones), whose daughter (Winona Ryder) has an affinity for all things morbid. Keaton plays the mischievous Beetlejuice, a freelance "bio-exorcist" who's got an evil agenda behind his plot to help the young undead newlyweds. The film is a perfect vehicle for Burton's visual style and twisted imagination, with clever ideas and gags packed into every scene. Beetlejuice is also a showcase for Keaton, who tackles his title role with maniacal relish and a dark edge of menace. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Say it once, say it twice, third time's the charm!, November 20, 2002

By 

Donn Hart (Boston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beetlejuice (DVD)

When this movie first came out about fifteen years ago, my father owned a video store and every Wednesday night was "Beetlejuice" night. I'm older now, obviously, but I still cannot get enough of this movie.

Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis play Adam and Barbara Maitland, two Connecticut yuppies who die prematurely in a car wreck. Within a couple weeks, their home is overrun by an ultra-trendy New York City family, Charles and Delia Deetz, and their Goth daughter, Lydia (played respectively by Jeffrey Jones, Catherine O'Hara, and Winona Ryder). Adam and Barbara want their house back, and attempt to scare the Deetz's out of the house by wearing sheets and even by possessing them over dinner, making them sing and dance to Harry Belafonte's "Day O." Those attempts fail and enter Michael Keaton as Betelguese, "the afterlife's leading freelance bio-exorcist." The movie is dark without being scary and funny without being ridiculous.

In my opinion, one of the real gems in this film is the late Sylvia Sidney as Juno, Your Case Worker. Sidney was pushing eighty when this film was made, but turns in a great performance as the embittered equivalent of an afterlife social worker. Love how the smoke from her ever-present cigarette comes out of the slit in her throat.

If you've never seen this movie, see it. If you have seen it but don't own it on DVD, get it. The picture quality is better than ever.

74 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Off-color, Irreverent Hilarity, April 22, 2005

By 

Debbie Lee Wesselmann (the Lehigh Valley, PA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beetlejuice (DVD)

I love this film. Barbara and Adam Maitland, a young couple madly in love (played by Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin) discover that they are not only dead but trapped in their home as ghosts waiting for the bureaucracy of the afterlife to set them free. When a New York couple (Catherine O'Hara and Jeffrey Jones) and their teenage daughter Lydia (wonderfully macabre Winona Ryder) move into their beloved house, the Maitlands want nothing more than to remove them. The problem is, the Maitlands are too nice to truly scare anyone. They meet a rogue ghost, the ribald, disgusting Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) who promises to drive the family away, with a few strings attached. Lydia, whose goals aren't that far from the Maitlands and who has a morbid, poignantly sad outlook, discovers the ghosts and tries to help them. But Beetlejuice has his own agenda.

The casting for this movie is perfect, with only Alec Baldwin's performance less than memorable. Michael Keaton is suitably slimy and decadent, while Geena Davis plays the earnest innocence of her character equally well. The most startling performance is a young Winona Ryder, who shows tremendous range in her role as the morbid but good-hearted Lydia.

One of the most hilarious, dark scenes ever filmed is contained in this movie, when the New York couple throws a pretentious dinner party and the Maitlands take over. Director Tim Burton uses sight gags, situational comedy, and one-liners that all bear his trademark quirkiness to make this film inventive and, even years after its release, fresh. What's most amazing in this film essentially about the weirdness of being dead is the emotional drive of it. The Maitlands' yearning to reclaim their home even in death and Lydia's wounded, lonely adolescence lend humanity to an otherwise wild comedy.

I highly recommend this off-beat film for its hilarity and irreverence. Parents of young children should be warned that the film contains off-color humor as well as images and ideas that might disturb young minds. -- Debbie Lee Wesselmann

167 of 194 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Cheesy Reissue, September 19, 2008

By 

Jerry P. Danzig (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beetlejuice (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) (DVD)

My one-star refers to this so-called "20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition" of this hilarious and eye-popping delight from director Tim Burton.

Since the inception of the DVD format, I have been waiting for a proper DVD of Beetlejuice with commentary and special features.

I am sorry to say that this pathetic disc is NOT what I have been waiting for.

Though they supposedly have spruced up the picture, the ONLY special features are three Beetlejuice cartoons and I think some music track or something.

NO commentary, NO behind-the-scenes, NO nothing.

So -- NO sale.

I'm still waiting...