25 reasons why we still love Beetlejuice
By G.G. Andrew
Screenshot of official Beetlejuice trailer via warnerbros.com.
6. The Movie’s Visuals
The creative, comic, and gothic visual effects in Beetlejuice hold up surprisingly well over time. This is particularly true of the scenes in the netherworld, especially the look of the characters whose cause of death is written all over their bodies in obvious ways, like the magician’s assistant slit in half or the man who’d choked on the chicken bone in his neck. Scenes like these are meant to be wild and outlandish and eye-catching, and they still are 28 years later.
There’s also Lydia, who’s a total ‘80s goth girl down to her pale face and spiky black bangs, black hats, black veils, black dresses, and black—well, everything.
Her stepmother, Delia, is also notable for her abstract, slightly gothic fashion sense. Her weird modern-art earrings and hair arrangements border on creepy, and her own sculptures are firmly in that camp. “This is my art, and it is dangerous,” Delia shrieks when she’s accidentally trapped by one of her creature-like works of art by a construction worker. “Do you think I want to die like this?”
Beetlejuice was one of director Tim Burton’s earlier films, and you can see his stamp all over it in these dark and fanciful touches.