25 reasons why we still love Beetlejuice
By G.G. Andrew
3. That Hellish Wedding
Beetlejuice cons Lydia into agreeing to marry him at the climax of the movie to save Adam and Barbara from being exorcised. He explains that his getting married will allow him to finally escape. “This dead thing…it’s just too creepy,” he tells her.
But we also know that along with freedom, Beetlejuice is motivated by women—and he’s had his eye set on Lydia since he’s seen her and referred to her as that “Edgar Allan Poe daughter” to the Maitlands.
Once Lydia releases him by repeating his name three times, Beetlejuice dispenses with some of the guests and summons an officiant and wedding that’s even too goth for Lydia. Beetlejuice transforms his clothes into a creepy suit with ruffles. He then changes Lydia’s outfit into a lacy, blood-red dress. An officiant appears out of the fireplace looking like a small goblin. Lydia’s stepmother’s monstrous sculptures animate and crawl over to Delia and Charles to trap them as witnesses.
It’s not the kind of wedding most little girls dream of, and it’s not just the monsters. When the officiant asks Lydia, “Do you take this man to be your wedded husband?” and she tries to say no, Beetlejuice throws her voice and makes her agree without her consent. And then he pulls out the wedding ring from his pocket—still on the dismembered finger of his last bride. “I’m tell you, honey. She meant nothing to me, nothing at all,” he tells her.