After 38 years, Michael Keaton puts on the face paint again, portraying the character as if time has stood still. Photograph: Parisa Taghizadeh/Click to view the trailer.
Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! O’, the old tricolon. More people have been seduced by the whirlwind of repeating three words together in speeches and in the Finnish Parliament than have believed the Government’s claim that the cuts in social benefits and increases in VAT are necessary because Sanna Marin’s Government has done nothing but increase the national debt at a time when the Chinese bat virus had stopped everything that was known as fun.
It’s also a useful tool for calling the dead three times and they will appear. Bloody Mary … yes, Beetlejuice … but it’s also such a strong rhetoric device that even gangsta rappers trust it blindly.
“Say my name three times like Candyman/Bet I roll on yo’ ass like an avalanche . . . ,” rapped Tupac Shakur in the song “Troublesome 96,” not realizing that the correct number to invoke the urban legend that appears in the mirror with a bloody hook and kills anyone who says his name, this time around, is five.
So what? Tricolons are good for director Tim Burton (also known for e.g. Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a dark horror-comedy treat that belies even the most cynical assessments of the 1988 classic of its genre, also directed by Burton. Thirty-five years ago, as the ’90s approached, some critics blamed the film’s lack of magic on its reliance on gimmicks rather than character. After re-watching the first one, I can’t back up those lame claims, as Michael Keaton transforms himself into the bio-exorcist Betelgeuse (pronounced Beetlejuice) to help the Maitlands family—where the wife, Barbara, played by Geena Davis, whose former real-life Finnish husband and director Renny Harlin once said, “It felt like Geena was 10 times more in love with me after seeing Cliffhanger,” and when Harlin later, on stage at a festival in Finland, after asking the audience if they’d been “lucky” enough to find a playmate at Midsummer (‘If not, there’s still time! ‘), Harlin introduced himself to the young crowd as the lucky son of a gun for finding his wife, his playmate. (Not on Midsummer’s Day, but who cares?)
‘90s in Finland …. O tempora o mores!
On the same stage, in Virrat, Pirkanmaa to be exact, at the now defunct Rantarock event, Harlin and Davis continued to entertain the audience in Finnish. Renny asked, Geena answered.
“After seeing the Finlandia Hall, Turku Castle and Olavinlinna Castle, which is the most interesting building architecturally?”
“The outdoor toilet,” Davis replied.
And so much for that. There’s no Davis in the sequel, and Harlin is known these days for directing movies in China.
Still, I could wholeheartedly recommend Beetlejuice Beetlejuice to viewers over the age of 12. Especially TikTokers, Instagrammers and Bloggers should hide their cell phones for a few hours of laughter and excitement on the big screen. Even people who don’t appreciate the horror genre can trust the director and writer that this time there will be no old-school ugliness of tarantellas and intestine-eating ravens in 8K.
Keaton, 73, and Winona Ryder, 52, are back in fine form. Magically, Keaton, in black-and-white face paint, sounds the same as he did 38 years ago, while Ryder, who was 17 when the first installment was released, still looks young.
Both are actors who become the character with their eyes, gestures and manner of speaking, and are likely to remain in that character until the end of the shoot, which is good for the viewer, but harder for their family and friends.
Perkeletto! Enough with the sentimentality. That sounded similar to what Sylvester Stallone said to Renny Harlin after beating Arnold Schwarzenegger in ticket sales following the premiere of Cliffhanger in 1993:
“You put me higher than anybody before.”
At the invite-only premiere, where various social media influencers and their friends munched popcorn and drank sodas with Beetlejuice ads on them, there was a sincere appreciation for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. It was hard to tell from the young age of the audience if they had seen the first one or not, but they sure as hell laughed a lot when I didn’t. Rhythmically, our laughter created a harmony of generations.
Oh! What about the plot? Well … no spoilers here.
Buy the ticket. I think you’ll dig the ride.
‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ is now playing in cinemas.
