Adam and Barbara Maitland (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) are a young yuppie couple who are spending their vacation at home together restoring a big old house that they have bought. Their life is pretty normal until it all ends in a car crash. However, death it turns out is not really the end, but just another beginning.

Adam and Barbara are now faced with this sudden turn of events with nothing to help them adjust to their new situation but a baffling instruction book (yep, life doesn't come with one but death does). But then, how complicated could death be? As Adam says to Barbara: "Barbara, Honey, We're dead. We don't have that much to worry about anymore." How wrong he is.

Enter the Deitzes, a dysfunctional and snobbish New York family who have just bought the Maitland's house. There's the dad, Charles (Jeffery Jones- an uptight real estate mogul who is also something of a dimwit, the stepmother Delia (Catherine O'Hara)- a flaky and dominating sculptor with really really bad taste, and daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder) a sassy goth girl. Worst of all is interior designer Otho (Glenn Shadix), a pompous know-it-all who is there to help Delia turn The Maitland's happy home into an art deco hell.

While Delia and Otho go about "decorating"- and dissing- the house, Adam and Barbara set about trying to get rid of these unwanted guests. Their attempts at scaring them away are embarrassing (and hilarious)failures, but they do manage to form a sort of alliance with Lydia, who it turns out is a sweet but misunderstood girl.

When their attempt at tring to get help from the afterlife "establishment", they get nothing but useless beaurocracy and red tape. Desperate, they turn to rogue "bio exorcist" Beetleguise (Michael Keaton), a hyperactive spook who is icky, unsettling, and extremely funny at the same time. It isn't long before the Maitlands are faced with yet another problem- Beetleguise is a troublemaker who plays by his own rules (actually, he doesn't have any rules). What ensues is dark comedy at it's best, including a very funny scene involving "The Banana Boat Song".

This movie is, by definition, a classic. I think that Keaton should have won an Oscar for this one. As Beetleguise he is rude, crude, and absolutely brilliant. He appears to be having a very good time in this one. Jones and O'Hara are typecast but still fantastic. Ryder is believable and understated. Shaddox absolutely embodies the jerk Otho. Baldwin and Davis play it straight, playing off the kookiness of the rest of the cast.

The atmosphere of the movie is creepy and at times cartoonish. The special effects are not very good,- in fact there is a monster that looks a little like a sock puppet- but I think that this was done intentionally to give the movie more of a comic appearance.

Also notable is Tim Burton's remarkable score, which manages to create a spooky yet fun mood.

As for flaws, I can't really think of many myself. The only thing that kind of bugged me was that Otho is such an important plot element near the end of the movie, and then he just disappears. This movie is also not for everyone. It is, to tell the truth, a rather silly movie and the humour is a bit on the crude side. Some scenes are too scary for young children, and there is a little foul language and some sexual references.

Beetleguise is a wild ride that has not lost its luster over the years, and I could definately watch it again and again.





Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12