We don't care how many times you say his name, you won't catch all of these "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice" references without us! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at references, callbacks, and other small details that you might’ve missed in the long-awaited follow-up to “Beetlejuice.”
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00:00Is this figment of your imagination?
00:01Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at references, callbacks, and other small details
00:06that you might have missed in the long-awaited follow-up to Beetlejuice.
00:09Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers.
00:12What do you think of this?
00:14I like it.
00:16Number 10. The Model Town
00:19The original 1988 film opened with Danny Elfman's iconic musical score as we're given
00:23a bird's-eye view of Winter River, Connecticut, which is revealed to be Adam Maitland's model
00:28of the town. The sequel mimics its predecessor's opening credits, but with a few notable additions.
00:34Although Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis don't reprise their roles,
00:38the credits do allude to the car accident that turned Adam and Barbara into ghosts.
00:42There's that, and there's that.
00:53Handbook for the recently diseased.
00:55Deceased.
00:57In addition to paying homage, the opening offers something of a mini-recap.
01:01Later in the film, Lydia's daughter Astrid is seen riding her bike through Winter River,
01:05passing by several familiar landmarks. This includes Miss Shannon's School for Girls,
01:10which Lydia attended in both the original film and the Beetlejuice animated series.
01:16All right, class, it's time for our science reports.
01:20Yeah!
01:21Libya-doots!
01:23Uh, that's deets, ma'am.
01:26Libya, uh, Lydia, deets.
01:30Number 9. A Second Red Wedding.
01:32The sequel builds to another wedding between Beetlejuice and a reluctant Lydia.
01:37Their second wedding has more than a few nods to the first film.
01:40I want out, for good. In order for me to do that, hey, I gotta get married.
01:45Hey, these aren't my rules. Come to think of it, I don't have any rules.
01:49When Beetlejuice gets rid of the influencers in attendance, he sucks them into their phones.
01:54This visual is similar to Adam Maitland's stretched-out face.
01:57Beetlejuice has also saved his betrothed's red wedding dress.
02:01White might be the traditional color for the living,
02:04but Beetlejuice upholds the saying,
02:06Married in red, you'll wish yourself dead.
02:08Do you take this woman to be your wedded wife?
02:14Jeez, I don't know. I mean, it's kind of a big decision, isn't it? I mean,
02:16I said if I ever did it, I was gonna do it once, and that was it.
02:19Like the original, the wedding is capped off with somebody being devoured by a sandworm.
02:29Instead of Beetlejuice, though, Dolores and Rory are swallowed whole.
02:33Beetlejuice and Lydia might not tie the knot,
02:36but their exes are bound till digestion do they part.
02:42Catherine O'Hara returns as Lydia's stepmother Delia,
02:45who has made a name for herself in the art world.
02:48Careful, that's my sculpture.
02:49And I don't mean my's and I bought it, I mean I made it, it's my sculpture.
02:53While she's expanded her craft beyond sculpting,
02:55Delia's older works still hold a special place in the film.
02:58Astrid attends a private school that received a sizable donation from the Dietz Art Center.
03:03Outside the center is the same sculpture that ensnared Delia over 35 years ago.
03:13The sculpture doesn't come to life this time,
03:15although we doubt it's any less dangerous.
03:18Considering the Dietz family's past experiences,
03:21keeping the sculpture outside is probably safer.
03:26Reportedly, somebody stole the actual sculpture from the sequel's set.
03:30The Vermont State Police tried saying the sculpture's name three times,
03:33but that sadly didn't make it appear.
03:39If you're wondering why actor Jeffrey Jones wasn't invited back to play Charles Dietz,
03:44it's safe to say you haven't heard about the sex offender case that essentially ended his career.
03:48With that in mind, killing Charles off was a smart move.
03:52I can't believe grandpa is dead.
03:53Death is hard.
03:55Yeah, sometimes I think life is harder.
03:57Since this franchise revolves around the afterlife though,
04:00Charles's ghost had to show up.
04:03This is where the film gets creative.
04:05In an animated flashback,
04:07we learn that Charles survived a plane crash,
04:09but a shark left him without a head.
04:11It's a clever way of keeping Charles in the movie without Jones.
04:15Charles isn't the franchise's first shark victim.
04:23Shaping Charles's grave like a shark fin is a nice, albeit morbid touch,
04:28as is the rendition of Deo at his funeral.
04:37Annie McEnroe is perhaps best known for her role as Jane Butterfield.
04:41The nosy realtor who wants to sell the Maitlands home.
04:44But Barbara, this house is too big for you.
04:46It really ought to be for a couple with a family, you know?
04:50Oh pumpkin, I didn't mean anything.
04:52It's just that really this house is too big.
04:54Jane gets what she wants after the Maitlands have an unfortunate accident.
04:58Jane is also seen alongside her daughter, who's simply known as Little Jane.
05:03Big Jane doesn't return for the sequel,
05:05but Little Jane follows in her mother's footsteps.
05:07In the first film, Rachel Middleman played Little Jane,
05:10which remains her only screen credit.
05:19In Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,
05:20Amy Nuttall steps in as a not-so-Little Jane.
05:23In fact, Little Jane now has a littler Jane.
05:27The house on the hill is still prime real estate.
05:30Although, Jane is even more hung up on selling a murder house
05:33than Astrid is naturally drawn to.
05:35My mom grew up here, that old house on the hill.
05:38Wait, the ghost house?
05:42The murder house in question belongs to Astrid's love interest Jeremy,
05:46played by Arthur Conti.
05:47Is your mom Lydia Dietz?
05:49Unfortunately.
05:50She's a legend.
05:51Before the big reveal,
05:53the film drops several hints that Jeremy is a ghost.
05:56His James Dean costume is perhaps the most inspired clue.
05:59Jeremy models his Halloween costume after Dean's character in Rebel Without a Cause.
06:06What?
06:15This serves as a warning that Jeremy is trouble like Jim Stark.
06:19More significantly,
06:20Dean died in a car crash only a month before Rebel Without a Cause hit theaters.
06:25Watching Dean give his career-defining performance was like seeing a ghost.
06:29Something similar can be said about Jeremy,
06:31who's putting on a performance for Astrid.
06:33What just happened?
06:34Jeremy and Jim Stark are both rebels,
06:37although one's a murderer whereas death merely follows the other.
06:41That's the end.
06:43Yeah.
06:46Certainly is.
06:47Number four, Mirroring the Musical.
06:50The Beetlejuice stage musical has been praised for honoring the source material
06:54while taking it in a fresh direction.
06:55And such a bold departure from the original source material!
07:00In the stage version,
07:01Lydia ventures to the netherworld in search of her dearly departed mother.
07:05Despite not getting what she set out for,
07:07the experience brings Lydia closer to her father as she accepts her mother's death.
07:16This subplot wasn't in the 1988 film,
07:19but the sequel brings things full circle.
07:22In this case,
07:23Astrid is taken to the afterlife in search of her late father Richard.
07:26Astrid and Lydia are briefly reunited with Richard,
07:29giving the family closure.
07:31Whether intentional or not,
07:32this storyline borrows more than a few notes from the musical
07:35while still singing a different song.
07:37She's dealing with the loss of her father.
07:39I think she holds a lot of resentment,
07:41so she kind of puts it on her mom.
07:42Number three, The Janitor.
07:44Getting adjusted to the afterlife,
07:46the Maitlands encounter a ghostly janitor played by Simi Bo,
07:49who ironically passed away before the original film's release.
07:57As such, Bo isn't in the sequel.
07:59Although another prominent actor has taken up his janitorial duties.
08:03Danny DeVito is such an iconic talent that it's hard to make him unrecognizable.
08:08Yet this might be his most transformative role
08:10since his first collaboration with Tim Burton in Batman Returns.
08:14I want to find out who I am by finding my parents,
08:18learning my human name.
08:21Simple stuff that the good people of Gotham take for granted.
08:25DeVito isn't easily identified behind that gurgly voice and blue makeup.
08:29What turned him this color?
08:31It seems he drank a poisonous substance that left him blue in the face.
08:35We wonder if a certain politician gave him that idea.
08:38In any case, the janitor meets a permanent end at Dolores' hands.
08:45Number two, Throwing Shade at Disney.
08:48When Disney comes up in a conversation,
08:50Lydia mentions that the closest they ever got to the Mouse House
08:53was when Astrid dressed as Cinderella's dead mother.
08:55Don't ever say that name.
08:58This is likely a reference to Burton's complicated history with Disney.
09:01Starting his career as a Disney animator,
09:04Burton was let go following 1984's Frankenweenie.
09:09Sparky, you know you're not supposed to go out.
09:11You could have gotten in trouble.
09:13Burton reconciled with Disney to produce The Nightmare Before Christmas
09:16and several other projects.
09:18After directing 2019's Dumbo though,
09:20Burton said that it felt like he, quote,
09:22was working in this horrible big circus and, quote,
09:26needed to escape.
09:27Michael Keaton was also disappointed with his performance in Dumbo.
09:30Burton and Keaton are back in their comfort zone with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,
09:34letting loose all the risque humor that wouldn't fly in a Disney movie.
09:38The juice is loose.
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09:59Beetlejuice previously alluded to his life before death.
10:12Being a trickster, you can't trust everything he says.
10:15But the sequel confirms a few things about Beetlejuice's past.
10:19While it's unlikely he went to Juilliard or Harvard,
10:22Beetlejuice did live through the Black Plague as he told the Maitlands.
10:25Working as a grave robber,
10:27he met his soul-sucking wife Dolores,
10:29resulting in both of their deaths.
10:44Dolores reassembles herself centuries later,
10:46although a particular body part remains missing,
10:49her ring finger.
10:50When Beetlejuice first tried to marry Lydia years ago,
10:53he whipped out a ring along with a severed finger,
10:56saying that his ex meant nothing to him.
11:04This might have been a throwaway joke at the time,
11:06but it ingeniously set the sequel's plot in motion.
11:10Did you catch any other small details?
11:12Are we the only ones who think Bob the shrunken head guy
11:15is Bob the Goon from Burton's Batman?
11:17Let us know in the comments.
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