Find out what secrets Tim Burton hid in the second installment of Beetlejuice. I’m willing to bet that most of the references I found you didn’t notice
In the sequel to Tim Burton’s cult dark comedy, we once again watch the crazy adventures of our favorite characters. But it’s been as long as 36 years since the first installment was released. Those who watched the movie as children have already forgotten the simple plot, and the younger generation has not seen this movie at all….
It is necessary to attract attention to the novelty somehow, so Tim Burton not only invited to join the cast of rising stars of Hollywood (the same Jenna Ortega, for example), but also generously sprinkled passhalok. And it’s not just about references to the original Beetlejuice, there’s a whole bunch of secrets hidden here! Let’s get to the bottom of it
1. The beginning of the movie
As in the 1988 version, the movie starts with a panorama of the city and a view of the Winter River from above, then the frame smoothly transitions to a miniature model of the ill-fated town created by the ghost Adam back in the first installment.
In addition, Burton went to a lot of trouble with the stylistics: the credits, visual effects and design are the same as in the original movie.
2. Lydia’s Talk Show
From the first shots where we are shown Lydia’s work, it becomes clear that her show is a parody of modern American paranormal programs: like Ghostbusters and Ghost Adventures. Too bad Burton didn’t think of a passphrase for the legendary “Battle of the Psychics”
Lydia’s boyfriend fulfills the role of the very cardboard producer who makes things happen for the sake of an interesting show. I would call Rory a kind of supplier of intrigue and investigations, adding dynamics to what’s going on.
3. “Schitt’s Creek” reference
After learning of the death of her father Charles, Lydia goes to visit her stepmother at the art studio. There she sees a bunch of screens, one of which shows Delia wearing a long-sleeved white shirt with black birds flying around. There’s a similar shot in the TV series Schitt’s Creek.
In it, a heroine named Moira is filming a movie called “Crows Have Eyes 3: The Crow’s Eye 3: The Crow” and plays the lead role in the same. After this series, the performer of the main role received fame and recognition in Hollywood, which Delia so dreams of in “Beetlejuice”.
4. Tim Burton’s trademark animation
In “Beetlejuice 2,” Burton uses his favorite stop-motion animation technique (the same one from the animated films “Corpse Bride,” “Frankenweenie” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas”) for the episode with the story of Charles’ death. It’s a video sequence that shows Charles’ plane crashing into the ocean, being attacked by a shark and dying.
The scene is short, but so nostalgic) Fans of those very “plasticine” cartoons will understand me!
5. The reason for Charles’ death
In the first movie we were repeatedly hinted at Lydia’s father’s love of feathered creatures. His entire study was hung with stuffed animals of various birds. In the end, Charles’s favorite pastime was his undoing. He flew to South America, because there he wanted to observe the behavior of birds in the wild. When Lydia and Rory went to Charles’s grave, they saw the inscription on the tombstone: “Bird Watcher”.
6. A cameo by Danny DeVito
Danny DeVito has worked with Tim Burton and Michael Keaton many times before, most notably on “Dumbo” and “Batman Returns,” where DeVito played the supervillain Penguin.
In “Beetlejuice 2” DeVito got the role of a suicidal ghost. And here perfectly fit the reference to the DC universe: DeVito’s character in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” dies the same way as the villain Penguin – poisoned and choked on a dark liquid.
7. Delia’s sculptures
Lydia’s stepmother in Part 1 placed her weird and creepy sculptures all over the house, which ended up nearly killing her in the original movie. But life apparently teaches Delia nothing, so in the second part all of her works of art are in their proper places. When Lydia’s daughter Astrid is taken out of boarding school, we see another of Delia’s spiked sculptures on campus in front of the Dietz Arts Building.
8. The Banana Boat (Day-O) song from the first installment is back
In the original, it was the song that the Dietz family and their guests danced to when they became possessed by ghosts. This time the song is played at Charles’ funeral, and it is performed by a children’s choir, but in minor key.
Incidentally, Charles’ tombstone itself is shaped like a shark fin to tease how he was killed.
9. Jane Butterfield’s daughter
In the original movie, there was a realtor named Jane Butterfield who always took her daughter (also Jane) with her. This girl by the time of the events of Beetlejuice 2 has grown up and become a realtor, just like her mom in the first installment.
10. Maxie Deanne
Fans assumed that Beetlejuice killed Maxie in the 1988 movie when he tossed him and his wife into the air. However, in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” Delia mentioned Maxie’s name at Charles’ wake and asked acquaintances why he didn’t show up for a farewell in another. This suggests that the Deanne family survived the end of the original movie after all.
11. Lydia’s school
As Astrid is driving around Winter River, she notices Ms. Shannon’s school for girls. The same one Lydia went to after her family moved to the city. Astrid herself goes to a private boarding school, so the reminder of this place is purely nostalgic.
12. “The Addams Family” reference
When Beetlejuice’s fiancée Dolores comes back to life, she puts her body back together piece by piece. One of the shots shows her arm crawling back into its place at this point, just like the Thing from the famous “The Addams Family” franchise.
Body parts with a consciousness of their own are also found in Burton’s own cartoons, The Corpse Bride and The Nightmare Before Christmas.
13. The world’s best boss mug
Yes, yes, the very same mug from the cult TV series The Office appears in the movie. After the events of the first movie, Beetlejuice starts working as an afterlife call center manager and manages a team of the deceased. On his desk is a “World’s Greatest Boss” mug.
Incidentally, next to the mug on Beetlejuice’s desk is a picture of Lydia, whom he has apparently been pining for all this time.
14. Delia is still mad at Charles because “
In Part 1, Charles bought a house in Winter River without telling Delia about it. To express her displeasure, she records her screams on a tape recorder and makes it an exhibit. Delia can’t seem to forgive Charles for the purchase until the events of the second movie.
But realizing how much this town meant to Charles, Delia still decides to bury him here.
15. In the city model that Adam made, new objects appeared
Although Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis did not appear in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” we were still reminded of their existence. Thus, in a model of the city hidden in the attic, Adam and Barbara’s overturned yellow car, in which the heroes died, appears in the river.
16. Christian Slater appears
Winona Ryder, who played the role of Lydia, once had an affair with this actor. They decided to capitalize on that: when Astrid finds a box of her father’s belongings, she sees her parents as young adults in an old photograph. This is an actual photo of Winona Ryder and Christian Slater from the late 80s.
The shot was taken just after the release of the first Beetlejuice in 1988, when Ryder and Slater were dating. The actor himself does not appear in the sequel.
17. “Kill me, baby, kill me”
It makes sense that Lydia loves horror movies. In one of the episodes, she tells Astrid that she was born when Lydia and Richard were at Mario Bava’s movie marathon, where they were showing Kill Me Baby Kill Me.
Given Lydia’s dark character and Astrid’s equally complex character, it’s not surprising that even as she was giving birth, the protagonist was watching a horror movie.
18. Astrid’s Halloween costume
The action of “Beetlejuice 2” is set on Halloween. Astrid disguises herself as Marie Curie and recalls that as a child Halloween was her favorite holiday. The character says that in second grade she wore a costume inspired by Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream.
This is a reference not only to the famous painting, but also to Jenna Ortega’s role in the latest Scream movie. Participation in this franchise made the actress popular in Hollywood.
19. The Dietz family can’t stand Disney
Burton himself isn’t a fan of the studio either. Despite the fact that he worked on several famous Disney films, the relationship between the director and the company soured. As a result, Burton left the studio in 2019 after the release of the movie “Dumbo”.
In “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” Lydia discusses costumes with Jane and talks about how if Astrid had to dress up as a Disney heroine, she would choose the costume of Cinderella’s late mother, which basically doesn’t exist. That’s the kind of “black” stereotype from Burton)
20. Soul Train Show
In one scene of the movie, Astrid (Jenna Ortega’s character) is put on a soul train that takes the dead to the afterlife. During this time, various musicians and dancers perform on the platform.
“Soul Train” is also the name of a legendary American music and dance television show that aired from 1971 to 2006. It featured performances in different genres of music such as soul, R&B and hip-hop.
21. Beetlejuice cartoon inspiration
Lydia and Beetlejuice finally teamed up! In 1989, ABC aired an animated dark comedy series featuring Lydia and Beetlejuice acting together.
This touching cartoon friendship seems to have inspired the creators of the sequel. In Beetlejuice 2, Lydia and a bio-exorcist team up to save Astrid in the afterlife.
22. Michael Keaton’s Mats
Beetlejuice is antagonistic and rude, but Keaton, who plays the character, was asked to avoid profanity in the movie anyway. It didn’t always work) In the first installment, some of Beetlejuice’s swear words were left in, but they were spelled out.
In the new movie Burton also did not forbid Keaton to express himself. After Beetlejuice fools Jeremy into trying to steal Astrid’s body, he sends the boy to hell with a rude admonition.
23. Netflix Mentions
Not only did “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” star many of the company’s iconic stars (Winona Ryder from “Very Stranger Things” and Jenna Ortega from “Wansday”), but it also got a direct mention. When Lydia discusses the wedding with Rory, he informs her that the guests will be full of influential people from the movie industry.
First and foremost, Rory recommends looking out for the CEO of Netflix. Now I can see what platform Lydia’s show would be on if it existed in reality).
24. Beetlejuice and Lydia’s wedding outfits
The iconic images of the main characters from the first movie are back. In order for Beetlejuice to agree to help Lydia save Astrid, the heroine agrees to marry him.
At the ceremony, Beetlejuice appears in his dark maroon suit from the first movie and Lydia appears in her iconic red wedding dress.
25. The dancing scene
Besides the funeral, the song Banana Boat (Day-O) in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is played at another moment. When Beetlejuice and Lydia’s wedding begins, several characters are possessed by ghosts and dance to this song, just like in the first movie. Afterward, a large cake is brought on stage, which also plays off the lyrics of the song.
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