Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] I'm back, baby.
[00:00:03] If you don't get that reference, you may or may not be familiar with the movie we are going to be talking about today. Hello and welcome back to movie deputy reviews, where we interrogate movies for plot and content. The good, the bad, the ugly, the funny, the weird, the strange, the enjoyable, the meaningful, and everything else in between.
[00:00:26] Does that seem a little bit overwhelming? Yes, sometimes. Sometimes it is. But then there are movies like this, movies like a classic from 1988. Now I do the yesterdays, todays, and of course, tomorrows movies that I spent a lot of time doing. And since the sequel for this one recently came out after 36 years. Wow. Just thinking about that. Wow. Was I really 14? Yeah, I was 14 when this movie came out.
[00:01:00] Wow. But today we are talking about Beetlejuice now. Beetlejuice now. Oh, wait, I better be careful. I don't want to say it three times in a row. You know what'll happen.
[00:01:12] But in this one, he is the ghost with the most. Now, this movie is meant to be just totally over the top in everything that it does.
[00:01:25] It definitely has a guilty rating. I wouldn't have any qualms at all with a younger audience watching this, but there are a lot of people that would. There are a lot of groups who are very anti against this movie. And you know what's kind of interesting is Beetlejuice. He's probably one of the most recognizable characters. Like, even if you've never seen the movie, if you've seen a picture or a poster of Beetlejuice, you know, you know who the character is, but you want to know what's funny? This movie's like hour, half hour, 40 minutes long. He's only on the screen for 22 minutes. I'm serious.
[00:02:05] That's all he's on the screen for in this entire movie. And yet it's that memorable of a character.
[00:02:11] Now, in this one, you have a couple who lives in this quaint little town in Connecticut. It's Winter River, Connecticut is what it is. And so they're fixing up this home and they're just happy. They're getting ready to celebrate a staycation. So they gotta run into town because he owns a hardware store and they gotta get something. Now, it's hard to believe that this entire story begins with manchurian tongue oil. Now what is that? That's actually what they go to the store to get. A lot of people don't know that, and it's probably a useless fact that nobody would ever pay attention to. But I tend to notice this stuff. But on the way home, something happens, and then the next thing they know, you know, that they find themselves back at home. Now, don't worry, I'm not forgetting about the score. Don't worry, I'm not forgetting about that. But you can at least get an idea knowing how memorable this movie is. So. But I will get to that here soon. But they find themselves back at their house, but they have no idea how they got there. And then soon they realize they have no reflection.
[00:03:13] And then they find the handbook, and they're like, okay, what's this? And it's the handbook for the recently deceased. Now, at this point, they're kind of realizing, oh, wait, something's up.
[00:03:27] So they start to figure out life, and they're like, okay. Or figure out afterlife, I should say. And soon, a new family moves into their home. Well, they don't want to share their home, so they're trying to the whole movie's and kind of focuses on how the Maitlands can get rid of the dietzes. The dietzes are the family that move into their new home. And their styles are completely different. Two completely different types of families here that are interacting. And it's a little spooky and a little goofy and done right dumb at times, but not in the dumb way. But, I mean, there's just so much stuff in this that you can't help but laugh at.
[00:04:08] Help, but just kind of shake your head like, no, they're not really. They're not really gonna. Yeah, they do. It's just one of those. So they basically learn how to haunt this family, and they learn how to do other things as they're trying to creep them out. And then it kind of touches a little bit on the whole thing about that only certain people can see those recently deceased or the deceased, because you have to be of a certain mindset. And there's a member of this new family that's moving into the home that can actually see the Maitlands. And so it just kind of becomes an interaction with that. But the Maitlands are so confused on this journey of even where to begin. And they see these advertisements for they have no idea how to pronounce the name, but it's Beetlejuice. And they quickly figure out that if you say beetlejuice. Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice.
[00:05:03] Just kind of looking over my shoulder here, making sure it's all good.
[00:05:08] Okay, I'm not that superstitious. I'm a little bit goofy. But they realize that by saying that this bio exorcist comes to life and helps them navigate the world of being dead in a very goofy, over the top, inappropriate in so many different ways, but it's hilarious. I mean, this is a classic.
[00:05:32] The eighties were just a time for movies. Movies were over the top. I mean, we've got Ghostbusters, we've got Beetlejuice, we've got don't tell that your mom the babysitter's dead. We've got Ferris Bueller, we've got all these great movies and so many more that, I mean, we've got Beverly Hills cop and the ones that came out. The eighties was just a generation for movies. Like, if you ever want just utter nostalgia, look up movies from the 1980s and just be prepared. Now, mind you, they're not going to have the graphics and everything that movies are going to have nowadays. But, I mean, it was 40 years ago, so what do you expect?
[00:06:09] But for the time, it was actually quite good. I mean, surprisingly good. And, okay, there are ones that are just plain bad. I mean, just over the top. Like, ugh, why?
[00:06:23] Okay, we've all seen those movies that have just made us go, why?
[00:06:29] Or ugh, we've all been there. We've all seen those ones. And Betelgeuse definitely is cringe worthy at times. So don't get me wrong, but I am giving Betelgeuse a seven out of ten on the dufity scale. Now, seven on the deputy scale is watchable. Memorable plot with questionable content. Now, that does not even begin to address the topics that are addressed here. Plot with some questionable content. Just. It does not go far enough.
[00:07:07] And so, just as they're finally figuring out this navigating the world of the dead type things a little bit, there is a friend of this new family that's moved into their house that is trying to summon them to is kind of just one of those, like, peacock feathers, just one of those show off, like, look what I can do. We've got ghosts. Look, with all this other fancy stuff. And so he reads this incantation out of the handbook, and if you're curious about what the incantation reads, you can find it in the text of the. On YouTube and on all the podcasts on the description. It has the entire thing that is read by Otho in this one. So if you have never experienced Betelgeuse and you want a fun, inappropriate, hilarious, totally wrong, but totally right movie wrong for all the right reasons, Beetlejuice is a fun escape from that. So again, I am giving this a guilty rating, but at this, I let my own son watch this when he was a toddler. I mean, it's one that probably just needs to be explained a little bit as it goes.
[00:08:18] Like I said, it's not going to be for everybody, but it is entertaining, to say the least, at least for a vast majority of the audiences. So if you want to come back tomorrow, I am going to be talking about Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice, the sequel that we waited 36 years for.
[00:08:36] So I am just like, wow. But, yeah, this was the original. This is the 1988 one that we just finished talking about. And I hope I didn't be, it wasn't confusing on any of the beginning part of this at all when it regards to that. But as always, if you want to get the latest and greatest deputy content, you know the buttons to push. And I will be back tomorrow with the sequel. Till then, bye.
