Beetlejuice

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for Beetlejuice
• a review of Beetlejuice completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 29 October 2024.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the story

After tragically passing away in a car accident, young couple Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara Maitland (Geena Davis) find themselves trapped in their house and are struggling to come to terms with their new life as ghosts. However, when the Deetz family moves into their deceased estate, and Delia (Catherine O’Hara) and Charles (Jeffrey Jones) Deetz make plans to gut the home, the Maitlands decide they will stop at nothing to get them out.

Unfortunately, their scare tactics don’t seem to work as the only person who can see the Maitland’s is the Deetz estranged teenage daughter, Lydia (Winona Ryder). Adam and Barbara befriend Lydia, but her parents disregard her and view the presence of the ghosts as nothing more than a cash grab. In a last-ditch attempt to save their home, Barbara summons the leading ‘bio-exorcist’, ‘Betelgeuse’ (Michael Keaton), to help them. However, Betelgeuse is not as he seems, and chaos ensues for both the Deetz family and the Maitlands. Will the living and the dead be able to work together to banish Betelgeuse before it is too late?

Death; Supernatural; Paranormal; Suicide; Unhealthy family dynamics; Alternative lifestyles.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

• Barbara holds Adam’s decapitated head in one hand and a bloody knife in the other, with his headless body at her feet.
• Characters often yell at and berate each other.
• After turning into a giant snake with his face, Betelgeuse knocks a character down the stairs and drops Charles from the top of the stairs to the ground floor.
• Betelgeuse turns into a circus-themed character with giant mallets for arms, and knocks two characters through the roof of the house.
• There are several sexist remarks made towards women, including “come see the kitchen; you’ll finally be able to cook a decent meal”.
• After non-consensually groping a woman’s leg and getting slapped, Betelgeuse exclaims, “women; I don’t know what her problem is”.
• A character is ridiculed for his weight. This is done for comedic purposes.
• Several jokes are made about suicide.

Material that may scare or disturb children

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

• Barbara is shown hanging by the neck in a closet, before tearing off her face; exposing her skull with her eyeballs hanging from their sockets.
• After falling into a desert landscape, Adam is chased and nearly eaten by a sandworm.
• Adam’s decapitated body runs through the house in order to lock the attic door, before he puts his head back on.
• Several characters in the afterlife have a scary appearance that reflects their manner of death. These include characters in many colourful shades that are severely burnt, have gunshot wounds, are flattened or have a shrunken head.
• Zombie-like ghosts are shown in a portal
• Throughout the movie, there are statues of scary-looking creatures such as gargoyles, ghouls and monsters.
• Betelgeuse explodes from his coffin in a loud swell of music, with pale skin that appears mouldy and looking dishevelled, and with rotten teeth and a gravelly, loud voice.
• There are several jump scares in the film, particularly where Betelgeuse’s head spins rapidly while he screams, and when he transforms his face into an insect-like thing.
• Spikes burst from Betelgeuse’s body.
• Hands made from prawns suddenly burst from bowls at a dinner party, grabbing the faces of guests and dragging them down.
• Barbara unhinges her jaw and pops her eyeballs through her mouth so they are sitting on her tongue.
• Adam turns his face inside-out, so it resembles a pterodactyl, and puts his eyeballs on his fingers.
• A séance is performed and Barbara and Adam are summoned, accompanied by loud swells of music and crashing thunder and lightning. They then begin to shrivel into a mummy-like appearance and start crumbling to dust.
• Barbara rides a sandworm into the house, where it eats Betelgeuse whole.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

• A dog is nearly hit by a car.
• Lydia sees Adam and Barbara dying and becomes visibly distressed, running to Betelgeuse and begging that he save them.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

• Adam and Barbara swerve their car through the wall of a building and into a river, killing them.
• A character reveals that she committed suicide, saying, “if I knew what I did now, I would never have had my little accident”, before displaying her slit wrists.
• Lydia cries while writing her suicide note, and later, tells Barbara that she “wants to be dead too”.

• Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

• ‘Minute Maid’ is featured in several scenes.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

• Lydia hears moaning and, assuming it is her parents sleeping together, bangs on the wall.
• Adam pulls Barbara down into a chair where they kiss passionately.
• Dalia licks Charles’ nose flirtatiously.
• Betelgeuse manipulates Lydia into agreeing to marry him, in order to save her friends.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

• After wondering where he can get “a little action”, Betelgeuse is beckoned into a brothel by multiple women in revealing clothing.
• Betelgeuse is shown forcibly kissing, groping and looking up the skirt of Barbara.
• Betelgeuse is shown gyrating, grabbing his crotch and dry humping the air several times.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

• In several scenes, multiple characters are seen smoking cigarettes.
• In several scenes, multiple characters are seen drinking glasses of wine or champagne in a social setting.
• Lydia states that Dalia is, “sleeping with Prince Valium tonight”.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• Damn
• God-damn
• Damnit
• Hell
• Whorehouse
• Fuck / fuckin’
• Shit.

In a nutshell

Beetlejuice is a creepy, cult-classic horror/comedy film, with dry humour best fitted to an older audience. Due to horror themes, scary scenes, violence and coarse language, this film is not suitable for children under 13. Parental guidance is warranted until 15 due to darker themes including suicide, death and sexual harassment.

The main message from this movie is that while change is inevitable, we can learn to make the best of our situation with the help from others.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• Overcoming adversity
• Teamwork
• Determination.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

• In the film, Betelgeuse is shown forcibly kissing, groping and looking up the skirt of Barbara. Parents may wish to discuss why this is portrayed as humorous, and why this behaviour is inappropriate.
• Betelgeuse manipulates Lydia into agreeing to marriage. Why would this be inappropriate, considering how old Lydia is?
• There are several depictions of people who have died by suicide, and Lydia struggles with depression. How does Lydia cope with these feelings? How can we respond in situations like this?
• How do you cope when you are feeling sad?
• Parents may want to discuss with their children, how they interpret the idea of the ‘afterlife’.