Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice (1988)

24 answered questions since 5 Dec '18, 00:00

(15 votes)

Question: When Barbara and Adam change their faces and are ready to go scare everyone, Barbara confesses to Adam that she doesn't want to go through with it. She says that she wants to be with Lydia. Why does she suddenly become infatuated with wanting to be with this girl whom she hardly even knows? It would make more sense if they both grew to love the whole family instead of just Lydia alone. Thus, her sudden change of heart seems kind of strange.

Answer: Lydia is a child, and Barbara and Adam both wanted to have children. Barbara's mother instincts just suddenly kicked in.

lionhead

Answer: I agree with the answer by Lionhead, and I would like to add: Lydia has already spoken to the ghosts more than her parents have. She has been more understanding and tolerant. To me, it makes perfect sense that Barbara has already connected with Lydia more than Lydia's parents.

Question: After Otho and the Deetz family are attacked by the Beetlejuice snake why do they stay in the house instead of fleeing immediately?

Answer: They're still convinced that they can make money off the house and ghosts that inhabit it. The promise of wealth can make people do strange things, including ignoring signs of clear danger. So they're remaining in the house in hopes that it can eventually make them a lot of dough.

TedStixon

Question: What did Jane say to Barbara that upset her? The only thing I could make out was, "This place" and "family."

Answer: Jane says "the house is meant for a couple with a family" and is therefore too big for them. Meaning that Adam and Barbara have no children and thus aren't a family yet. It upset her to be reminded that they don't have any children.

lionhead

Adam even suggests 'trying again on vacation,' implying they'd tried to have a child before. It's why they bonded with Lydia so well; they'd been hoping to be parents.

Brian Katcher

Question: Was there any physical indication of what killed the Maitlinds? The football players died in a bus crash and looked mangled. The girl who committed suicide had slashed wrists. I never noticed anything suggesting how the two of them died by their appearance.

Answer: They died by drowning. Jane's daughter even tells Lydia when she asks what happened. Although Adam and Barbara should have been completely wet for the whole movie, Tim Burton decided to keep Alec and Geena dry as he felt that keeping them wet the entire time would be an uncomfortable experience for both of them.

Question: In the "Day-O" scene at the dinner table, why wasn't Lydia possessed? I thought the whole point was for ALL of them to move out?

Answer: Lydia left the table as the possession began; also, she'd already met Adam and Barbara and bonded with them, so they chose not to possess her since they didn't want to scare her as well.

zendaddy621

Answer: There would be no need, Lydia is a child if her parents move she goes too, it's not really necessary, they aren't the type to just be cruel and make her feel embarrassed like that. Especially with the previous scenes it wouldn't have fit to have done so, not only against their characters but the early growth of a friendship, Lydia was natural and excited to meet them, if they did that we the audience would not care for what they were trying to do thematically.

Answer: Because then he could ask anybody to say his name three times for him, and they would release him.

Question: What's up with the afterlife? After they die, they somehow walk back to their own home and when they walk out, they're on some desert planet with giant sandworms. Now, their case worker Juno says they have to stay in the house for 125 years. Why do they have to stay in the house for 125 years and for what? Is there a Heaven or Hell in this movie?

Answer: The version of the afterlife depicted in this film is a complex bureaucracy involving caseworkers, vouchers, and the like; the Maitlands' case requires that they spend 125 years in the house. When Adam attempted to leave, he found himself on Saturn for reasons that are never really explained within the film. As for the last part of your question, Adam remarked that he saw nothing about Heaven or Hell in the Handbook For the Recently Deceased, so it's possible that neither Heaven or Hell exists within this version of the afterlife.

zendaddy621

Well I know this is from the musical, not the movie, but in the song "Say my Name", Beetlegeuse says "I'm a demon straight from Hell." So maybe there is just a lot more, where not everyone is guaranteed to go to Heaven or Hell, and they have to prove themselves.

Answer: Yes there is a Heaven and Hell in Beetlejuice. Juno says the 125 years is like a purgatory, they have to stay there until their time is up, and then they can "move on."

"Move on" doesn't necessarily mean that the Maitlands will go to either Heaven or Hell at the end of the 125 years they will be stuck in the house; it also doesn't mean that they are in some sort of purgatory. It most likely means that they will be able to leave the house after that time is up.

zendaddy621

Question: How is Lydia able to see Adam and Barbara along with Beetlejuice? Did she have some sort of near death experience or maybe inherited something from her family?

Answer: It's about her personality. She is just quirky and different from other people, maybe a bit psychic, and that has given her the ability to see the spirits. She may have inherited the trait from her late mother.

raywest

Answer: No, Adam and Barbara are just using their ghost powers to levitate her.

Phaneron

Answer: Lydia is being possessed, like during the "Tally Me Banana" scene earlier in the movie.

LorgSkyegon

Lydia is not affected during the banana song scene.

lionhead

Let me clarify: like the others at the dinner party during the "Tally Me Banana" scene.

LorgSkyegon

Question: When the Maitlands return to their home after it's been altered by the new owners, Juno tells the Maitlands that they should be thankful that they didn't die in Italy. What did she mean by that?

zendaddy621

Answer: It's in reference / added on to her previous statement about being quiet/peaceful: Italy, presumably, has a louder, more raucous group of the living.

Answer: Italy is the center of the Roman Catholic Church, which includes exorcisms as a real-life ritual. Presumably, ghosts in Italy are at greater risk of encountering trouble in Italy because of this reason.

Answer: Italy, is a trendsetter. There would be constant art-deco changes that conflict with the Maitland's personal taste. In comparison, the Deets' are pretty tamed.

MasterOfAll

Chosen answer: When the Maitlands first meet their case worker, Juno, they tell her how miffed they are with the new family that has moved into their home. Juno glances around the peaceful house and remarks, "Things seem quiet here. You should thank God you didn't die in Italy." The case worker's name, "Juno," is a traditional Italian girl's name; and we see (when she smokes a cigarette) that Juno's throat has been slashed open from side to side, implying that she died a very violent and grisly death. Based on her personal experience (probably being murdered in Italy), Juno is commenting that the Maitlands could have died a far worse death under far more horrific circumstances, and that they really have little reason to complain.

Charles Austin Miller

I'm Italian: there's literally not a single female being, girl or woman, who has (had or have) this name in this country. Let alone being "traditional." "J" is not even in our original alphabet, go figure. I also think it's about us Italians being noisy and the place being quiet, that's all.

You may be Italian, but you're not informed. While the formal Italian alphabet (derived of Latin) does not have a "J" character, the letter "J' is used in modern Italian writing every day. "Juno," in your limited world, would be spelled "Diuno," who was a Roman goddess (queen of the heavens). As this pertains to Beetlejuice, she is a Roman goddess in charge of organizing.

Charles Austin Miller

Juno slashed her own throat. It says earlier in the movie that people who commit suicide become civil servants, which is what Juno is as their case worker. The beauty queen at the desk implies the same when she talks about what happens to people when they die. She says "if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have had my little accident" holding up her slit wrists, implying that she wouldn't have committed suicide if she knew she'd become a civil servant (as a desk girl).

It's never stated or established that Juno committed suicide.

Charles Austin Miller

I really think she was supposed to have had a tracheotomy due to her smoking.

Brian Katcher

Chosen answer: Barbara did conjure him earlier in the movie when she saw lights in the model going off and then said his name three times. According to Juno, they let Beetlejuice out but didn't put him back, which gave him the opportunity to attack the Deetzs.

Question: When Beetlejuice replaces the handrail as a snake, I don't understand the line, "We've come for your daughter, Chuck." I know "Chuck" is "Charles" so who is "we" and why does he say "they" are only there for Lydia? (01:00:28)

Answer: It's a rather outdated usage. Queen Victoria was known for using the "Royal We," saying things like, "We are not amused." It was a way of saying something without being directly accountable for it. Others use it merely as an embellished speaking effect, meant as hyperbole. That is what Beetlejuice is doing to sound loftier.

raywest

Answer: In addition, it's possible that Beetlejuice was trying to rope Adam and Barbara in on the idea, since they did request for his help to get the Deetzes out of the house. He might've thought they were working together.

Question: What was the word that Delia spray painted on the wall and what does it mean?

Answer: "Mauve." It's a type of purple color. They were using spray paint to write what color to paint the walls.

Bishop73

Question: Why do Adam and Barbara always hide when Otho, Charles and Delia enter the attic? The only person who can see them is Lydia.

Answer: Probably a combination of habit and uncertainty. They don't know what the rules are of being seen since at least one person can see them, so to be cautious in case something changes they still hide.

jimba

Question: What happened to Lydia's biological mother? Was this mentioned in a deleted scene? I once watched the movie with someone who said that Delia actually is the biological mother, but Lydia feels so disconnected and misunderstood, she pretends that Delia is her stepmother. (When I was a kid myself, I actually met a couple of kids who pretended that parents were adoptive or someone was a step-parent).

Answer: Her mother died and Delia is indeed her stepmother. We are not told in the film how her mother died. In the musical we're told Emily Deetz is her biological mother.

Bishop73

Answer: I think you're thinking of the musical, there's no Girl Scout in the movie. As for the musical, after the girl plays up her heart condition and how a minor shock to her system could kill her, she ironically survives her encounter with Beetlejuice just fine.

Brian Katcher

Answer: This is never revealed.

lionhead

Answer: It's been inferred that she died from a sickness.

Question: How did the football players die exactly?

Answer: A bus accident.

Brian Katcher

Answer: After returning to Juno's office, the quarterback tells her that he doesn't think they survived the crash.

Question: When Beetlejuice tried to get the Maitland's business - I don't recall hearing what he expected for payment from them - does anyone know?

Answer: He didn't really talk about payment from the Maitlands. He made it seem like he was good at getting rid of the living and just wanted to help out. But really, he was trying to get "hired" so they would say his name 3 times so he could be summoned. Then by marrying Lydia, he could escape the Neitherworld.

Bishop73

Answer: She wanted to be with the couple, she did not think of the repercussions.

Phixius

She was incredibly depressed. She wasn't happy anywhere and she didn't fit in with her own family or anything they were trying to do. She was a goth girl. The realm of the dead and the macabre seemed more a place for her. When one sees the "Netherworld," it kind of seems like a more interesting place. But... upon closer inspection, it's not really all that different from our world.

Answer: She wanted to be with her mom who had passed sway.

It's never stated that her mom had died. There could be a possibility that Charles and her mom got divorced. The first two answers are more likely.

Revealing mistake: When Barbara and Adam are digging up Beetlejuice's grave, you can see that a piece of cardboard states "FRAGILE" or something in small print which is proportional to Barbara and Adam at that time. However, the lettering should be ten times larger if the cardboard was proportional to the actual model. (00:44:35)

More mistakes in Beetlejuice

Adam: Well, how is it that you can see us but nobody else can?
Lydia: Well, I read in that Handbook for the Recently Deceased. It says, "Live people ignore the strange and unusual." I, myself am strange and unusual.
Barbara: You look like a regular girl to me.

More quotes from Beetlejuice

Trivia: Even though Beetlejuice is the title character, he has only 17 and a half minutes of screen time.

More trivia for Beetlejuice

Question: Why does Bettlejuice give Lydia some BS reason why he can't tell her his name, but them puts her through a ridiculous round of charades for her to guess it?

Carl Missouri

Chosen answer: Because he can't say his own name, therefore the charades is the only way he can get her to figure out what his name is to say it.

Guy

More questions & answers from Beetlejuice

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