BEETLEJUICE! BEETLEJUICE! BEETLEJUICE! [1988]

How many of you read the previous post and thought, 'He's going to do Candyman next!'?  If you did think that, for shame; get the hell out of my blog!  It could only have been Tim Burton's 1988 maniacal masterpiece!  Beetlejuice, along with approximately three hundred and twenty seven other movies, is easily in my top ten of all time.  I'd better get on with this, as I don't want to further incense Úna with delays (some of the things she threatened me with were just depraved; Johnny, your wife has serious issues; don't leave her alone with Oscar!), so without further preamble let's go and have a look, shall we?

I've lost count of how many times I've seen Beetlejuice.  It is one of those movies which is symbiotically infused with my childhood.  I can't think about one without the other leaping to mind.  It's like midi-chlorians, only not stupid and shit.  I must have been about eleven or twelve when I first saw it.  Though it was released when I was nine, I certainly didn't see it in the cinema, and I didn't get into renting movies until my teens, so Beetlejuice was most likely something I recorded off the TV (ads and all!) and then re-played again and again until someone went and recorded Glenroe over it.

  Beetlejuice was Tim Burton's second feature.  Back then his design heavy Gothic-comedy style was something fresh and new.  His films felt like the bastard child of The Cure and German expressionistic cinema.  They had a distinctive look and feel.  They were quirky without being alienating, and along with the likes of Joe Dante and John Landis, he bought a subversive indie edge to family entertainment which, while quite prominent in classic 80s and 90s movies, is sadly absent today.  While you may have memories of it being a kids' movie, make no mistake, Beetlejuice is quite dark and scary at times.  While it was PG on release in America, in Ireland it was 15s.  Regardless, I still consider it a kids' movie, and if your child can't handle this shit, get a new one with some balls (metaphorical balls, of course.  This isn't an anti-girl blog; I'm not China!).

  The basic story of Beetlejuice concerns Barbara and Adam Maitland (Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin) who contract a premature case of death, and find themselves left behind to haunt their dream home.  To their horror (comedy horror, obviously), the yuppie Deetz clan move in and gut the house of its earthly charm, only to replace it with ghastly modern art.  The Maitlands try to scare them away, but they are just too gosh darn nice be truly frightening.  It is at this point that Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton, in his personal favourite role) offers his services.  He calls himself a bio-exorcist, which means that he can exorcise the living.  All the Maitlands have to do is say his name three times, and this will release him.  Even if you haven't seen the movie, it's pretty obvious what's going to happen (i.e. the cripple telling the story is dead all along, then he sinks).

  Beetlejuice exudes an intoxicating lo-fi charm.  It manages to perfectly balance quirky weirdness with accessible fun.  The word quirky in movies is much like the term pop in music, in that it has taken on a very negative connotation in recent years.  When I say that Beetlejuice is quirky I mean it in the same sense that The Beatles are pop music; it is very much a good thing.
  Beetlejuice is unique in its style and tone.  I have wracked my brains, and I can't think of another film that is quite like it.  Even in Burton's own strange menagerie of movies, it stands apart.  It is so finely balanced in its weirdness that if any one element had failed to work, the whole thing would, much like the credibility and logic in a Harry Knowles review, have fallen apart.  Beetlejuice has more in common with a cartoon than with a live action film.  This is evident in everything from the production design and lighting, to the characters themselves.  The titular anti-hero aside, we spend much of the movie with the yuppie Deetz family, an unlikeable collection of weirdos, but they are played with such cartoon-like glee that you never want them to leave the screen.  The only characters in Beetlejuice who are normal are the Maitlands, and they're ghosts!

  The closest we get to an ordinary person in the Deetz family is Lydia (Winona Ryder), the goth girl next door whose dark nature means she is the only one who can see the Maitlands.  Her father Charles (Jeffrey Jones, forever to be known as Principal Edward R. Rooney from Ferris Bueler's Day Off) is a cutthroat contractor who has moved his family away from the city, as his nerves demand that he live a quieter life.  Delia (Catherine O'Hara) is Charles' wife and Lydia's step-mother, a high-strung and highly pretentious artist.  The group is rounded out by Delia's equally pretentious friend, interior decorator and paranormal dabbler, Otho (Glenn Shadix).

  The Maitlands are set up as being a perfect couple.  Though we only meet them briefly before their deaths, Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis perfectly capture the sense of their quaint and charming world.  Baldwin plays completely against type with Adam.  While I can't claim to have seen all of his movies, I have never seen him play a character like this elsewhere.  He is practically unrecognisable; even his trademark dark hair is absent.  As for Geena Davis, whatever happened to her?  She went from being one of the biggest box office draws in the world to staring two of the biggest bombs of all time, The Long Kiss Goodnight and Cutthroat Island.  Oh yeah; that's what happened to her!

  But while all of the cast are at the top of their game, there is only one star in this show; Michael Keaton, Michael Keaton, Michael Keaton!

Holy shit!  I wrote it three times, and he appeared!  Mmm.  That gives me an idea...  Natalie Portman!  Natalie Portman!  Natalie Portman!

What a neat trick, though I fear the real reason for the delay in posting this entry has become all too apparent...
   So, what was I saying?  Yes!  Beetlejuice!  Michael Keaton!  Awesomness!  Though he is only on screen for 17.5 minutes of the 92-minute running time, Keaton manages to trump everyone, every time.  The moment he is first resurrected is one of my favourite scenes of all time.  I could watch it again and again and it would never cease to crack me up.  It's easy to forget that Michael Keaton was one of the biggest stars of the 90s, in particular when under the directorship of Tim Burton (before the latter eloped with Johnny Depp).  And to think, it might never have happened!  Keaton wasn't in fact the first choice for the role.  Tim Burton originally wanted Sammy Davis Jr.  Yes.  That Sammy Davis Jr!  In case you can't quite picture him, here's a behind the scenes photo from the Beetlejuice casting sessions:

That's him on the right.  I think.  I don't research these blogs very well.  It's not actually as bat-shit crazy a notion as you might think.  The character of Beetlejuice went through some radical revisions as the script was developed.  In early incarnations, Beetlejuice was supposed to be a winged demon who transformed into a small, Middle Eastern man, and rather than being a wise-cracking con-artist, he was a bloodthirsty killer and a rapist whose goal was to murder the Deetz's.  Fun for all the family!

  And what about that name?  The studio didn't actually like the title Beetlejuice.  The story goes that Tim Burton joked that they should called it Scared Sheetless instead, and was horrified when the executives actually considered using it!

  Tim Burton's imagination is in full flight here.  He creates a unique world filled with wonderfully twisted visual gags.  The fact that the visuals were achieved through the use of physical effects lends the whole production a handcrafted feel.  The vision of the afterlife as an infernal bureaucracy is brilliantly realised, though this is practically pedestrian when compared with what happens when the Maitlands try to set foot outside their house.  These brief scenes are absolutely bonkers, but they leave us with some of the most enduring moments in the movie.  The sense of another world is brilliantly evoked, but what it particularly nice is how the strangeness is mirrored in the lifestyle of the Deetzes, most notably in Delia's artwork.  And then, of course, there's the Harry Belafonte...

  The more I think about it, the more Beetlejuice just doesn't make any sense!  How does this movie work?  If you actually look at the constituent parts, it should be one of the worst movie of all time, but somehow, thankfully, it is the complete opposite of that!  It just works.  There are some things about Beetlejuice that are undeniably good.  The performances are uniformly fantastic, the scripting by Michael McDowell and Warren Skaaren (based on a story by McDowell and Larry Wilson) is tightly constructed, and the direction confidant and daring.  As with all Tim Burton films, the production design is superb, and with the main title theme Danny Elfman produced one of his best and most iconic scores.  If I was to level a criticism at it at all, it would have to be that some of the compositing effects have dated, but they are stylised enough that the movie easily gets away with it.

  From its shrunken head to its rotted toes, Beetlejuice is the definition of a 90s movie, and I do not mean that in a derogatory sense.  I adore this style of film.  You couldn’t make it today, but if they did, they would cast Johnny Depp in the title role, he'd deliver his now generic quirky performance, and the whole thing would collapse under the weight of its own shitty CGI.  Then God would rain down fiery vengeance on us all.  The bees would stop pollinating, which would result in all of the world's crops failing.  There would be widespread droughts.  The Internet would crash, cutting the world off from its precious lifeblood of free porn.  Rabid geeks would take to the streets in search of release for their pent up carnal frustrations.  One of them would inevitable shag a monkey, which will cause a worldwide zombie pandemic.  As a result of this chaos, film funding budgets will be cut, which would result in Stitches never getting made...
  Wow.  I actually gave myself a chill there.  Please, Tim Burton, return to your old style and give us some more of that lo-fi magic, or we're all doomed!

If that trailer doesn't make you want to instantly seek out the movie, then quite frankly, you're an asshole.  Death is too good for you, but should you happen to die, you will be forced to take the number 9,999,765,987,345,456,567,889,239 and get in line!
  Michael Keaton's Beetlejuice is a true icon of cinema.  This character is one of our primary influences in what we are doing with Stitches, although I would say that in tone, our guy is probably closer to the original incaration of the character (in terms of personality, not design).  I would love to read some of those early drafts and see what he was like back then!

  Beetlejuice went on to spawn an animated children's series, and while there was talk for many years of a sequel - Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian (I'm not joking) - it thankfully never materialised.  As much as I love this movie, I don't think the magic could ever have been captured again.  Beetlejuice is one of a kind, and better for it.

  To play us out, hit it, Harry:

Next up, I'm going to share a little nocturne with you.

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STEET [1984]

Hello to Jonathan, Dave, Úna, Lorraine, Mammy, and Eamon, my loyal followers/readers.  Sorry for the delay, but I am in the midst of re-writing the script, so the blog is on the back burner for the next week or two.  I haven't forgotten about you though!  Today I am going to treat you to the first of many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many Nightmare on Elm Street reviews.  Having watched the whole series over the past few weeks, it's interesting to view them in light of the franchise as a whole.

  While Stitches is a comedy-horror rather than a straight up scary movie, A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of my big inspirations.  As he disposes of his victims, Freddy Kreuger freely spouts comic remarks and puns.  Is it just me, or does that sound suspiciously  like a killer clown?  So read on, and whatever you do, don't fall asleep...

My father is wont to open stories with, 'When I was a lad.'  I am going to borrow that expression here as I tell you that, when I was a lad, I was never allowed to watch scary movies.  I was the eldest in my family, so as is usually the case, my parents were stricter with me than with my subsequent siblings (cue sentimental music). 

  I remember when A Nightmare on Elm Street was first screened on television.  It was the mid-eighties, and my clothes and hair were the height of fashion.  The day after A Nightmare on Elm Street was broadcast, 75% of the boys in my class wouldn't shut up about how cool this guy Freddy Kreuger was.  As there were only four of us (yes, city folk; country school classes can be that small!), it put me somewhat in the minority.  The other boys were the youngest in their respective families, so they had been allowed to stay up and watch it with their older brothers and sisters.  The way they described it, A Nightmare on Elm Street sounded like the most amazing movie ever made, ever, by anyone.  Ever!  So all of these years later, had I really missed out?

Yes, I had.  A Nightmare on Elm Street is a classic, plain and simple.  It gave us one of the greatest screen villains of all time.  It made Wes Craven one of the most recognised names, not just in horror, but in cinema.  It took fledgling studio New Line Cinema from the verge of bankruptcy into the big leagues of Hollywood (they became known as 'the house that Freddy built').  It gave a young unknown actor called Johnny Depp his big break.  It paved the way for six sequels, a television spin-off, a crossover with the Friday The 13th franchise, a remake, novel and comic tie-ins, figurines, and a thousand imitators.  It inspired more than one musician to write truly god awful music, gave rise to a staple fancy dress party costume, and a partridge in a scare tree (I couldn't resist that and no, I'm not even remotely sorry).

  The story begins in the quiet town of Springwood, Ohio.  Tina Gray (Amanda Wyss) is a teenage girl who is plagued by a recurring nightmare.  When she tells her friends at school - her best friend Nancy (Heather Langenkamp), Glen (Depp), and her boyfriend Rod (Jsu Garcia) - they realise they that their nightmares all have something in common, a guy with a burnt face, a stripy jumper, a fedora, a knife-fingered hand, and a kung fu grip.  As the story unfolds, the line between dreams and reality inevitably blurs.  The swiftly diminishing group of teens realise the horrifying truth (and the story's central and most powerful concept); if you die in your dreams, you die in the real world.

  The idea that the only way to escape Freddy is to stay awake is a stroke of genius.  Try though you might, at some stage you will doze off, and when you do, Freddy will be waiting.  It puts the characters in a position where they cannot avoid confronting there fear.  As dramatic tools go, this is a flawless concept.  We are never more vulnerable than when we are asleep.  That this is exactly when Freddy strikes automatically triggers a primal terror.

  Fear is a very basic emotion and the filmmakers keep this in mind when delivering the scares.  The effectiveness of the nightmares lie in their simplicity.  Rather than attempt to represent the unfathomable scope of the dreamscape, Craven keeps things rooted in the real world of Elm Street.  At any given moment, the characters can't be sure if they are asleep or awake.  I'm not going to go into detail - I don't want to spoil it for the uninitiated - but there are several images in A Nightmare on Elm Street which will stay with you forever, none more so than Johnny Depp in a belly top.

  As the teens explore their nightmares, they learns of the real Freddy Kreuger, and of his connection with the parents of Springwood.  This back story is something that is much elaborated on in the sequels (most notably in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors), but what we get here is perfect on its own.  It creates a personal connection between the antagonists and the protagonist, and gives a real sense of the evil that can lurk behind the seemingly benign façade of a small town.  The philosophy of A Nightmare on Elm Street has deep roots in the human psyche, in that the sins of the father shall we visited on the son.  Mothers and daughters, it would seem, can do whatever the hell they like!

  For most of its running time, A Nightmare on Elm Street doesn't put a foot wrong.  The characters are strong, the villain is amazing, and the scares delightfully creepy.  If there is one discordant note, it is one which runs throughout the film.  Wes Craven specifically wanted to cast the role of Nancy with someone as far removed from a typical Hollywood heroine as possible.  To this end, he cast Heather Langenkamp.  While this does add to Nancy's credibility, the unfortunate truth is that the demands of the role are slightly beyond Langenkamp's abilities as an actress.  While she isn't awful, her delivery is a little flat.

  When Freddy stepped onto the screen in 1984, he was a new kind of villain.  In the past, the nightmare protagonist was a relatively silent killer.  This may have been a vestige of the early days of horror, the likes of Frankenstein, The Wolfman, and the early Dracula pictures, but even modern movie legends like Michael Myres, Jason, Leatherface, or the Terminator (which was realised only a month before A Nightmare on Elm Street) would have a hard time conducting a conversation.  Freddy was completely different.  Not only did he speak, what he said gave the impression that he really, really liked what he was doing.  Whereas the killers of the past went quietly about their business, Freddy scared you, laughed at your pathetic fear, and then he killed you.  What a shit!

  Like all of the best storytelling, A Nightmare On Elm Street has aged well.  Despite its flaws, it is a true masterpiece.  While Freddy's status in pop culture has faded, time has not dulled the edge of those razor claws.  Wes Craven had intended this be a stand alone movie.  He wanted it to end on a happy note, but was forced into creating a more open ending by the producers, who saw the franchise potential in the story.  Despite this reasoning, and even if no sequels had been made, the ending here is fantastic, and the movie is better for it.

  A Nightmare on Elm Street is complete in and of itself.  While some of the sequels are fun, none of them manage to achieve the perfect balance found here.  It is a must see, and I defy you to not have the nursery rhyme running through your head when you walk away!

I was in my twenties when I first saw A Nightmare on Elm Street.  It was the only one of the Freddy movies that I had seen before I commenced my research for Stitches, but between various trailers and video clips, I was very familiar with the character, or at least I thought I was.  The Freddy that pop culture idolises is a one-liner-spouting killing machine.  But this was never Wes Craven's intention for the character.  In his mind, Freddy was a nightmare villain, pure and simple; there was nothing comic about him.  It was the later installments that enhanced this side of his personality.

  I wish I had seen movies like A Nightmare on Elm Street at an age when they might truly have frightened me.  Watching them later in life, I appreciate the scares more than I actually feel them.  In more recent years I've been given good solid jolts by movies such as The Descent, Ring and Ring 2 (the Japanese versions), and the Korean film The Eye, but in terms of a movie that actually gave me an honest to goodness nightmare, that honour goes to, of all things, The NeverEnding Story.  The night that I saw it, I dreamed I was being chased across the fields by a man in black who was riding on the back of Falkor.  I woke up screaming.  Yes people, what it took to scare me awake was a benign character in a children's movie.  Behold, the face of terror:

I am not going to pretend for a second I want more nightmares, but while it wasn't a pleasant experience at the time, it sure made for a good memory!

Next up, we're going to trip the rift.

P.S.  As this post went up on May 24th, there is one final order of business to which I must attend; Happy Birthday, Sinéad!