If you're too young to remember, Beetlejuice had a cartoon series. He also had some toys. So, Beetlejuice was a kids' movie, right?
WRONG. Well, okay, maybe? I mean, at one point, Beetlejuice drops the F-bomb, and grabs his junk, but the rest of the movie is relatively PG, I suppose. That said, that didn't keep it from scaring the hell out of me as a kid. And, just like Michael Jackson's Moonwalker scarred me as a child, Beetlejuice had a similar effect, and I have 5 reasons why.
My Sister Use To Say Beetlejuice Twice And Threaten To Say It A Third Time If I Misbehaved
You know what I don't like? Mirrors. For one thing, they mean I have to see all the white hairs that have recently been growing in, and two, that's where Bloody Mary lives. Yeah! Haven't you heard? Just like in the best Paranormal Activity movie (that would be 3), if you say Bloody Mary three times in a mirror, something terrible will happen.
The same goes for Candyman. In fact, you have to say Candyman's name FIVE times in a mirror to make him appear! But, here's the scary thing about Beetlejuice (or rather, Betelgeuse). You don't even need a mirror to summon him. And, I know this because my sister would remind me of this fact whenever I was being annoying. She'd say Beetlejuice twice, and then just let the third Beetlejuice sit there on the tip of her tongue, ready to be uttered at a moment's notice if I wouldn't turn down my video games.
And, I'll tell you what. It worked. Sometimes, I'd THINK my sister said his name twice, and then I would leap into my bed and hide under the covers. It wasn't so much the character of Beetlejuice himself, as Beetlejuice is definitely one of Michael Keaton's best roles, but it was one scene in particular that REALLY messed me up as a kid, which I'll get into now.
The Snake Banister Scene Literally Gave Me Nightmares For Weeks
Watching it again, the snake banister scene is actually one of my favorite moments in the entire movie ("We've come for your daughter, Chuck."). But, back when I was around 7 or 8, that scene scared the living daylights out of me!
I think it was Beetlejuice's snake eyes, or the extended head, or maybe just the idea of a banister transforming into something else that did it for me, but for whatever reason, that scene haunted me.
So much so, that it was pretty much "the shower scene from Psycho" for me. By that I mean, similar to how Psycho made some people afraid to take showers, Beetlejuice made me afraid of banisters (yes, banisters). And, whenever I saw one, I got twitchy. Going back to my sister saying Beetlejuice twice, if I ever thought she might have said it a third time, I would literally race up the stairs, staring at my feet on the way up to my room just in case the banister possibly turned into a snake. I swear, Beetlejuice messed me up, man!
That Song… (You Know The One I'm Talking About)
Probably the most famous scene in the entire movie, I actually thought the "Banana Boat" part of the film was pretty funny, even as a kid... At first. I mean, how could I not? A bunch of adults were singing a whimsical song, and dancing around a dinner table. It was comic gold.
Until the hands popped out. I really think this is what always unnerved me about Tim Burton movies as a child, as they always played with my expectations. The same goes for a movie like Pee-wee's Big Adventure, which I put on my list of 5 surprisingly scary moments from '80s kids movies with the whole "Large Marge" scene. The rest of that movie was super silly, but that Large Marge scene came out of nowhere.
And, now that I think about it, I had a similar terrified reaction in the 1989 Batman movie with the scene where The Joker demands the mirror, and then staggers out of the room laughing hysterically. Just pure and utter terror to my young brain.
But, back to Beetlejuice. The juxtaposition of the whimsical dancing, mixed in with the horrific hands shooting out of their food set me completely on edge as a child. I think there's a reason that when ranking Tim Burton movies, his earlier pictures usually land toward the top. And, I think it's because he was truly putting out some authentically weird (and unsettling) movies back in his early days. Beetlejuice is no exception. Hell, it may even be the rule when it came to early Tim Burton movies, as authentic weirdness was his brand!
It Gave Me A Legitimate Fear Of Sandworms That I Never Had Before I Saw This Movie
I had never even HEARD of a sandworm (let alone a Saturn Sandworm) before the movie, Beetlejuice. In fact, even though I had quite a few fears back when I was younger, the last thing I needed was a new fear, but Beetlejuice planted one in my young psyche.
This is actually weird to me though, because later in life, I would come to LOVE sandworms. Be it the sandworms (okay, "Graboids") from Tremors, which I saw only one year later, or the legit sandworms in Dune, I actually came to love the underground beasts. They're so cool! But, add the double faced ones in Beetlejuice to the list of other things that really… bugged me (get it? BEETLE juice?!) about the movie in my youth.
It Made Me Question The Afterlife
Lastly, Beetlejuice made me question what happens to us after we die. As a Catholic kid who watched a lot of cartoons, I always thought the answer was simple: We died, ended up on clouds in some long line, and some dude in front of a golden gate with a book would judge if we could go to Heaven or not. Pretty simple.
And then, Beetlejuice had to go and complicate things. This movie also had "a waiting room" scene, but it showed all of the people looking as they did AT THE MOMENT they died. So, one person was severed from torso to legs, and another was completely flattened by a car. The funniest (even for a scared little kid like myself) was the man with the shrunken head, but Lord. If this was what the afterlife actually looked like, then I thought I had to be extra cautious in life so I didn't end up in some waiting room with a shrunken head or something.
And, that's the list. Are you excited for Beetlejuice 2, or did the first movie mess you up too much to get excited for a sequel? For more news on all things involving the ghost with the most, be sure to swing by here often!
