Tribute to original

This film is a sequel to the 1988 horror comedy about a renegade “bio-exorcist” liberated from afterlife. A family tragedy prompts three generations of the Deetz family back home to Winter River. Danny Elfman’s jumpy score helps us along the ghostly prelude as the town of Winter River comes into focus.

Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder), the former Goth teen who interfaced with the spirit world, has now assumed the role of a distraught psychic mediator, who hosts her own paranormal TV show titled ‘Ghost House’. Her producer boyfriend, Rory (Justin Theroux), her unmanageable daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), and her step-mother, Delores (Catherine O’ Hara), are the bane of her life. Lydia continues to be haunted by Beetlejuice and Astrid, who thinks her mother is delusional, accidentally opens the portal to the afterlife.

In essence, ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ is a poignant mother-daughter story but the many morbid ghoulish subplots that spring up right from the start feel scattered and unwieldy, until Burton exerts his considerable prowess and makes it all come good. Different storylines overlap here. Burton, though, appears to be back in control. He is in full creative command of the humour, the ghoulish imagination and the jubilant morbidity he became famous for.

DoP Haris Zambarloukos’ outstanding visuals, Danny Elfman’s eerie score, Colleen Atwood’s out-of-the-world costuming, Mark Scruton’s inventive production design, CGI work that seamlessly absorbs physical sets, puppetry, animatronix and hand-crafted effects are the highlight of this tribute to the original.

This 36-years-in-the-making follow-up has wonderful gags, macabre and grotesque elements, coupled with Burton’s visual inventiveness. The narrative may not seem coherent at first, but eventually it gets there. The connections to the past are brought in through pop-culture riffs and macabre humour. The director’s mercurial-macabre funereal style is very much in evidence here.

The idea that those who might watch this film may have also seen the original may not be practical — given the 36-year gap between the two films. So, for the newcomers to this strange work, this may indeed seem baffling. But for those who have seen the original, this film is indeed fulfilling. It has a lean runtime, the attention to detail is visible in every frame, the punchlines hit the right buttons, and the visuals are a treat. Burton’s supernatural caper is definitely comfort food for his myriad fans.