41/20
Bug Juice: Oh
Chronology
The spirits of a deceased couple are haunted by an obnoxious family who moved into their home and they hire a malevolent spirit to exorcise them. This is Michael Keaton’s favorite movie. Otho When they spray paint the walls of the house, he changes from red fireman’s elf shoes to white sneakers as he walks through the bathroom, then back to red elf shoes as he enters the next room. Adam: What’s your education? Well… I went to Juilliard… I graduated from Harvard Business School.
WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?
I travel quite a bit. I lived through the Black Death and had a blast doing it. I’ve seen The Exorcist ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN TIMES AND EVERY TIME I SEE IT GETTING FUNNIER… NOT TO MENTION YOU’RE TALKING TO A DEAD NUMBER… You think I’m qualified? The Geffen Company logo is accompanied by a haunting version of the song Banana Boat (sung by the film’s composer, Danny Elfman). The making of the film emerged with some added/alternate scenes.
Instead of a desert, he sees an empty darkness filled with spinning gears
This version of the film is about 2 minutes shorter than the theatrical release, has some extra scenes and some missing, is in black and white, and has a timecode at the bottom. This version has 4 major differences: Alternate Scene: The scene where Adam tries to leave the house after his wife’s death is different. Extra Scenes: There is another scene where Lydia develops the photos she took of Adam and Barbra. Then, after her mother yells at her and blames her for putting holes in the sheets, Lydia runs upstairs and tries to convince her father that the photos are real. There is much more to the scene where the adults search for ghosts in the attic as we see the Desert Monster trying to eat Adam and Barbra as they hang out of the attic window. Finally, there is a 2 minute extra scene at the end where we see Lydia riding her bike home from school and her parents talking to Jane on the phone, telling her that they don’t want to sell the house. Lydia’s dance scene is shorter in this version and there is no scene with Beetlejuice in the waiting room.
Skip to Terror Toons (2002)
The film ends with one last exterior shot of the house. Day-OTraditional, lyrics by William A. Attaway & Irving Burgie [miswritten by William A. Attaway & Irving Burgie (as Lord Burgess)] Performed by Harry Belafonte, courtesy of RCA Records. It may take two or three viewings to warm up to “Bug Juice”. Its weird, hip sensibility and pace are alternately light, lazy and frenetic. A charming New England couple dies and returns to their beloved home as ghosts, determined to rid the house of its hideous new occupants.
a few seconds until you get to him
Perhaps Alec Baldwin’s most benign and engaging performance; Geena Davis, Winona Ryder and Sylvia Sidney are also very appealing. The new New York couple (Jeffrey Jones and Catherine O&Hara) are not as well written or thought out as the rest of the cast, and some of their comedic lines are stunted and dry ice. Of course there’s also Michael Keaton, wildly comical as Betelgeuse. I remember hearing comments in 1988 that Keaton wasn’t present enough to make the film worthwhile, but that’s only true if you’re watching the film for the antics and quick shots. Keaton is truly wonderful, but also bombastic, and I felt there was enough of him to satisfy – it’s not really his story, Baldwin and Davis’ anyway; Betelgeuse is used as a curmudgeonly, vulgar racket. Director Tim Burton is very careful not to overload the film with spoilers; he takes this story with surprising care and works magic in a dubious script: a comic fantasy about the dead that ultimately celebrates life. ***1/2 from here****
