MovieChat Forums > Beetlejuice (1988) Discussion > Why did Sara and the others suddenly lea...

Why did Sara and the others suddenly leave?

posted 4 years ago by zombihntr (91)
3 replies | jump to latest

If i remember correctly, sometime after the "Day-O" scene Lydia comes downstairs having failed to get the ghosts to make an appearance. She says something about them not wanting to be teased or made to do stupid tricks. Delia says "They're dead, it's a little late to be neurotic".

Then suddenly Sara hands Delia the pictures, looking totally done. As is everyone else apparently cause they're all leaving. Delia says "this was not a hallucination" and that what happened was real, etc. Delia's agent insults her art (tasteless asshole) and they're gone.

What happened here? Firstly, why did they leave? Second, nobody said anything about a hallucination. Why did Delia say that? Is that the writer's way of informing us that they don't believe what happened anymore? Why wouldn't they?

This is so disjointed. It's like they skipped a scene or something. It'd make more sense if you heard Tim Burton in the background saying "Maree, it's time to leave. Catherine, argue at them like they're skeptical now. And....cut".

[–] strntz (12223) 4 years ago

Yeah, sorta agree. Cavett's character was abrupt, but I got the sense that he didn't believe there would be ghosts before he got to the house knowing that Delia is indeed a flake. He and his wife/girlfriend seemed to believe the ghosts were real after the Day-O scene, but seemed to revert back to his skepticism when Lydia says they wouldn't appear.

I agree they could have improved the whole exchange with a little more background, but I just assume that Delia's agent had enough of her years ago and only stayed with her because Charles had money to support her "art". I guess he had enough when he thought Delia was pulling some sort of stunt, maybe to make fun of them or actually scare them. “If you insist on scaring people, do it with your sculpture.”

It would be interesting to see if there was a edited scene shot with a little more backstory.

[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7699) 4 years ago

Just to clarify, you are mixing up 2 scenes. Cause the whole line of, "They don't want you to make them do stupid tricks." is from the later part of the movie where the guy with the big mustache and his wife come over. The scene you are referring to has Delia telling them they aren't coming and then Otho asks why not. To which she says because they were trying to scare you and you didn't get scared. Which is what makes them want to leave cause they think it was all a trick and don't believe Delia.

[–] aavfreak (3313) 4 years ago

Anytime the wife and I catch this while channel surfing, we always have to watch the Day-O scene. And you're right, the following events are somewhat puzzling and seem disjointed.

I don't recall exactly why they were all there for the visit in the first place. It wasn't specifically to see ghosts, right? Then why storm off after the ghosts refused to show themselves? I can see going from convinced to skeptical and maybe a good chuckle "he-he, you got us good. Suck a good prank, Now on to the business we came here for." But it made no sense to just storm out like that.

It was so abrupt. They were laughing and smiling and carrying on - having a great time. Then suddenly "you're a flake. You've always been a flake." and boom, gone.

The hallucination line was to imply that they no longer believed the ghosts were real and by saying that Delia was acknowledging that they had turned skeptic and was trying to convince them the ghosts were real. Although no one directly claimed it to be a hallucination, she could have used any similar line: This was not a joke. This was not a prank. This was not a trick. etc...