MovieChat Forums > Beetlejuice (1988) Discussion > Random questions about this movie

Random questions about this movie

posted a year ago by blindfolded (1618)
6 replies | jump to latest

Things I don't quite understand...

1. What exactly is happening when the Maitlands are moaning at Delia and she sits up and uses a TV remote? Why does this stop/startle/shock the Maitlands?

2. Do the Maitlands affect the physical world? What I mean is, Charles indeed sees floating bedsheets... but does Delia and Otho see and hear headless Adam brush past them and slam the attic door?

3. Why does Juno have the Maitlands alter their faces to scare people when she originally scolded them for doing the same thing earlier?

4. Lydia summons Beetlejuice to help the Maitlands during their exorcism, and Beetlejuice begins to wreak havoc. How exactly is this helping the Maitlands and what does that have anything to do with reversing the exorcism?

5. What happened to Maxie Dean and the other lady? Did they die after getting launched through the ceiling?

6. What happened to Otho? Beetlejuice seems to do something to his outfit and he runs off..... why? what's going on there?

7. At the beginning, Beetlejuice looks like he's learning about the Maitlands death through some afterlife version of a newspaper.... but he already appears to be hanging out in the model. Was it just complete coincidence he happens to be already living with the Maitlands? Or was he already aware and was just playing up the Maitlands death announcement as some weird inside joke with himself?

[–] MeYouFools (169) a year ago

1. Adam and Barbara stop because they realize Delia just thinks she's hearing the TV and goes right back to sleep. Their efforts were for naught.

2. They can't see him, but they do mention feeling something as he rushes past them.

3. They had called in Betelgeuse to do their work for them and Juno needed them to do their own damn haunting instead of relying on a loose cannon like Betelgeuse.

4. Betelgeuse uses his magic to stop whatever awful thing was happening to Adam and Barbara when he says, "Ooh, I think, uh, they've had enough exorcise for tonight." Like he literally did it in the blink of an eye because his command of supernatural power is that great. It's little more than an afterthought to him and then he goes about tormenting the Deetzes (and Otho).

5. *makes spooky finger gestures* Nobody knows... They're probably dead.

6. Otho is into high fashion and Betelgeuse turns his wardrobe into a leisure suit, something extremely tacky, even when they were in vogue.

7. He just seems to be underground somewhere. Not in a model, not with the Maitlands. Just in stuck in existence.

[–] blindfolded (1618) a year ago

Thanks for some answers! But some clarifications....

2. Not so much him.... but Adam rushes past them and opens the attic door and then slams it. Did the door itself open and slam from Delia's perspective? Seems like something they should've reacted to. Or was it only from Adams perspective and in reality, the door didn't move?

3. What I mean is: In the beginning, Juno scolds Maitlands for tearing their faces off...as if to say "how stupid, nobody can even see you." But later, she instructs them to do exactly that. She has them stretch out and distort their faces. For what? They can't see them.

[–] MeYouFools (169) a year ago

I saw it in a theater Saturday night and from what I could tell Delia seemed to be more focused on Otho than noticing the door slam shut right above her. It seems kinda silly and far-fetched, but Delia doesn't strike me as being especially aware of much around her other than herself.

Honestly, you're just thinking too much about it. Maybe the point is that being dead doesn't make you any wiser? Cause right after the Maitlands resolve to somehow visually scare the Deetzes off, on the walk back home, they decide to live with them instead. It's really not something important to the story; just an excuse for Burton's effects guys to show off.

[–] blindfolded (1618) a year ago

Thinking about it too much? Maybe, maybe not.

If you're going to tell a story about the aftermath of your death.... it should still make some sense, right? Every movie sets up its own background universe rules with exposition, whether it's Shawshank or Transformers. If the means that you're delivering your message is just a hodgepodge of information that conflicts with itself.... doesn't that lead to some fair questions?

[–] OuterSpace (128) 8 months ago

"2. Not so much him.... but Adam rushes past them and opens the attic door and then slams it. Did the door itself open and slam from Delia's perspective? Seems like something they should've reacted to. Or was it only from Adams perspective and in reality, the door didn't move?

3. What I mean is: In the beginning, Juno scolds Maitlands for tearing their faces off...as if to say "how stupid, nobody can even see you." But later, she instructs them to do exactly that. She has them stretch out and distort their faces. For what? They can't see them."

2.Yes. They see any manipulation of real world objects but never the Maitlands themselves. One might assume Delia doesn't react because at this point she does not believe in ghosts and would rationalize it to be caused by something else.

3. Yeah I'm unclear on this as well. There's a very (very) vague implication they might be able to visibly manifest in some way if they continued studying the handbook but otherwise there's no reason to think anyone other than Lydia can see them at this point. Just have to accept it and move on. =P

[–] HellFire (561) 3 months ago

1. It's a comedy and the joke is they stop when she presses the off button on the remote either because they were bored of making noises at that point or because they're still not quite used to not been seen and ironically got scared when she sat up.

2. Otho feels Adam's presence but Delia doesn't. That's why he stops and says "Did you feel something?", and she says "When?". He's got a slight supernatural gift because he did paranormal research in New York. He says this at dinner later. But he's too shallow and limited in his world view to have Lydia's abilities. And neither Otho or Delia see the door slam shut. They only hear it. They're looking at each other and then only turn to the door once they hear it slam.

3. Because it was a different situation by this point. Juno told them to practice their skills. She knows everything that's happening so she knew about the possession, knew the Deetz's now believed, knew they had the handbook, so ultimately knew that the Deetz's would now be able to see Adam and Barbara.

4. She witnessed Beetlejuice as a snake. She knows he's got the abilities, so it's a desperate attempt to save them which he does.

5. It's a black comedy so they're probably dead.

6. Wearing that suit is worse than death for Otho so he cries like a big baby.

7. Beetlejuice is underground. Maybe literal Hell or a metaphorical Hell. I've no idea but he's not in the model at that point because the camera pans down from outside the house when we first see him, and later on, after he's seen them in the paper and targeted them with an advertisement on their TV, Juno says "I believe he's been hanging out in your cemetery lately".