Michael Keaton Eases Back into a Familiar Role as Beetlejuice — and Makes the Bio-Exorcist a Little Juicier

Thirty-six years. That’s a lifetime in cinema, and the span Beetlejuice devotees endured before the spectral shenanigans of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice graced the big screen. For true fans, the reunion with the bio-exorcist was largely a rewarding one, not least because it heralded the vibrant return of Michael Keaton to a character that feels intrinsically his.

In Tim Burton’s whimsical, black-and-white striped and macabre world of Beetlejuice (1988) and its long-awaited follow-up, Keaton’s Betelgeuse (note the intentional, mischievous misspelling in the sequel’s title) remains a force of chaotic, ghoulish charm. He’s a freelance “bio-exorcist” – a spirit summoned from the Netherworld to help the recently deceased Adam and Barbara Maitland rid their home of its unwelcome living inhabitants, the Deetz family. But Betelgeuse’s methods are as outlandish and unsettling as his striped suit, and his own agenda quickly becomes clear: to wreak havoc and, with a particularly unsettling gleam in his eye, to ensnare the teenage goth icon, Lydia Deetz (a brilliantly brooding Winona Ryder). 

In the original, a younger Keaton explodes onto the screen as Betelgeuse with a raw, almost untamed manic energy. His movements are jerky and unpredictable, his rapid-fire delivery of wickedly funny lines feels like a burst of pure, unadulterated id from the Netherworld. He’s a whirlwind of grotesque humor and physical elasticity, a creature born of Burton’s delightfully twisted imagination, yet it’s Keaton’s youthful exuberance that truly brings this chaotic spirit to (un)life. 

Stepping back into Betelgeuse’s tattered attire after nearly four decades in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Keaton offers a fascinating evolution of the character. While the core of Betelgeuse’s mischievous and malevolent nature remains intact, the sequel expands his world and his interactions within the Netherworld itself. We see him not just engaging with the returning Deetz family – Lydia, now a grown woman, and her teenage daughter Astrid – but also interacting with the bizarre denizens of the afterlife bureaucracy. 

Figures like Harry the Hunter, the shrunken-headed denizen of the waiting room, provide opportunities for Keaton to play off established Netherworld oddities, showcasing Betelgeuse’s familiarity, albeit a disruptive one, with this strange realm. These interactions offer a different flavor of dark humor compared to his primarily antagonistic banter with the living in the original film, highlighting his established, if unwelcome, place within the afterlife ecosystem.

Should the Netherworld beckon once more for Betelgeuse, and should Keaton be willing to answer, it’s a safe bet that audiences would eagerly welcome another dose of his inimitable spectral charm, now with a richer, more established, albeit still chaotic, place in the grand scheme of the afterlife.