Beetlejuice (4 Stars)

This was the third film in yesterday evening's Tim Burton session. We watched it out of order, since it was made in 1988, before the other two films. It deals with a young couple who die in a car crash. They "awake" as ghosts in their old house. At first they're happy, until new people move in. They decide to haunt the house as poltergeists to scare the new family away. This isn't quite as easy as they think. They request assistance from another ghost, Betelgeuse (pronounced Beetlejuice), who works as a bio-exorcist, casting out unwanted living people.

If I were a ghost I wouldn't want to haunt my old house. It's so boring, I'd like to go somewhere else. Maybe a different country, somewhere near the sea. Anywhere would be better than spending eternity in the Small Heath ghetto. Maybe I'd look for a college sorority house, so I can gaze at beautiful women every day. I wouldn't scare them, I would just quietly stand watching while they're in the shower.