The Juice Is Loose To Stream [Beetlejuice Beetlejuice 2024]
31 Days of Movies for Spooky Season
Welcome back to Spooktober, dear readers! Day 9’s movie is our first sequel on the list!
Title: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Directed By: Tim Burton
Release Date: September 6, 2024
Where to Watch: Apple TV+
Synopsis: Three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River after an unexpected family tragedy. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia's life soon gets turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter discovers a mysterious portal to the afterlife. When someone says Beetlejuice's name three times, the mischievous demon gleefully returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem.
Non-spoiler thoughts: As a lifelong fan of the original Beetlejuice, I loved this—efforts to maintain the same vibe as the original were not overlooked. The effects, the chaotic fun, and the nods to the original made this nostalgic and special. To me, Beetlejuice is a story of chaotic spooky fun, and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice checked all those boxes.
WARNING: The following summary contains SPOILERS.
You have been warned…
What have the Deetz family been up to all these years? The film begins in the present day (2024), and Lydia Deetz hosts a supernatural TV talk show, "Ghost House." She has been estranged from her daughter, Astrid, since the death of her former husband and Astrid's father, Richard, who died in the Amazon rainforest. While filming an episode, Lydia hallucinates seeing Betelgeuse, the ghost who attempted to marry her thirty-six years ago, sitting in the audience.
Soon after, Lydia's stepmother, Delia, informs her that her father, Charles, has died in a gruesome accident. Lydia, Delia, and Astrid travel to Winter River, Connecticut, for Charles's funeral. At the wake, Rory, Lydia's boyfriend and producer, pressures her to marry him on Halloween; she hesitantly agrees. Meanwhile, Astrid meets a local boy named Jeremy Frazier, who invites her to spend Halloween with him.
In the Afterlife, Betelgeuse oversees a team of "bio-exorcists," assisted by Bob, an anxious shrunken-head ghost. Betelgeuse remains obsessed with Lydia. Former actor-turned-ghost detective Wolf Jackson warns Betelgeuse that his ex-wife, Delores, has escaped captivity and is on a murderous rampage, draining the souls of the dead in her search for him. The couple originally met during the Black Plague in Italy, but Delores, a cult member, poisoned Betelgeuse as part of an immortality ritual; he killed her before succumbing to the poison.
Astrid discovers she has inherited her mother's psychic abilities and realizes Jeremy is a ghost. He asks her to accompany him to the Afterlife to help him regain his life, promising she can meet her father's spirit.
Meanwhile, Lydia learns from a realtor that Jeremy murdered his parents twenty-three years ago and died while being arrested. Reluctantly, Lydia summons Betelgeuse and signs a marriage contract in exchange for his help in reaching the Afterlife to save Astrid. Betelgeuse tears open a rift between the worlds of the Living and the Dead, disguising Bob as himself as a decoy. Wolf discovers that Betelgeuse has brought a living person into the Afterlife and launches a manhunt, capturing the disguised Bob. Delores encounters Bob at the police station during her search for Betelgeuse and drains his soul.
As Betelgeuse and Lydia seek out Astrid, Jeremy guides her through the bureaucracy of the Afterlife. He admits to tricking Astrid into trading her life for his. Astrid is taken to the "Soul Train," bound for the Great Beyond, but her father, Richard, spots her and follows. Lydia pulls Astrid off the Soul Train, and they escape through a portal to Saturn's moon Titan, where Richard saves them from a sandworm. While Betelgeuse sends Jeremy to Hell, Richard shows Lydia and Astrid how to return to the Living world. Meanwhile, during a mourning ceremony for Charles, Delia is bitten by two venomous asps that she believed were defanged. She arrives in the Afterlife and summons Betelgeuse to help find Charles, agreeing to assist him in locating Lydia.
Lydia and Astrid arrive at the church for Lydia and Rory's wedding. Betelgeuse appears with Delia and interrupts the ceremony. He uses a "truth serum" to force Rory to admit that he is only using Lydia for her money. Betelgeuse prepares to marry Lydia when Delores arrives seeking revenge. Wolf also shows up, but Betelgeuse freezes him and his comrades to avoid arrest and continue the wedding. The wedding scene along makes this worth the watch.
Astrid opens a portal to summon a sandworm from Titan, leading it to devour Delores and Rory. Astrid reveals that because Betelgeuse illegally brought Lydia into the Afterlife, their marriage contract is voided. Lydia recites Betelgeuse's name three times and banishes him back to the Afterlife. Delia returns to the Afterlife with Wolf, reuniting with Charles's spirit just as he is about to board the Soul Train to the Great Beyond.
As life returns to normal, Lydia ends her "Ghost House" show to spend more time with Astrid. However, she is haunted by recurring nightmares of Betelgeuse, knowing that his obsession with her will never fade.