00:00Is this figment of your imagination?
00:01Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at references, callbacks, and other small details
00:06that you might have missed in the long-awaited follow-up to Beetlejuice.
00:09Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers.
00:12What do you think of this?
00:14I like it.
00:16Number 10. The Model Town
00:19The original 1988 film opened with Danny Elfman's iconic musical score as we're given
00:23a bird's-eye view of Winter River, Connecticut, which is revealed to be Adam Maitland's model
00:28of the town. The sequel mimics its predecessor's opening credits, but with a few notable additions.
00:34Although Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis don't reprise their roles,
00:38the credits do allude to the car accident that turned Adam and Barbara into ghosts.
00:42There's that, and there's that.
00:53Handbook for the recently diseased.
00:55Deceased.
00:57In addition to paying homage, the opening offers something of a mini-recap.
01:01Later in the film, Lydia's daughter Astrid is seen riding her bike through Winter River,
01:05passing by several familiar landmarks. This includes Miss Shannon's School for Girls,
01:10which Lydia attended in both the original film and the Beetlejuice animated series.
01:16All right, class, it's time for our science reports.
01:20Yeah!
01:21Libya-doots!
01:23Uh, that's deets, ma'am.
01:26Libya, uh, Lydia, deets.
01:30Number 9. A Second Red Wedding.
01:32The sequel builds to another wedding between Beetlejuice and a reluctant Lydia.
01:37Their second wedding has more than a few nods to the first film.
01:40I want out, for good. In order for me to do that, hey, I gotta get married.
01:45Hey, these aren't my rules. Come to think of it, I don't have any rules.
01:49When Beetlejuice gets rid of the influencers in attendance, he sucks them into their phones.
01:54This visual is similar to Adam Maitland's stretched-out face.
01:57Beetlejuice has also saved his betrothed's red wedding dress.
02:01White might be the traditional color for the living,
02:04but Beetlejuice upholds the saying,
02:06Married in red, you'll wish yourself dead.
02:08Do you take this woman to be your wedded wife?
02:14Jeez, I don't know. I mean, it's kind of a big decision, isn't it? I mean,
02:16I said if I ever did it, I was gonna do it once, and that was it.
02:19Like the original, the wedding is capped off with somebody being devoured by a sandworm.
02:29Instead of Beetlejuice, though, Dolores and Rory are swallowed whole.
02:33Beetlejuice and Lydia might not tie the knot,
02:36but their exes are bound till digestion do they part.
02:42Catherine O'Hara returns as Lydia's stepmother Delia,
02:45who has made a name for herself in the art world.
02:48Careful, that's my sculpture.
02:49And I don't mean my's and I bought it, I mean I made it, it's my sculpture.
02:53While she's expanded her craft beyond sculpting,
02:55Delia's older works still hold a special place in the film.
02:58Astrid attends a private school that received a sizable donation from the Dietz Art Center.
03:03Outside the center is the same sculpture that ensnared Delia over 35 years ago.
03:13The sculpture doesn't come to life this time,
03:15although we doubt it's any less dangerous.
03:18Considering the Dietz family's past experiences,
03:21keeping the sculpture outside is probably safer.
03:26Reportedly, somebody stole the actual sculpture from the sequel's set.
03:30The Vermont State Police tried saying the sculpture's name three times,
03:33but that sadly didn't make it appear.
03:39If you're wondering why actor Jeffrey Jones wasn't invited back to play Charles Dietz,
03:44it's safe to say you haven't heard about the sex offender case that essentially ended his career.
03:48With that in mind, killing Charles off was a smart move.
03:52I can't believe grandpa is dead.
03:53Death is hard.
03:55Yeah, sometimes I think life is harder.
03:57Since this franchise revolves around the afterlife though,
04:00Charles's ghost had to show up.
04:03This is where the film gets creative.
04:05In an animated flashback,
04:07we learn that Charles survived a plane crash,
04:09but a shark left him without a head.
04:11It's a clever way of keeping Charles in the movie without Jones.
04:15Charles isn't the franchise's first shark victim.
04:23Shaping Charles's grave like a shark fin is a nice, albeit morbid touch,
04:28as is the rendition of Deo at his funeral.
04:37Annie McEnroe is perhaps best known for her role as Jane Butterfield.
04:41The nosy realtor who wants to sell the Maitlands home.
04:44But Barbara, this house is too big for you.
04:46It really ought to be for a couple with a family, you know?
04:50Oh pumpkin, I didn't mean anything.
04:52It's just that really this house is too big.
04:54Jane gets what she wants after the Maitlands have an unfortunate accident.
04:58Jane is also seen alongside her daughter, who's simply known as Little Jane.
05:03Big Jane doesn't return for the sequel,
05:05but Little Jane follows in her mother's footsteps.
05:07In the first film, Rachel Middleman played Little Jane,
05:10which remains her only screen credit.
05:19In Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,
05:20Amy Nuttall steps in as a not-so-Little Jane.
05:23In fact, Little Jane now has a littler Jane.
05:27The house on the hill is still prime real estate.
05:30Although, Jane is even more hung up on selling a murder house
05:33than Astrid is naturally drawn to.
05:35My mom grew up here, that old house on the hill.
05:38Wait, the ghost house?
05:42The murder house in question belongs to Astrid's love interest Jeremy,
05:46played by Arthur Conti.
05:47Is your mom Lydia Dietz?
05:49Unfortunately.
05:50She's a legend.
05:51Before the big reveal,
05:53the film drops several hints that Jeremy is a ghost.
05:56His James Dean costume is perhaps the most inspired clue.
05:59Jeremy models his Halloween costume after Dean's character in Rebel Without a Cause.
06:06What?
06:15This serves as a warning that Jeremy is trouble like Jim Stark.
06:19More significantly,
06:20Dean died in a car crash only a month before Rebel Without a Cause hit theaters.
06:25Watching Dean give his career-defining performance was like seeing a ghost.
06:29Something similar can be said about Jeremy,
06:31who's putting on a performance for Astrid.
06:33What just happened?
06:34Jeremy and Jim Stark are both rebels,
06:37although one's a murderer whereas death merely follows the other.
06:41That's the end.
06:43Yeah.
06:46Certainly is.
06:47Number four, Mirroring the Musical.
06:50The Beetlejuice stage musical has been praised for honoring the source material
06:54while taking it in a fresh direction.
06:55And such a bold departure from the original source material!
07:00In the stage version,
07:01Lydia ventures to the netherworld in search of her dearly departed mother.
07:05Despite not getting what she set out for,
07:07the experience brings Lydia closer to her father as she accepts her mother's death.
07:16This subplot wasn't in the 1988 film,
07:19but the sequel brings things full circle.
07:22In this case,
07:23Astrid is taken to the afterlife in search of her late father Richard.
07:26Astrid and Lydia are briefly reunited with Richard,
07:29giving the family closure.
07:31Whether intentional or not,
07:32this storyline borrows more than a few notes from the musical
07:35while still singing a different song.
07:37She's dealing with the loss of her father.
07:39I think she holds a lot of resentment,
07:41so she kind of puts it on her mom.
07:42Number three, The Janitor.
07:44Getting adjusted to the afterlife,
07:46the Maitlands encounter a ghostly janitor played by Simi Bo,
07:49who ironically passed away before the original film's release.
07:57As such, Bo isn't in the sequel.
07:59Although another prominent actor has taken up his janitorial duties.
08:03Danny DeVito is such an iconic talent that it's hard to make him unrecognizable.
08:08Yet this might be his most transformative role
08:10since his first collaboration with Tim Burton in Batman Returns.
08:14I want to find out who I am by finding my parents,
08:18learning my human name.
08:21Simple stuff that the good people of Gotham take for granted.
08:25DeVito isn't easily identified behind that gurgly voice and blue makeup.
08:29What turned him this color?
08:31It seems he drank a poisonous substance that left him blue in the face.
08:35We wonder if a certain politician gave him that idea.
08:38In any case, the janitor meets a permanent end at Dolores' hands.
08:45Number two, Throwing Shade at Disney.
08:48When Disney comes up in a conversation,
08:50Lydia mentions that the closest they ever got to the Mouse House
08:53was when Astrid dressed as Cinderella's dead mother.
08:55Don't ever say that name.
08:58This is likely a reference to Burton's complicated history with Disney.
09:01Starting his career as a Disney animator,
09:04Burton was let go following 1984's Frankenweenie.
09:09Sparky, you know you're not supposed to go out.
09:11You could have gotten in trouble.
09:13Burton reconciled with Disney to produce The Nightmare Before Christmas
09:16and several other projects.
09:18After directing 2019's Dumbo though,
09:20Burton said that it felt like he, quote,
09:22was working in this horrible big circus and, quote,
09:26needed to escape.
09:27Michael Keaton was also disappointed with his performance in Dumbo.
09:30Burton and Keaton are back in their comfort zone with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,
09:34letting loose all the risque humor that wouldn't fly in a Disney movie.
09:38The juice is loose.
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09:59Beetlejuice previously alluded to his life before death.
10:12Being a trickster, you can't trust everything he says.
10:15But the sequel confirms a few things about Beetlejuice's past.
10:19While it's unlikely he went to Juilliard or Harvard,
10:22Beetlejuice did live through the Black Plague as he told the Maitlands.
10:25Working as a grave robber,
10:27he met his soul-sucking wife Dolores,
10:29resulting in both of their deaths.
10:44Dolores reassembles herself centuries later,
10:46although a particular body part remains missing,
10:49her ring finger.
10:50When Beetlejuice first tried to marry Lydia years ago,
10:53he whipped out a ring along with a severed finger,
10:56saying that his ex meant nothing to him.
11:04This might have been a throwaway joke at the time,
11:06but it ingeniously set the sequel's plot in motion.
11:10Did you catch any other small details?
11:12Are we the only ones who think Bob the shrunken head guy
11:15is Bob the Goon from Burton's Batman?
11:17Let us know in the comments.
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