Film review

Don’t say it. Just not.

Lydia Deetz knows exactly what happens when you say this name three times. She knows exactly what chaos the Ghost/Demon/Thing can unleash if you unleash it. Why was Lydia, then 16, almost forced to marry the guy.

Fast forward a few decades and Lydia has evolved. No, not in the sense of forever. Rather, she has left her morbid gothic teenage years behind her. She is now a morbid gothic adult – and makes a pretty good living doing it. She explores so-called haunted houses and then tells her adventures on television.

And if every now and then she sees a familiar, pale face on a familiar black and white striped shirt… well, she’s just imagining it, right? Surely.

But then a family tragedy forces Lydia – and actually the entire Deetz family – back to their country house in Winter River, Connecticut, where Beetlejuice (oops) first entered their lives.

Lydia’s father, Charles, recently died in a plane crash and a shark attack. It’s time to bury the memory of that man in Winter Grove. Widow Delia covers the family home in black fabric and holds what she calls a “collective mourning.” Lydia takes her own sulking daughter, Astrid, out of school. And Rory, Lydia’s TV producer and later boyfriend, comes along too.

The whole trip will provide a nice ending. A time when the family can be together. A time when Lydia can perhaps mend her relationship with Astrid.

But in Winter Grove, events never go as planned. Rory proposes to Lydia during Charles’ wake. And Lydia – sensing Rory’s despair and the stares of dozens of curious mourners – says Yes. Astrid is horrified that her mother is marrying this guy and soon cycles away to clear her head. She rides her bike straight into a tree. And from the tree house that is perched in said tree, a guy her age sticks his head out and introduces himself as Jeremy.

And suddenly things are looking better for Astrid’s stay in Winter Grove.

Meanwhile, Beetlejuice (oops) is dealing with his own problems down there. His literally soul-stealing ex-wife Delores is trying to track him down in the afterlife. If she finds him, Delores has planned a fate for him that is literally worse than death. (Since both are already dead, that wouldn’t be difficult.) But the demon would very much like to renew his acquaintance with Lydia – to finally get married, just like her (well, He) planned all those years ago.

To get the ball rolling, all someone has to do is say their name three times: Beetlejuice.

(Oops.)