Beetlejuice (1988)

In Tim Burton's haunted comedy-fantasy about a ghost named Betelgeuse who haunted the home of a recently-deceased couple:

• a fatal car crash and drowning accident killed the newly-wed Maitlands: Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara (Geena Davis); the Maitland house was resold by their realtor Jane (Annie McEnroe) to the yuppie Deetz family from NYC, who moved in and lived in the Maitland's Winter River, Connecticut home; the Deetz family included real-estate developer Charles Deetz (Jeffrey Jones), his obnoxious sculptor wife Delia Deetz (Catherine O'Hara), and their goth, black-clad teenaged Deetz daughter, photographer Lydia (Winona Ryder) from Charles' first marriage (who stated: "My whole life is a darkroom. One big dark room"); a decorator named Otho (Glenn Shadix) was hired by the Deetz's to remodel the house
• the Maitland house was resold by their realtor Jane (Annie McEnroe) to the yuppie Deetz family from NYC, who moved in and lived in the Maitland's Winter River, Connecticut home; the Deetz family included real-estate developer Charles Deetz (Jeffrey Jones), his obnoxious sculptor wife Delia Deetz (Catherine O'Hara), and their goth, black-clad teenaged Deetz daughter, photographer Lydia (Winona Ryder) from Charles' first marriage (who stated: "My whole life is a darkroom. One big dark room"); an interior decorator named Otho Fenlock (Glenn Shadix) was hired by the Deetz's to remodel the house
• initial efforts by the Maitlands to scare away their home's new tenants failed, and Adam and Barbara were forced to retreat to the attic; the title character Betelgeuse (pronounced Beetlejuice) (the "afterlife's leading bio-exorcist") was first introduced on a TV in the attic; in a commercial, the demonic, crude, yellow-haired, morbid, and over-the-top individual was seen hawking his services as a free-lance veteran scare-master: ("Havin' trouble with the livin'? Ya tired of havin' your home bein' violated? Ya wanna get rid of them pesky livin' critters once and for all? Well, come on down and see me folks, because I'm the afterlife's leading bio-exorcist. Yes, sirree! Come on down here. I want to tell ya, I'll do anything! I'll scare 'em real bad. The point is, I'll do anything to get your business. Hell! I'll possess myself if I gotta! Yo! I got demons runnin' all through me. All through me. Come on down here and see it. And hey - if ya act now, you get a free demon possession with every exorcism. Ah! You can't beat that, can ya? Bring the little partners down here. Hell, we've got plenty of snakes, lizards and worms for them to play with. There's no problem with that at all. So, say it once, say it twice, third time's a charm. And remember, (singing) I'll eat anything you want me to eat. I'll swallow anything you want me to swallow. So, come on down, I'll chew on a dog")

Betelgeuse on a TV Advertisement and With the Maitlands

• while consulting a Handbook for the Recently Deceased, Adam and Barbara entered into an other-worldly (or netherworld) afterlife waiting-room full of other recently-dead and distressed clients, including an explorer with a shrunken head and ping pong ball eyes, before meeting their caseworker Juno (Sylvia Sidney), who advised them not to haunt the new residents; she informed them that their fate was to remain in the house for 125 years, and that they would have to scare the Deetzes away if they wanted them gone, but should not contact her former assistant Betelgeuse
• the Deetz daughter, Lydia - the object of Betelgeuse's affection, was the only living person who could see the Maitlands; she discovered the ghostly, decaying and dead Maitlands in the attic (she met when they were first wearing sheets) she asked: "Are you gross under there? Are you Night of the Living Dead under there? Like all bloody veins and pus?...You're not gross. Why are you wearing sheets?"; she explained her magic power: "I read through that Handbook for the Recently Deceased. It says: 'Live people ignore the strange and unusual.' I myself am strange and unusual"; Lydia learned why the Maitlands were wearing sheets and their main objective - to scare the Deetz family away: "We wanted to frighten you so you would move out...You tell them that we are horrible desperate, ghoulish creatures who will stop at nothing to get our house back"
• once the Maitlands met the uncouth, obnoxious and insane ghoul and 'bio-exorcist' Betelgeuse with rotten teeth, they were repelled by his crazed and malicious personality but considered having him remove the Deetz family from their home; he claimed: "In order to do that, I'll have to get to know you. We've got to get closer. Move in with you for a while. Get to be real pals. You know what I'm saying?...Come on, we're simpatico, here....We're like peas in a pod, the three of us, let's face it. You want somebody out of the house. I want to get somebody out of your house" - and shortly later, asked: "Come on kids, what do I have to do to strike a deal with you two, huh?" - and then demonstrated how he could spin his head around ("Don't you hate it when that happens?"), however, they resolved to scare the Deetzes on their own
• during a hosted dinner party (song and dance) in the Deetz home, the recently-deceased Maitlands attempted (without Betelgeuse's help) to use a haunted 'parlor trick' to spook and dislodge the Deetz family from their home; during the dinner, the bowls of shrimp in front of them shot out arms made of shrimp that grabbed their faces and threw them against the wall; to her shock, Delia belted out the calypso "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)" - in Harry Belafonte's voice; the Maitlands' antics to scare the Deetz's backfired and were ineffective
• in fact, Charles Deetz was inspired by the 'ghostly' supernatural events and saw a lucrative business opportunity to attract tourists to Winter River; however, he was horrified when Betelgeuse transformed into a menacing slithering snake (with his human head and long sharp teeth), and had to be called off by Barbara calling out Betelgeuse's name three times
• after the Deetz' interior designer Otho acquired the Handbook, and Charles had discussed his plans to turn the town into a paranormal-themed attraction with his business associate, real estate tycoon and boss Maxie Deen (Robert Goulet), a seance was conducted by Otho to bring the Maitlands out into view; the seance was actually an exorcism - and the Maitland couple were instantly transformed and withered into greenish, wrinkled and decaying ghosts
• to save the decaying Maitlands, Lydia rushed to Betelgeuse who begged her to marry him so that he could escape to the world of the living and also help save the decaying Maitlands: ("Look, I'm what you might call an illegal alien. OK? I want out - for good. In order for me to do that, hey, I gotta get married. Hey! These aren't my rules. Come to think of it, I don't have any rules. Come on. Come on. Look, you think of it as a marriage of inconvenience. OK? We both get something. I get out. You get to say you're hitched to the most eligible bachelor since Valentino came over. We're even")
• when she agreed to help him, she summoned him by saying his name three times; Betelgeuse - with outstretched arms - exhorted as lightning flashed: ("It's Showtime!"); he quickly got rid of Maxie Dean and his wife Sarah Dean (Maree Cheatham), and also Otho; Betelgeuse grew inflated mallet-arms and propelled them through the ceiling (as if in a carnival's strong-man 'ring the bell' game)

Betelgeuse's Expulsion of the Deans - With a 'Ring the Bell' Game

• Betelgeuse's wedding to Lydia was conducted before a ghastly-looking preacher (Tony Cox, voice of Jack Angel), although the marital ceremony was interrupted at the last moment by a Sandworm! (ridden by Barbara through the house) that devoured Betelgeuse and sent him back into the netherworld
• in the final scene set in the netherworld's waiting room, Betelgeuse was seen with a shrunken head (after a witch doctor seated next to him sprinkled powder on him for cutting ahead of him in line) - he delivered an hilarious, upbeat, but dead-panned statement about his messed-up hair: ("Whoa, hey! What are you doing? Hey, stop it! Hey, you're messing up my hair! C'mon! Whoa! Whoa! Stop it! Whoa! Hey, this might be a good look for me")

Betelgeuse With A Shrunken Head in the Netherworld's Waiting Room

Lydia's Performance of: "Jump in the Line"

• during the pre-ending credits, Lydia performed (suspended in mid-air) "Jump in the Line (Shake Señora)", with singing by Harry Belafonte, after the Deetz's and the Maitlands agreed that they would live in cooperative harmony in the house