History Film / Beetlejuice

* SpaceWhaleAesop: Don't kill yourself or you'll end up as an office worker in the afterlife.

In the years since its release, ''Beetlejuice'' spawned a [[Franchise/{{Beetlejuice}} franchise]], including early 90s [[RecycledTheSeries animated series]] of [[WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}} the same name]] on Creator/{{ABC}} and Creator/FoxKids bearing only a loose resemblance to the film, and a [[Theatre/{{Beetlejuice}} theatrical production]] that commenced in 2018. A {{sequel}} has long languished in DevelopmentHell.

In the years since its release, ''Beetlejuice'' spawned an early 90s [[RecycledTheSeries animated series]] of [[WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}} the same name]] on Creator/{{ABC}} and Creator/FoxKids bearing only a loose resemblance to the film, and a [[Theatre/{{Beetlejuice}} theatrical production]] that commenced in 2018. A {{sequel}} has long languished in DevelopmentHell.

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: Maxie Dean and his wife.]] They are boors at the dinner party, and laugh and delight at Beetlejuice terrorizing everyone up until the moment he kills them.

* YearOutsideHourInside

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Although most of it was made up, a few of the lines from the exorcism scene were taken from [[http://www.museumoftalkingboards.com/chant.html an actual seance invocation]] printed in a spiritualist magazine from 1901.

* AcCENTUponTheWrongSylLABle: When Adam finds the advert for Betelgeuse, he actually says the name three times, but because he pronounces it "Bay-til Guy-ce", the incantation doesn't work.

In the years since its release, ''Beetlejuice'' spawned an early 90s [[RecycledTheSeries animated series]] of [[WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}} the same name]] on Creator/{{ABC}} and Creator/FoxKids bearing only a loose resemblance to the film, and a [[Theatre/{{Beetlejuice}} theatrical production]] that commenced in 2018. A {{sequel}} has long languished in DevelopmentHell, though [[https://comicbook.com/horror/news/beetlejuice-2-michael-keaton-winona-ryder-produced-brad-pitt-plan-b/ it was announced in 2022 that]] the film would begin production that year, with Keaton and Ryder reprising their roles.

In the years since its release, ''Beetlejuice'' spawned an early 90s [[RecycledTheSeries animated series]] of [[WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}} the same name]] on Creator/{{ABC}} and Creator/FoxKids bearing only a loose resemblance to the film, and a [[Theatre/{{Beetlejuice}} theatrical production]] that commenced in 2018. A {{sequel}} languishes perpetually in DevelopmentHell.

* OtherworldlyVisitsYoungestFirst

* OtherworldlyVisitYoungestFirst

* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: At first, Adam can't even pronounce Betelgeuse's name right. A bit of a RunningGag implies that Adam isn't horribly bright (or perhaps [[LIsForDyslexia dyslexic]]), as he reads the word "deceased" as "diseased" before Barbara corrects him.

** Jane the realtor says the Maitlands' house is "too big" for the two of them and has been advertising their house against their wishes despite being told not to repeatedly--which is practically harassment. As Adam says, it isn't "any of Jane's business" whether the house is too big for them. And then they die, and she sells it on behalf of her agency, meaning that she gets what she wanted without repercussion (unless you believe her when she tells Lydia that she's "devastated" by their deaths). As written above, a deleted scene shows she tried this again with the Deetzes, but they don't want any of it.

* SignatureScene: The shrimp dinner.

* LackOfEmpathy: Betelgeuse's biggest trait. He really doesn't give a shit about ''anyone'' but himself; the closest we ever see him get to showing empathy is when he talks to Lydia about her suicidal impulses.

* VampireVannabe: Lydia Deetz wants to die, presumably so she can become a ghost like the Maitlands. What she doesn't realize is that if she kills herself, she'll be pushing paperwork for eternity.

* OnlyOneName: Betelgeuse, Juno and Otho are only ever identified by those names. Presumably Otho has a full name, but whether "Otho" is his first name, his last name or something else entirely is never stated.
** Actually at one point, while walking up the stairs, Otho refers to himself as Otho Fenlock, so that is his last name.

* HangingAround: * Discussed. Lydia's parents think that George and Barbara hanged themselves, but they actually died in a car crash.

* CoversAlwaysLie: On the movie's poster, clothes worn by Adam, Barbara, Betelgueuse, and Lydia aren't those they wear during most of the film, but during the climax only: [[spoiler:the Maitlands wear their wedding clothes because those are personal effects that Otho used in order to summon them to perform the séance, while Beetlejuice's striped suit and Lydia's red dress they only wear during the botched wedding which happens just after the séance]]. Due to the movie being a ghost story, and to how common the JacobMarleyApparel trope is, showing the two main characters dressed in their wedding clothes implies to the audience they died during their wedding ceremony. In the movie's context, they're already married when they die.