The "ghost with the most" has had a lot of ups and downs in his career as a bio-exorcist. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at the moral highs and lows of Betelgeuse as it relates to his best and worst antics across the Tim Burton-helmed film series.
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00:00I'm gonna make you so happy.
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the moral highs and lows of Beetlejuice,
00:09as it relates to his best and worst antics across the Tim Burton-helmed film series.
00:14Warning, spoilers abound.
00:17It's showtime.
00:20Number 5, Worst, going too far with his scare tactics, Beetlejuice.
00:26While Beetlejuice's antics might have been useful in aiding the Maitlands,
00:29they proved incredibly extreme.
00:31Now, let's turn on the juice and see what shakes loose.
00:37You see, Beetlejuice's idea of helping involved some of the most intense scare tactics imaginable,
00:43and to say he was overly aggressive in his methods would be an understatement.
00:48Perhaps his most ill-thought-out scare came in the form of a grotesque stairwell snake,
00:53as it unleashed a surreal nightmare for everyone involved, including Lydia.
00:58The incident was made all the more terrifying with Beetlejuice's eerier proclamation of...
01:03We've come for your daughter, Chuck.
01:06Yeah, we'd say Beetlejuice's uncontrollable nature often results in causing more harm than good.
01:13Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!
01:14Oh, no!
01:18Why are you doing this?
01:20Number 5, Best, conversation with Lydia, Beetlejuice.
01:24From their first meeting, it's clear that Beetlejuice has a soft spot for Lydia.
01:29Are you a ghost too?
01:31I'm the ghost with the most, babe.
01:33Even though his intentions are far from noble, to put it mildly,
01:37he offers her a chance to feel seen and heard,
01:40especially upon learning that she'd rather be on the other side.
01:43I was just wondering, could you help me get out of here?
01:46I don't want to get in.
01:49Why?
01:50There seems to be an understanding here,
01:52as the mischievous bug-eating ghost finds a way to connect with the misunderstood gothic teenager.
01:57Their unlikely friendship is more deeply explored in the Beetlejuice animated series, though,
02:02where they are portrayed as the best of friends.
02:10That's hardly the case here,
02:12but the seeds of that bond are surely presented no matter how slight.
02:17Number 4, Worst, Switching Tickets, Beetlejuice
02:21After his expulsion at the close of 1988's Beetlejuice,
02:24we catch up with the juice in a bizarre netherworld waiting room full of outrageous characters.
02:29It's here that an impatient Beetlejuice does what he can to skip the line of the dead.
02:43By way of some small talk and a supposed Elvis sighting,
02:46he switches tickets with his silent seatmate.
02:53Unfortunately for Beetlejuice,
02:55his obnoxious misdeed doesn't go unpunished,
02:58as he proceeds to get his head shrunken.
03:06We don't blame the head shrinker, though.
03:08After all, who would want to wait behind 9,998,383,749,997 other people?
03:19Number 4, Best, Aiding Delia, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice
03:24We suppose if you need help in the afterlife, Beetlejuice would make for a useful ally.
03:29That's exactly what he becomes for poor Delia.
03:32You see, during a ceremony mourning Charles' death,
03:35Delia opens a pot containing two snakes that bite her.
03:38Believing them to be venomoid, she was fatally mistaken.
03:41Lost in the afterlife, a frantic Delia summons, who else but Beetlejuice.
03:47The ghost with the most agrees to help her locate Charles' spirit,
03:51on the condition that she assist him in finding Lydia.
03:54After aiding Beetlejuice in sabotaging Lydia's wedding to Rory and dealing with the ensuing chaos,
04:00Delia returns to the afterlife, where she is indeed reunited with a headless Charles.
04:06Number 3, Worst, Obnoxious Behavior Towards Most Women, Beetlejuice
04:12As entertaining of a character as he is,
04:14one of Beetlejuice's most undesirable traits is his often unfitting behavior towards women.
04:21Women, I don't know what her problem is.
04:25This is particularly shown in the original late 80s film.
04:29His lewd advances are evident from his first encounter with Barbara and continue throughout,
04:34as he remains shamelessly lascivious around any woman, living or dead.
04:40Hey!
04:42Beetlejuice's crude comments and unwanted advances can be uncomfortable to witness,
04:47especially in his pursuit of a teenage Lydia.
04:50Sure, he's a mischievous troublemaker,
04:52but his treatment of women has not always been appropriate, to say the least.
04:56I wonder where a guy in everyday Joe, like myself, can find a little action.
05:02Hi!
05:05Number 3, Best, Revealing Rory's True Intentions, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice
05:11While it was clear something was off when it came to Rory's intentions with Lydia,
05:16we can thank Beetlejuice for bringing his true motives to light.
05:19After Lydia reluctantly accepts her producer boyfriend's proposal, much to Astrid's disgust,
05:24the couple prepares to tie the knot on Halloween.
05:27But on the big night, Beetlejuice crashes the party.
05:31Really more nightmare material.
05:33Following his elimination of the influencers in attendance via their cell phones, nice touch.
05:38Right now, with like a little privacy.
05:44The juice proceeds to inject Rory with truth serum.
05:47It's then that the real truth comes spewing out.
05:50His plan was to marry Lydia solely for her money and fame.
05:54It's no surprise then that a furious Lydia knocks him out.
05:59Talk about a truth bomb.
06:01Number 2, Worst, Shopping Up His Ex-Wife, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice
06:13In Tim Burton's 36 years later sequel, we finally learn the details of Beetlejuice's death.
06:19And, well, it's quite the tale.
06:21One that ends in more than one fatality.
06:24During his time as a grave robber in Italy during the Black Death,
06:28Beetlejuice meets a woman named Dolores, a supposed plague doctor.
06:41The two end up getting hitched in some, shall we say, unholy matrimony.
06:45But, after a wild wedding night, Dolores poisons him in an attempt to gain immortality.
06:55Not taking his death sitting down, the juice fights back with an axe,
07:01leaving his death cult bride in literal pieces.
07:11It's a stark reminder of just how dark Beetlejuice's past really is.
07:15Number 2, Best, Sending Jeremy to Hell, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice
07:21After a meet-cute moment with a boy named Jeremy,
07:24love appeared to be in the air for the angsty Astrid.
07:35However, it was actually deception in the air,
07:38as Jeremy turns out to be a killer ghost trying to trade lives with her.
07:43Ghosts aren't real, only gullible people believe that kind of crap.
07:46His scheme nearly succeeds,
07:48but Beetlejuice and Lydia intervene in the netherworld just in time.
07:59While Lydia saves Astrid,
08:02Beetlejuice impersonates a worker to fake-stamp Jeremy's passport,
08:06reversing the transfer and restoring Astrid's life force.
08:09That's not all though,
08:10Beetlejuice disposes of Jeremy by dropping him into a fiery pit.
08:14See, Beetlejuice can play for the good guys, when it suits him that is.
08:19Number 1, Worst, Manipulating Lydia into a Forced Marriage, Twice,
08:24Beetlejuice and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
08:30Beetlejuice is nothing if not persistent in his schemes to marry a living person,
08:34a union that would allow him to roam freely in the mortal world.
08:39In order for me to do that, hey, I gotta get married.
08:43Hey, these aren't my rules.
08:45Come to think of it, I don't have any rules.
08:47In the first film,
08:48he manipulates Lydia into agreeing to marry him in exchange for helping her friends,
08:52the Maitlands.
08:53Okay, just help them.
08:57Sure.
09:01After being thwarted by a sandworm,
09:03he tries his luck again in the sequel,
09:06once more coercing Lydia into marriage.
09:09I'm gonna make you so happy.
09:11This time in exchange for rescuing Astrid,
09:13the union is blocked again,
09:15this due to a contract snafu.
09:18Will Beetlejuice ever learn?
09:20Our guess?
09:21Probably not.
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09:40Number 1.
09:41Best.
09:42Saving the Maitlands.
09:43Beetlejuice.
09:44When Barbara and Adam Maitland find themselves haunting their own home,
09:47they quickly realize they need help getting rid of the obnoxious new owners.
09:52Desperate times call for desperate measures.
09:54It's him.
09:55Beetlejuice.
09:58Beetlejuice.
10:01Go ahead, Barbara, say it.
10:04Beetlejuice.
10:05But when Beetlejuice offends the Maitlands with his,
10:07well, everything,
10:08they find themselves in a losing battle.
10:10Things get worse for the couple when Otho mistakenly conducts an exorcism,
10:14leading the pair to start to decay.
10:18When Lydia summons the juice to help save them,
10:20he agrees,
10:21but not without that self-serving stipulation.
10:24The important thing to note here is that Beetlejuice does save the couple,
10:28using his wild antics for a positive purpose.
10:34What do you think was the best and worst thing Beetlejuice has ever done?
10:37Would you like us to do a version of this list for the Beetlejuice animated series?
10:41Let us know in the comments below.
10:42That is why I won't do two shows a night anymore, babe.
10:46I won't.
10:47I won't do.
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11:07Thanks for watching.