A common pick for a Gateway Horror film that can expose your children to the genre but not traumatize them. Beetlejuice is an Absurdist Gothic Haunted House Black Comedy Fantasy with moments of Body Horror and Stop Motion. Full of stories but light on plot, the film plays visual ping-pong with the genre, drawing out Screwball comedy, cartoonish anarchy and a bit of heartwarming family drama about how you can never escape your problems. Like The Genie in Aladdin, Beetlejuice is in the film a lot less than you expect, yet Michael Keaton’s performance cranks everything up a few whenever he’s on screen. I also like the sequel, but there are well over a thousand films before we get to that one.
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