![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Okay, this isn't really a scary movie, per se, but it's definitely in the spirit of Halloween, and this scene is one of my favorite musical moments in any film. When I was a kid, my best friend and I used to be obsessed with this movie and vied over which of us was more Lydia-esque. *shakes head*
Anyway, as part of our obsession with this film, we were determined to stage this musical number. Beetlejuice is vintage Tim Burton. I miss this Tim Burton, frankly. Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin star as the Maitlands, a married couple who are killed in a car wreck while on vacation at home. The eventually discover that they must spend the next 125 years of their afterlives in that house, which might be okay except that their house has now been bought by the Deetzes, a family so trendy and artsy you could just slit your wrists. Their afterlife caseworker (yes, that's a thing in this movie) suggests that, as ghosts, they should scare the house's new tenants away. The Maitlands try traditional ghost tactics, but it proves difficult as the Deetzes, except for their goth-tastic daughter Lydia, cannot see them.
So one evening, when the Deetzes and their decorator Otho are dining with some potential business associates of Mr. Deetz's, the Maitlands get creative and decide to dabble in possession, with a side of Harry Belafonte. I wish there was a decent, embeddable clip with more of the scene this is part of, but this will have to do. [Side note: I actually enjoy the last scene in the film, where Lydia gets her Belafonte on to "Shake Shake Senora," even more than this. But this is probably the most iconic moment in the film, and it feels wrong not to use it (almost as wrong as it feels to talk about this movie without even mentioning Michael Keaton who plays the title character; but I'm afraid that if I say his name one more time, he'll suddenly appear). :P]
Anyway, as part of our obsession with this film, we were determined to stage this musical number. Beetlejuice is vintage Tim Burton. I miss this Tim Burton, frankly. Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin star as the Maitlands, a married couple who are killed in a car wreck while on vacation at home. The eventually discover that they must spend the next 125 years of their afterlives in that house, which might be okay except that their house has now been bought by the Deetzes, a family so trendy and artsy you could just slit your wrists. Their afterlife caseworker (yes, that's a thing in this movie) suggests that, as ghosts, they should scare the house's new tenants away. The Maitlands try traditional ghost tactics, but it proves difficult as the Deetzes, except for their goth-tastic daughter Lydia, cannot see them.
So one evening, when the Deetzes and their decorator Otho are dining with some potential business associates of Mr. Deetz's, the Maitlands get creative and decide to dabble in possession, with a side of Harry Belafonte. I wish there was a decent, embeddable clip with more of the scene this is part of, but this will have to do. [Side note: I actually enjoy the last scene in the film, where Lydia gets her Belafonte on to "Shake Shake Senora," even more than this. But this is probably the most iconic moment in the film, and it feels wrong not to use it (almost as wrong as it feels to talk about this movie without even mentioning Michael Keaton who plays the title character; but I'm afraid that if I say his name one more time, he'll suddenly appear). :P]