Top 10 Best Practical Effects in Beetlejuice

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” (2024)

Tim Burton knew that if “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” was going to recapture the original’s magic, it had to feel handmade. Thus, the filmmakers employed practical effects whenever possible. A standout scene sees Betelgeuse conduct a therapy session. Lydia and Rory have little to say, but Betelgeuse spills his guts… literally and practically. The scene-stealer, though, is a Betelgeuse baby that Lydia immaculately births. According to Burton, “We went to a toy store and bought some dolls and cut them up… We obviously sculpted the thing, but we truly took basically a baby from the store and put some wires on it and moved it around.” Already inspiring merchandise, the hellspawn is sure to become a popular Halloween decoration and a reminder about the miracle of contraception.

“Beetlejuice” (1988)

How do you end a movie as random as “Beetlejuice?” By having Winona Ryder levitate above a staircase of ghostly football players set to “Jump in the Line,” of course! Mirrors were used to give the dancing athletes a ghostly appearance while Lydia was lifted using hidden wires. Although it looks like Ryder is having the time of her life rocking out with the dead, the finale wasn’t the most comfortable to shoot. According to the film’s art director, Tom Duffield, Ryder “hated” being in the rig that pulled her off the ground. Funny to think that in one of the few scenes Lydia experiences pure joy, Ryder was ready for the scene to wrap already. We guess that’s what you call tragic irony.

“Beetlejuice” (1988)

Just about everything in this wild climax was practically executed. Due to the lighting, creature designer Robert Short says that some people assume the shriveled-up bride and groom are green, although they’re actually white. The decrepit Adam and Barbara were brought to life (or death) using makeup and puppet effects. Betelgeuse’s carousel look was filmed in real-time while Delia’s art comes alive through the wonders of stop-motion. The actor inside the preacher costume is none other than Tony Cox, who you might recognize from “Bad Santa.” Originally, the crew devised a functional zipper to seal Barbara’s lips, although it didn’t quite work because of Geena Davis’ makeup. Despite being silenced, Barbara gets the last word with a sandworm. More on that later.

“Beetlejuice” (1988)

Deciding to scare the Deetz family away themselves, Adam and Barbara show Juno the caseworker their best scary faces. Despite being newly deceased, both have some twisted looks in their repertoires. Adam stretches out his face and gives his fingertips eyeballs. Barbara opens her mouth about as wide as it can go, although she can still see with her mechanical eyes. These hilariously nightmare-inducing faces were realized through a mix of practical techniques, including sculptures and replacement animation. The designs came from Tim Burton himself. The crew considered alternatives that would’ve seen the couple distort their faces in a few different directions. Burton settled on just having these two faces, however. Probably for the best, as this scene was already skin-crawling enough.

“Beetlejuice” (1988)

We’ll never look at a shrimp cocktail the same way again. It might not be a practical phobia, although the practical effects here are still gripping. Under each table setting was a crew member, armed with a shrimp glove. Fitting several people into that compact space was one thing. Coordinating everybody to get the timing right was another. Since the crew couldn’t always see where their hands were going, actor Dick Cavett suggested they shoot the scene in reverse, which is precisely what they ended up doing. The set was initially a few feet smaller, but since Burton wanted the chairs to fall back, more room had to be made so the actors wouldn’t hit the walls. This scene’s technical challenges were anything but shrimpy.

“Beetlejuice” (1988) & “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” (2024)

In the afterlife waiting room, Adam and Barbara encounter Neitherworldly residents like the charred man. While his body was puppeteered, a real person provided his burnt-up head. The Road Kill Man also had a real actor named Carmen Filpi inside a flattened suit. Those severed legs that Betelgeuse interacts with belong to Lena Gieseke, Tim Burton’s romantic partner at the time. Speaking of Burton’s love interests, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” features Monica Bellucci as Delores, a soul-sucking bride stitched together with practical magic. The sequel’s scene-stealers have got to be the shrunken head guys like Bob. Each of them had somebody inside, operating things. With a combination of makeup, costumes, animatronics, and puppetry, the ghosts in both of these movies are anything but transparent.

“Beetlejuice” (1988)

A fake skull was made for the scene where Barbara rips her face off. When that fails to scare the Deetz family, the Maitlands try separating Adam’s head from his body. It doesn’t get a reaction from Delia or Otho, but it certainly grabbed our attention. Initially, we merely see Geena Davis holding a prop head. For the instances where Adam’s head talks, though, Alec Baldwin had to kneel behind a black show card around his chin. Makeup artist Ve Neill says that she still has the neckpiece Baldwin used. As for Adam’s running body, Baldwin simply bent his head forward with a prosthetic on his shoulders. A torso puppet was also utilized for some of the more complex shots.

“Beetlejuice” (1988) & “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” (2024)

The original film won the Oscar for Best Makeup. It’s safe to say that Betelgeuse himself played the most significant role in this victory. While Ve Neill wanted the titular character to fit in with the world they were crafting, she also felt he should stand out. Neill distinguished the titular character with a pale yellow skin tone and dark, cartoony circles around his eyes. Bald caps were made daily and Michael Keaton’s wig was dyed several times until they got the dirty look right. Keaton suggested giving the character a broken nose. Assistant Steve LaPorte had a pair of prosthetic swollen lips, putting one on each side of Keaton’s nose. Since the makeup already made Keaton appear older, Betelgeuse aged gracefully in the sequel.

“Beetlejuice” (1988) & “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” (2024)

When Robert Short read the script for “Beetlejuice,” he thought the sandworms would look like something out of “Dune.” Short was pleasantly surprised when he saw a maquette by effects consultant Rick Heinrichs, which gave a sandworm black and white stripes, blue lips, and another head inside its mouth. The filmmakers turned to stop-motion for the sandworms, although rod puppets and larger models would be employed as well. The sandworms make a comeback in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” remaining faithful to their practical roots. The set was practical as well. Jenna Ortega and Winona Ryder ran on a sound stage with a giant fan blowing and sand pockets popping out. Ortega could feel the ground moving as if an actual sandworm was after them.

“Beetlejuice” (1988)

The snake from “Beetlejuice” still slithers its way into our nightmares. The revolting reptile is only made scarier knowing that it was done practically with stop-motion and a giant snake head. As if the mechanics behind the snake weren’t complicated enough, the filmmakers had to shoot this sequence multiple times. At first, the creature’s head resembled an actual snake. Burton hadn’t yet decided who would play Betelgeuse, eyeing Sammy Davis Jr. for the role. They filmed the scene, which originally featured the snake French kissing Catherine O’Hara. Once Michael Keaton was brought on board and his makeup was perfected, the filmmakers decided that the snake should look more like the titular trickster. The head was redesigned with some of the initial props sadly going unused.

Which practical effect scared you the most? Are you eager to see more behind-the-scenes “Beetlejuice” footage in “Documentary for the Recently Deceased?” Let us know in the comments.