Perhaps Tim Burton’s definitive work, if not exactly his most polished. A couple (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) die in the midst of renovating a mansion and enlist the help of the title ghost (Michael Keaton, doing a comic-demonic riff on ADHD) in scaring the new owners away. Beetlejuice has plenty of Burton’s macabre wit (the waiting room of the recently deceased includes a man with a shrunken head); a good deal of satire (the dead couple is mostly troubled by the new owners’ garish, expensive decorating tastes); and a young Winona Ryder doing a witty and deeply felt portrayal of a morose, alienated teen.
