Beetlejuice Beetlejuice! All the Fun Callbacks the Sequel Makes to the Original, from Sandworms to That Red Dress

Mar. 15, 2025

Winona Ryder in ‘Beetlejuice’; in ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’.Photo:TCD/Prod DB/Alamy; Warner Bros.

TCD/Prod DB/Alamy; Warner Bros.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice— careful, don’t say his name three times! DirectorTim Burton’s long-awaited follow-up to hiscomedy-horror classicabout the afterlife and its wildest demon is finally here. And there are plenty of knowing winks to the 1988 film that started it all.

Reprising theirBeetlejuicecharacters in the sequel areMichael Keatonin the titular role,Winona Ryderas the “strange and unusual” Lydia Deetz andCatherine O’Haraas her artsy stepmother Delia.Jenna Ortegajoins the cast as Lydia’s daughter, Astrid, whileJustin Theroux,Monica Bellucci,Danny DeVitoandWillem Dafoecostar.

Read on for all the waysBeetlejuice Beetlejuicepays homage to the original. (Spoilers for the movie’s plot details follow!)

The Opening Sequence

Beetlejuicetook audiences to the suburban Connecticut town of Winter River and its charming covered bridges. Both the original film and sequel feature an opening credits sequence set to composer Danny Elfman’s music that introduces us to the town — only to pan out and reveal it’s a mini model version of the town in the Deetz family home’s attic.

Later inBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, Astrid swerves to avoid danger in the streets of Winter River while on her bicycle, not unlikeAlec BaldwinandGeena Davis’ Adam and Barbara Maitland driving in the original. During that installment, the couple meet a rather more morbid fate, introducing us to the afterlife and kicking off what is now a two-part film franchise.

Delia’s Dangerous Sculptures

O’Hara’s character stormed intoBeetlejuicewith a fabulous wardrobe, a distaste for the countryside and several abstract metal sculptures — which later sprang to life thanks to Betelgeuse’s demonic magic. While not as dangerous in the sequel, those works of art appear at Astrid’s boarding school, where it’s clear her now-famous grandmother wields influence as the namesake of its arts center.

Fun fact: In 2023, during the filming ofBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, one of Delia’s prop sculptures wasstolen from the setin East Corinth, Vt.

Jenna Ortega and Winona Ryder in ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’.Warner Bros Pictures/YouTube

Warner Bros Pictures/YouTube

“Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)”

The Recently Deceased (and Their Waiting Room)

Burton and his production teams’ imaginations run wild in theBeetlejuicecinematic universe, taking place as it does in a bureaucratic afterlife where the recently dead await their administrative fate. Characters and puppets bearing the signs of their demise are seen with shrunken heads, sickly-colored or blue from asphyxiation or other ailments and even sawn in half with different body parts operating separately.

Michael Keaton in ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’.Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

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The Sandworms

In the new movie, it’s Lydia and her daughter Astrid who enter that dreamlike space, and again weaponize the worms at a crucial moment. “It was a lot of sand and a lot of wind,” Ryder toldEntertainment Weeklyin August. “I think it’s common knowledge [that] it’s really hard to run in the sand. I used to have dreams where you’re running in the sand, so it was that.”

‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’.Warner Bros Pictures/YouTube

Jane Butterfield

Little Jane, introduced inBeetlejuiceas the daughter of ambitious real estate agent Jane Butterfield (Annie McEnroe), is now all grown up. With Amy Nuttall taking over for young Rachel Mittelman, it’s clear selling homes — which may or may not be haunted — is a family legacy.

Lydia’s Red Wedding Dress

Beetlejuice Beetlejuicesaves its biggest visual callback for the story’s climax. Lydia’s ruffly red wedding dress from the original reappears on her in the sequel, as she’s once again coerced into marrying Keaton’s dastardly demon. He again dons his foppish tuxedo in a deeper red.

The dress, from Oscar-winning costume designer and regular Burton collaborator Colleen Atwood, is iconic enough to warrant an apparenthomage from Ortega on the red carpetat the 81stVenice International Film Festival, where the sequel had its world premiere on Aug. 28.

Winona Ryder in ‘Beetlejuice’.Alamy

Alamy

Musical Numbers with Possessed Choreography

With “Day-O” repurposed, audiences may be wondering whetherBeetlejuice Beetlejuicerecreates a musical number in which characters sing and dance via possession. Jimmy Webb’s delightful and absurd “MacArthur Park” proves the perfect fit, with Lydia, Astrid, Delia and more lip-synching the tune while under Betelgeuse’s control at his wedding. And yes, there’s also a cake left out in the rain.

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Beetlejuice Beetlejuiceis now in theaters.

source: people.com