From previous Winona Ryder/Tim Burton projects to other spooky supernatural comedies, there are a ton of great movies and TV shows to check out after Beetlejuice Beetlejuice deftly recaptures the creepy fun of the classic original movie with old-school practical effects, family-friendly jump scares, and a brilliant performance by Michael Keaton in the title role. It’s so good, it’ll have audiences clamoring for more.
After watching Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, there are plenty of other similar movies to check out. There have been other fun-filled horror comedies with a similar tone – including a strikingly similar one released earlier this year – and the cast of Beetlejuice 2 has appeared in a bunch of great projects. Before Jenna Ortega was cast to play Lydia Deetz’s daughter in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Burton directed her in her breakout role as Wednesday Addams. There are several projects that give off the same whimsical, yet spooky vibe that fall right in line with Burton's hit sequel.
10 Beetlejuice (1988)
It's Never A Bad Time To Rewatch The Original Classic
Beetlejuice
- Release Date
- March 30, 1988
- Runtime
- 92 minutes
- Director
- Tim Burton
Cast
Catherine O'Hara
WHERE TO WATCH
Tim Burton's Beetlejuice stars Michael Keaton as the titular "bio-exorcist", an obnoxious spirit who specializes in driving living occupants out of homes. When Barbara (Geena Davis) and Adam Maitland (Alec Baldwin) die suddenly, they into the spirit realm, and must stay in their home. However, in the living world, the Deetz family purchases the house and moves in, prompting the Maitlands to enlist the help of Beetlejuice to drive them away.
It’s never a bad time to rewatch the classic original Beetlejuice movie, and there’s no better time for a rewatch than after watching the sequel. From the model town in the Maitlands’ attic to the choir rendition of “Banana Boat” at Charles’ funeral, Beetlejuice 2 is full of Easter eggs referencing the most iconic moments from its predecessor. The Beetlejuice sequel plays masterfully on the audience’s nostalgia for the original movie, and the perfect follow-up to that nostalgia bait is a rewatch.
As great as Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is, the original is arguably an even better movie.
As great as Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is, the original is arguably an even better movie. It has more laughs, and it has more effective jump scares. Plus, it was Burton’s first foray into his signature blend of the mundane and the macabre. After watching Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, it’s the perfect time to rewatch the original film.
9 Wednesday (2022-Present)
Revisit Jenna Ortega's Breakout Role
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Wednesday
- Release Date
- November 23, 2022
- Network
- Netflix
- Showrunner
- Miles Millar, Alfred Gough
Cast
Wednesday Addams / Goody Addams
Enid Sinclair
WHERE TO WATCH
Wednesday follows the journey of Wednesday Addams as she attends Nevermore Academy, a boarding school for outcasts. Tasked with mastering her psychic abilities, she confronts a series of town murders and a haunting family mystery from 25 years ago, all while managing new social dynamics.
- Directors
- Tim Burton, James Marshall
- Seasons
- 2
- Streaming Service(s)
- Netflix
Before Burton cast Jenna Ortega to play Lydia Deetz’s rebellious teenage daughter in the Beetlejuice sequel, he’d previously worked with her on Netflix’s Wednesday series. After Scream, X, and Studio 666 had established Ortega as a modern-day scream queen, Wednesday turned her into one of the biggest stars in the world. Ortega’s turn as Wednesday Addams was essentially a prototype for her performance as Astrid Deetz in the Beetlejuice sequel.
10 Funniest Jokes In Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Tim Burton's Beetlejuice Beetlejuice uses a mix of comedic dialogue, visual gags, and play-on-words to create a movie that keeps viewers laughing.
Much like Astrid, Wednesday is a deadpan misanthrope who doesn’t get along with her classmates, unwittingly falls in love with a villain, and secretly has a heart of gold. Astrid fans will surely love Wednesday just as much. There’s even a nod to Wednesday’s iconic dance sequence in Beetlejuice 2’s “MacArthur Park” finale. This paranormal Netflix series is the perfect show to watch after Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
8 Frankenweenie (2012)
Tim Burton's Last Suburban Horror Satire
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Frankenweenie
- Release Date
- October 5, 2012
- Runtime
- 87 Minutes
- Director
- Tim Burton
Cast
Charlie Tahan
WHERE TO WATCH
Frankenweenie is a 2012 stop-motion animated remake of Tim Burton's eponymous 1984 short film. It tells the story of young scientist Victor Frankenstein, who brings his dog Sparky back to life and tries to stop his experiment from wreaking havoc across his town.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is the first time Burton has returned to the horror genre in more than a decade. In the past 10 years, Burton has helmed the biopic Big Eyes, the Y.A. fantasy movie Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, and the live-action remake of Disney’s Dumbo. Burton’s last horror film was Frankenweenie way back in 2012, a stop-motion animated feature adaptation of his 1984 short of the same name.
Frankeweenie has a Rotten Tomatoes critics score of 88%.
Much like the Beetlejuice sequel, Frankenweenie brings creepy horror tropes into the mundanity of suburbia. It revolves around a little boy named Victor, who reanimates the corpse of his beloved dog and ends up causing a town-wide panic when more people use his power to bring their own pets back from the grave. It’s just as much fun as Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, perfectly blending comedy with horror.
7 Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)
Beetlejuice Isn't The First Classic '80s Supernatural Comedy To Get A Legacy Sequel
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Ghostbusters: Afterlife
- Release Date
- November 19, 2021
- Runtime
- 124 minutes
- Director
- Jason Reitman
WHERE TO WATCH
From director Jason Reitman and producer Ivan Reitman, comes the next chapter in the Ghostbusters universe. In Ghostbusters: Afterlife, a single mom and her two kids arrive in a small town. There, they begin to discover their connection to the original Ghostbusters and the secret legacy their grandfather left behind.
Beetlejuice isn’t the first classic supernatural comedy from the ‘80s to get a legacy sequel focused on the next generation. Much like Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Ghostbusters: Afterlife revolves around the daughter of a beloved franchise character grappling with his legacy, and a new generation carrying the baton. Egon Spengler’s daughter Callie is just as embarrassed by her dad’s reputation as a Ghostbuster as Astrid is embarrassed by her mom’s reputation as a TV ghost whisperer.
Egon’s granddaughter Phoebe picks up the torch, just like Astrid does in Beetlejuice 2. Ghostbusters: Afterlife manages the same perfect balance of nostalgic fan service and new characters and storytelling that made the Beetlejuice sequel such a success. It brings back the old cast for a heartwarming reunion, but it also makes endearing icons out of all the newcomers.
6 Schitt's Creek (2015-2020)
Catherine O'Hara's Iconic TV Show
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Schitt's Creek is a sitcom series created by and starring Dan and Eugene Levy. When the Rose family's business manager embezzles funds from their fortune, they discover that all of their money is gone except for one last piece of property - a small town called Schitt's Creek that they purchased for fun years ago. Now forced to acclimate to an average, borderline impoverished life, the Rose family will attempt to make due with what they have while trying to revitalize the town.
- Seasons
- 6
Before she reprised her role as Delia Deetz in the Beetlejuice sequel, Catherine O’Hara became a bigger star than ever with her turn as Moira Rose in Schitt’s Creek. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice even contains a sly reference to one of Schitt’s Creek’s best Moira gags: the schlocky horror B-movie that Moira starred in, The Crows Have Eyes III: The Crowening. Schitt’s Creek revolves around a wealthy family who lose all their money and have to relocate to the small town they bought as a joke.
There’s a lot of overlap between the characters of Moira and Delia. Like Delia, Moira is a pretentious wannabe artist with a hilarious eccentric streak, and O’Hara is just as iconic in both roles. Like Bob’s Burgers and Ted Lasso, Schitt’s Creek pushes back against the cynicism of most modern TV comedy with a delightful feel-good tone.
5 Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Another Great Tim Burton & Winona Ryder Collaboration
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Edward Scissorhands
- Release Date
- December 14, 1990
- Runtime
- 105 minutes
- Director
- Tim Burton
Cast
Dianne Wiest
WHERE TO WATCH
From director Tim Burton, Edward Scissorhands follows the titular character, an artificial human created by an inventor, who has scissor blades instead of fingers. After his creator's death, Edward is taken in by a normal suburban family and becomes attracted to the family's teenage daughter, Kim Boggs. Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder star as Edward and Kim.
After Burton and Keaton reunited to make Batman, the director reteamed with his other Beetlejuice star, Winona Ryder, for another fantasy comedy set in another creepy small town. Edward Scissorhands stars Johnny Depp as the unfinished creation of an old inventor: an ageless humanoid with scissor blades for fingers. Ryder plays Kim, the daughter of a door-to-door Avon sales rep who takes pity on Edward. Although Kim is initially scared of Edward, the two eventually fall in love.
Edward Scissorhands is a much more earnest, heartfelt movie than Beetlejuice. Edward is a tragic figure; he’s a sweet, kind-hearted man who wouldn’t harm a fly, but most people can only see him as a monster. With a sympathetic monster in the lead role and a touching love story at the heart of the movie, Edward Scissorhands is one of Burton’s most sincere films.
4 The Frighteners (1996)
Another Haunted House Comedy
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The Frighteners
- Release Date
- July 19, 1996
- Runtime
- 110 minutes
- Director
- Peter Jackson
Cast
Trini Alvarado
WHERE TO WATCH
A paranormal investigator, gifted with the ability to see and interact with ghosts, runs a scam with the spirits he claims to exorcize. However, a murderous supernatural force starts killing people, and Frank Bannister finds himself wrongly blamed for the deaths. With the body count rising, Frank must confront the evil spirit to clear his name.
Beetlejuice isn’t the only tongue-in-cheek comedy about a haunted house. Long before he would bring Middle-earth to life on the big screen, Peter Jackson was a horror filmmaker. His last horror film before The Lord of the Rings trilogy was The Frighteners, a supernatural comedy starring Michael J. Fox as a con artist who can see and hear ghosts. He uses his spectral friends to haunt people’s houses, then charges them a hefty fee to “exorcize” the ghosts from their homes.
Much like Beetlejuice, The Frighteners is a paranormal caper revolving around an unscrupulous entrepreneur who uses his ability to haunt houses to make a quick buck. Fox is just as funny and charismatic a lead as Keaton. Jackson balances the tone perfectly, starting off as a straightforward comedy before sliding into more disturbing territory.
3 Lisa Frankenstein (2024)
A Similar Recent Supernatural Horror Comedy
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Lisa Frankenstein
- Release Date
- February 9, 2024
- Runtime
- 101 Minutes
- Director
- Zelda Williams
Cast
Kathryn Newton
WHERE TO WATCH
Lisa Frankenstein is a comedic fantasy-horror film by first-time director Zelda Williams and is a twist on the classic Frankenstein formula. Set in 1989, a high school outcast named Lisa accidentally revives a handsome corpse from the Victorian era and resolves to rebuild him into the perfect man.
What makes the Beetlejuice movies so unique is that they bring the unsettling terror of supernatural horror into the familiar, everyday environment of the suburbs. This same juxtaposition was pulled off brilliantly earlier this year in the soon-to-be cult classic horror comedy Lisa Frankenstein. Written by the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Juno, Diablo Cody, Lisa Frankenstein stars Kathryn Newton as a teenage outcast who falls in love with a reanimated corpse from the Victorian era, played by Cole Sprouse.
Both Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Lisa Frankenstein wring morbid laughs out of death and the afterlife.
Both Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Lisa Frankenstein wring morbid laughs out of death and the afterlife. Lisa Frankenstein is set in the 1980s, so it has the same flashy, glitzy ‘80s vibes that defined the original Beetlejuice movie. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is the only official Beetlejuice sequel to be released in 2024, but Lisa Frankenstein plays like an unofficial sequel.
2 Stranger Things (2016-2025)
Winona Ryder's Comeback Role
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Stranger Things
- Release Date
- 2016 - 2025
- Network
- Netflix
- Showrunner
- Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer
Cast
Jane 'Eleven' Hopper
Mike Wheeler
WHERE TO WATCH
Stranger Things is a Netflix series set in the 1980s, where the mysterious disappearance of a young boy leads a small town to uncover secret experiments and supernatural forces. A significant focus is on a peculiar girl who may hold the key to the unfolding mystery.
- Directors
- Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, Andrew Stanton, Frank Darabont, Nimród Antal, Uta Briesewitz
- Seasons
- 5
- Streaming Service(s)
- Netflix
Around the time O’Hara scored a major career comeback with her role in Schitt’s Creek, Ryder scored her own career comeback with her own hit show. Stranger Things combines influences from the coming-of-age classics of Amblin and the terrifying horror stories of John Carpenter and Stephen King.
It could be described as The Goonies meets Firestarter, or Halloween meets Stand by Me. Ryder plays Joyce Byers, the mother of a young boy whose mysterious disappearance may have something to do with monsters lurking in a parallel dimension.
Beetlejuice 2 Pays Off My Biggest Hope For Winona Ryder & Catherine O’Hara’s Characters In A Way I Didn't Expect
Delia and Lydia’s relationship evolved ahead of Beetlejuice 2, but their bond was presented in ways I didn’t expect for Tim Burton’s sequel.
In Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the older version of Lydia Deetz has more in common with Joyce from Stranger Things than the teenage Lydia from the original film. Like Joyce, in the sequel, Lydia is the flustered mother desperately trying to protect her kid from supernatural monsters bleeding in from another dimension. Stranger Things is perfect for Beetlejuice 2 fans.
1 The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Another Great Self-Aware Horror Parody
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The Rocky Horror Picture Show
- Release Date
- August 15, 1975
- Runtime
- 100 minutes
- Director
- Jim Sharman
Cast
Richard O'Brien-
Peter Hinwood
WHERE TO WATCH
Originally based on a stage play, The Rocky Horror Picture show is considered one of the most significant countercultural films of all time and maintains a wide cult following to this day. The film stars Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, and Barry Bostwick, and follows Brad and Janet, a young couple who, after experiencing car trouble on a stormy night, are taken in by scientist Dr. Frank-N-Furter, an alien transvestite who lives in a nearby castle with his equally colorful servants.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is both an effective horror movie and a self-aware horror satire. It has references to everything from Jaws to The Amityville Horror to Mario Bava’s Black Sunday. The first name in self-aware horror parody is 1975’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the mother of all cult classics. It revolves around a couple named Brad and Janet whose car breaks down outside a gothic mansion containing every horror archetype from a mad scientist to an alien visitor.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show borrows from the sci-fi and horror B-movies of the ‘30s, ‘40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s. It’s jam-packed with homages to the genre’s classics and, much like Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, it has a handful of catchy musical numbers. Rocky Horror combines its humor with its horror just as effectively as Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and it’s perfect for fans of the movie.
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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
- Release Date
- September 6, 2024
- Runtime
- 104 Minutes
- Director
- Tim Burton
Cast
-
Beetlejuice
-
Lydia Deetz
WHERE TO WATCH
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is the sequel to the original Tim Burton classic that starred Michael Keaton and Wynona Rider in a horror-comedy that involved ghosts trying to scare off new homebuyers from taking their house. The sequel brings back Michael Keaton as the hilarious and sleazy ghost with selfish intentions, now ed by Jenna Ortega in a new role.
- Writers
- Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Mike Vukadinovich, Seth Grahame-Smith, Michael McDowell, Larry Wilson
- Studio(s)
- KatzSmith Productions, Tim Burton Productions, Warner Bros. Pictures, Plan B Entertainment
- Distributor(s)
- Warner Bros. Pictures
- Main Genre
- Comedy
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