Like Betelgeuse did with The Exorcist, I've seen the 1988 Beetlejuice about 167 times, and it keeps getting funnier every single time I see it. So when they announced a 36-years-later sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, I knew I'd get to the earliest showing I could. After a trip to the multiplex, I learned that the new movie had plenty in store for OG fans like me. Here's all of the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Easter eggs, references, cameos and Tim Burton nods I managed to catch after just one viewing. Surely, there will be more after I see the film 166 more times.
Everyone Loves Harry Belafonte
Let's get this one out of the way first, because it isn't an Easter egg so much as an obvious, in-your-face callback to the first movie. One of the most memorable scenes of the first film is set at the Deetz's house during a dinner party. When ghosts Adam and Barbara Maitland want to cause a fright, they possess the family and guests and make them dance around to Harry Belafonte's "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)." It must've made an impression on ol' Charles Deetz, because in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Delia gets a choir to sing it at Charles's funeral.
Fashion is Cyclical
Styles come and go, but fashion icon Lydia Deetz remains remarkably steadfast — and not just in regards to her haircut. (Shout out to costume designer Colleen Atwood for keeping her such a sartorial legend.) For most of the movie, she's dressed in an outfit with a black blazer, green plaid and a white-collared shirt — just like the uniform she wears to Miss Shannon's School for Girls. (Miss Shannon's School for Girls is an Easter egg in and of itself, still going strong, as Astrid bikes past it a few times.)
And that's not the only outfit that makes a repeat performance. Lydia wears an all-black ensemble when she moves into the Maitland house, similar to what she wears to host her paranormal show. (Sadly, the wide-brimmed hat is gone.) And when she, for a second time, is compelled to marry Betelgeuse, her legendary red wedding dress makes a comeback (as does his oxblood tux).
Betelgeuse himself usually wears the same outfit for all eternity, the black-and-white striped suit, so you can't really call that a comeback. But he does accessorize similarly, wearing a jaunty hat with a tag bearing his occupation in both films.
Art Endures
Say what you will about Delia Deetz, but her artistic style is ... singular. So when Astrid passes a Deetz original sculpture on the campus of her school, it's instantly recognizable. Turns out, Astrid's school is the recipient of a large donation from the Deetz family — enough to endow a whole art center.
The Bridge Is Bad News
Winter River, Connecticut: known for its picturesque downtown, its calming scenery and its extremely hazardous covered bridge. Adam and Barbara Maitland died when they drove their car off a covered bridge. Later, Astrid rides her bike over the same bridge — and gets into a crash shortly after.
The Maitlands Remembered
On the one hand, it's good that the Maitlands aren't main characters in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Their story had run its course, the sequel has enough going on as it is and it feels nice that they found a "loophole" that let them leave the attic early. But, for fans who miss them to much, they put a reference to the Maitlands — and their sunken car, if we're speaking of the troublesome bridge — in the shots of the town model.
Up to His Old Tricks
To prove to the Maitlands he's scary enough to be hired, Betelgeuse allows frightening appendages to protrude from his face. They're so scary the audience isn't allowed to see it from the front. Well, one good turn deserves another, and when it's time to freak out the living in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, he does it again — and again it's only shown from the back.
Poor Tim
When Lydia and Astrid have a serious heart-to-heart about death, it only makes sense that they're doing so in a cemetery. Some of the graves are visible, including one with a name that's clear as day: Tim. Could that be a shout-out to director Tim Burton?
Betelgeuse Puts Out the Word
It's almost quaint how consistent Betelgeuse is. For example, when he wants to advertise his services, in both movies he uses the same method: a paper leaflet. (Hey, Betelgeuse, if you want to reach the teens you have to get on TikTok.)
The Family Business
Jane Butterfield so wanted to sell the Maitland house — and when Adam and Barbara died, she finally got her wish. After the buyer, Charles Deetz, passed on, it only makes sense that another Butterfield — aka Little Jane — would put it on the market again. And like mother, like daughter: Both Butterfields always have a child in tow.
Betelgeuse's Beloved
In the first Beetlejuice, during the wedding scene, when the groom is asked for the ring he produces a severed finger wearing a gold band. "I'm telling you honey, she meant nothing to me — nothing at all," he assures Lydia, who looks disgusted. In Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, he's pursued by his ex-wife, Delores, who's originally shown in pieces — and deliberately missing a finger. And is she the one he's referring to when he says, "I lived through the Black Plague and had a pretty good time during that?"
Make Them Dance
In Beetlejuice, it was the Maitlands who used a possessed musical number to try and achieve their goal (which was to scare the Deetz family out of the house, which didn't work). Betelgeuse must've remembered their trick, because in the sequel, when he gets put in a tight spot, he resorts to the same thing. Adam Maitland's musical taste is better, though. While he has everyone jamming to Harry Belafonte, Betelgeuse goes with "MacArthur Park." Whether he's more successful than the Maitlands in using musical numbers for nefarious purposes, well, you'll have to roll out to see the movie.
Stretched Out Faces Are Always Gruesome
In another attempt to scare the Deetz family, Adam and Barbara make their faces distorted in a grotesque way. During the wedding scene in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, influencers are ruining the mood, so Betelgeuse has them sucked into their phones. As they're being drawn in, their faces get distorted like Adam Maitland's — another case of Betelgeuse borrowing Adam's schtick.
References to Other Tim Burton Characters
Warning: This section also has spoilers for other Tim Burton movies. Whether or not these are direct references, or just that Tim Burton has a certain sensibility and returns to the same images and themes, is up to you to decide.
- Monica Belluci's character, Delores, is a woman who begins the movie in pieces, and reattaches herself, leaving visible seams along her face. She's basically Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Even her name, Delores, could be a reference to Dolores Fuller from Ed Wood, but their names are spelled differently.
- When Betelgeuse is shown a picture of Delores, his face bugs out in a ghoulish-yet-cartoony way, just like Large Marge from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.
- Danny DeVito is a grotesque afterlife janitor who often has fluid dripping down his chin, much like the Penguin from Batman Returns, also played by DeVito.
- Does anyone think the shrunken-head guys also look like the aliens from Mars Attacks?
- Jenna Ortega plays a private-school outcast whose wits are clouded by a cute, preppy boy. Her character's name is Astrid, but you might as well call her Wednesday.
Marisa (she/her) has covered all things parenting, from the postpartum period through the empty nest, for Good Housekeeping since 2018; previously, she wrote about parents and families at Parents and Working Mother. She lives with her toy-collecting husband and daughter in Brooklyn, where she can be found helping out her team at bar trivia or posting about movies on Twitter and Bluesky.
