Question: What happened to Lydia's biological mother? Was this mentioned in a deleted scene? I once watched the movie with someone who said that Delia actually is the biological mother, but Lydia feels so disconnected and misunderstood, she pretends that Delia is her stepmother. (When I was a kid myself, I actually met a couple of kids who pretended that parents were adoptive or someone was a step-parent).
Question: Was Jane lying when she said that she decorated the Maitland home (she wanted Lydia to mention this to her parents)?
Answer: Jane appears to be taking credit for what Barbara and Adam had done. At the beginning of the movie, the Maitlands are discussing the home projects they've been working on. Adam has been refinishing cabinetry while Barbara has chosen wallpaper, and they're spending their two-week vacation working on the house.
Answer: It's never answered in the film if she actually decorated the house for Adam and Barbara, but there isn't really any reason to doubt it.
My interpretation was that Jane was always chasing a buck. She aggressively pestered Adam and Barbara to sell the house just to earn a commission. She was hustling the Deetzes for her decorating services. Regarding Barbara and Adam, they just didn't want anyone in their beloved house, much less having it redecorated after all the work they did on it.
But if she actually did, then I wonder if they would care as much about the Deetzes remodeling the home?
This is a stretch, but maybe Jane wanted to keep the house as close to how Adam and Barbara had it, like a shrine. It's not uncommon for those who lost loved ones to try and keep things as close to what was possible.
What I meant was, why would Adam and Barbara, not Jane, be so upset about the remodeling if Jane did the decorating anyway? Granted, they apparently chose to live with it.
That was probably a comfort thing. They learned they were going to spend over a century in that house, and it would be one thing if it was closer to what they were comfortable with, but the Deetzes' style was too much for them.
Corrected entry: When Lydia takes pictures of the ghosts, she's using a Polaroid camera. When she shows Delia the photos (and the photos that are seen later on) they aren't Polaroids at all, they are big pictures. (00:39:25 - 00:53:20)
Correction: It is entirely possible to create larger copies of Polaroids. It is apparent that Lydia is knowledgable about photography (and dark room development), and therefore probably reproduced a larger copy.
Evidence of this process would be welcomed. An internet search only produces results involving scanning the original photo, a process not possible (at home) at the time of the film.
Correction: When the Deetzes are having their first meal, Lydia is promised a darkroom in the basement. Time passes and the house is getting upgrades. So Lydia got her darkroom and had time to enlarge photos for her family to see.
Question: When Beetlejuice replaces the handrail as a snake, I don't understand the line, "We've come for your daughter, Chuck." I know "Chuck" is "Charles" so who is "we" and why does he say "they" are only there for Lydia? (01:00:28)
Answer: In addition, it's possible that Beetlejuice was trying to rope Adam and Barbara in on the idea, since they did request for his help to get the Deetzes out of the house. He might've thought they were working together.
Answer: It's a rather outdated usage. Queen Victoria was known for using the "Royal We," saying things like, "We are not amused." It was a way of saying something without being directly accountable for it. Others use it merely as an embellished speaking effect, meant as hyperbole. That is what Beetlejuice is doing to sound loftier.
It's not that outdated. The "royal we" is still in use. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_we.
Stupidity: Juno adamantly warns Adam and Barbara against getting help from Beetlejuice, but then proceeds to freely tell them exactly how to conjure him. She even snubs them when Adam asks how to get back in touch with her should they need her assistance again.
Suggested correction: I think she was giving them more of a warning against conjuring him accidentally by saying his name three times. Didn't she tell Adam that she wasn't available when he asked? That might explain the snub.
If she was warning them about accidentally saying his name three times, then it also would have been wise for her to tell them in that same moment that they could make him go away by saying his name three times again, but she didn't. She also said she wasn't available to help them in that moment, not at a later date like Adam was asking. By refusing to answer Adam's question, she made it more likely that they would turn to Beetlejuice for help.
Corrected entry: Jane badly wants to sell the Maitland home, so it's not practical that she left all of their furniture, decorations, and other possessions after they died. Any realtor who wanted to make a quick sale would have the place cleaned out, instead of leaving so much stuff for the new owners to deal with.
Correction: Actually, it's not all that uncommon for realtors to sell fully furnished and "staged" homes. And depending on the location and market, they sometimes sell quicker than unfurnished homes, since it means that it's less for the new buyers to purchase. This especially makes sense, since Jane seems to like the idea of selling the house to a larger family who might desire such things. As for their possessions? There was probably no family who wanted them, and Jane probably just hadn't gotten around to getting rid of them yet, since the Deetz family seems to move in rather quickly after the Maitlands died. I feel like at best this is a "stupidity" or "character mistake", but I'd argue it's neither.
Correction: Jane tells Lydia that she "personally decorated that house," so it's not impossible that she was maybe looking to be hired as the new decorator.
I always thought Jane was lying when she said that she decorated the house. The Maitlands were quite offended when the Deetzes began to change everything, as if they decorated the place themselves, and chose/inherited the furniture. I think Jane was nosey and wanted to keep getting attention for herself. But this is just how I interpret it.
Question: Why does Bettlejuice give Lydia some BS reason why he can't tell her his name, but them puts her through a ridiculous round of charades for her to guess it?
Chosen answer: Because he can't say his own name, therefore the charades is the only way he can get her to figure out what his name is to say it.
Why can't Beetlejuice say his own name?
Question: What ever happened to Maxi Dean and his wife after Beetlejuice hammered them up into the ceiling?
Answer: It's never explained. It's entirely possible they were both killed considering they were launched through the ceiling, since that would have likely caused catastrophic head injuries. But it's also possible that given the cartoonish nature of the film, they were just ejected out of the house. It's up for the viewer to decide. (I personally am leaning towards them being dead given how violent Beetlejuice is.)
I also wonder if they died, because they could go back to New York and tell others about their experience at the house. They are wealthy and probably have a good-sized social circle, so they could attract some attention to the town. Depending on what exactly Beetlejuice is planning (after he marries Lydia), he may not want that yet.
Question: What did Jane say to Barbara that upset her? The only thing I could make out was, "This place" and "family."
Answer: Jane says "the house is meant for a couple with a family" and is therefore too big for them. Meaning that Adam and Barbara have no children and thus aren't a family yet. It upset her to be reminded that they don't have any children.
Adam even suggests 'trying again on vacation,' implying they'd tried to have a child before. It's why they bonded with Lydia so well; they'd been hoping to be parents.
Stupidity: Barbara and Adam can obviously interact with physical objects (the statue horse, holding the door shut, etc.) but when trying to scare the Deetz's they tried visual stunts rather than throwing or moving objects.
Suggested correction: Barbara and Adam are not aggressive, intimidating people. Maybe they could have thrown and moved objects, but that would be almost violent. They would rather try a few visual stunts, instead of possibly hurting someone and/or damaging something in the house.
I respectively disagree with this. One of the visual tricks Barbara and Adam tried was her holding a bloody knife over his decapitated body, that in itself would have been violent and aggressive if they had been seen.
But they weren't violent and aggressive. They weren't threatening violence or aggression to anyone. They didn't commit an aggressive or violent act in front of anyone. They were just trying to scare them, just like wearing the sheets earlier.
Suggested correction: They first off didn't really understand how to interact with the physical world and secondly they didn't realise yet they were invisible.
I'm not sure the point of this correction because we see none of this is true. Barbara picks up a physical object and moves it without thinking about it. Then she looks at herself in the mirror with the horse and sees she doesn't have a reflection.
I have to agree. Even if Adam and Barbara couldn't be seen, the noose that Barbara "hanged" herself with or even the knife she was holding still should have been seen as they are physical objects and a knife, to the Deetz's, would be floating in midair and would probably scare them off.
Corrected entry: When the Maitlands' car crashes, there are no side or back windows (so that the car would sink faster).
Correction: Or perhaps they had all the windows down on that lovely warm day?
If their windows were open, wouldn't they have had an easier time to get out of the car and live?
Not if they were injured in the crash, or even stunned.
The front windows were, in fact, open and, generally speaking, yes, that would've helped them get out faster. But there are other factors, like if they couldn't get the seatbelts undone or possibly received a concussion when they hit the water.
Question: How did Juno die?
Answer: Otho says at the dinner table that "they say those who commit suicide are civil servants in the afterlife." Look at all the people in the afterlife who are working. Their deaths appear secondary to suicide (the janitor has ligature marks, the receptionist cut her wrists, the flat guy jumped in front of a semi truck, etc). Juno says Beetlejuice was her partner. Therefore, the inference can be made that he too must have committed suicide.
So Juno slit her own throat?
Yes.
Or she was in her car when she killed herself.
How would being in her car cause such a deep cut in her throat?
Corrected entry: There is never any point in the movie in which Adam or Barbara learn the correct pronunciation of "Betelgeuse". They simply begin to say it correctly, as if it were obvious, after first pronouncing it completely wrong. The only person to learn the correct way to say it was Lydia, and she never shares this information before Adam and Barbara learn how to say it.
Correction: There was a deleted scene due to socially unacceptable jokes in the script (by today's standards or the film owners). From memory, Beetlejuice plays charades with Adam and Barbara while flirting (jokes) with Barbara, until she guesses his name correctly. It's a very frustrating thing to leave out of the final cut since the storyline built up to that scene quite a bit. It was a funny scene too.
Correction: Betelgeuse is the name of a red giant star near the constellation of Orion and it is pronounced Beetle Juice. Many, many people know that name. The name was printed on his little signs in the model of the town. Their death "social services" worker stops them from fully pronouncing his name. Betelgeuse tells Lydia that he cannot tell her his name, but she has to guess it through charades.
But they both saw his name written down and couldn't pronounce it properly. After they return from seeing Juno, Barbara says it perfectly all of sudden.
Corrected entry: When Adam and Barbara first arrive in the waiting room with all the dead people, one of them looks like Edward Scissorhands. Seems like Tim Burton was giving a little hint on his future project.
Correction: I just loaded up the scene and cannot find this person no matter where I look. The closest I could find is that someone is sitting in a dark suit and another person with kind of a pale face, but they don't really resemble Edward. Where exactly should we be looking?
After the secretary talked to Adam and Barbara and she named the next number and next scene shown the victims and the one I think looks like Edward Scissorhands is the last on the left.
The one in the sleeping bag with a rattlesnake does have the spiky black hair and black around the eyes. I get what you mean but I think it's just a coincidence. Has to be confirmed.
I said it looks like Edward Scissorhands. If Tim Burton was giving a little hint, he certainly wouldn't have the person have scissors for hands, would he? It would have been giving too much info right there for his next project.
I honestly think it's just a coincidence, too. Tim Burton has a very specific style, and a lot of his characters look similar with wild hair, dark circles around the eyes, etc.
Corrected entry: All the dead are still in the condition they were when they died, e.g. The scuba diver and the shark, the burned man, the 'run-over' man, etc. The Maitlands drown and, when first seen, are dripping wet, yet they are dry in the next scene and remain dry throughout the movie.
Correction: Since the burned guy isn't smoking, the scuba diver is dry, and no one with a gaping wound is still bleeding, it's reasonable that the Maitlands' clothes would have dried. Their actual bodies are still in the condition in they were in when they died.
Don't bodies "inflate" when they drown? So wouldn't they look puffed up?
But that's not the condition they're in when they died. That's just what their physical bodies might look like later.
Question: What's up with the afterlife? After they die, they somehow walk back to their own home and when they walk out, they're on some desert planet with giant sandworms. Now, their case worker Juno says they have to stay in the house for 125 years. Why do they have to stay in the house for 125 years and for what? Is there a Heaven or Hell in this movie?
Answer: The version of the afterlife depicted in this film is a complex bureaucracy involving caseworkers, vouchers, and the like; the Maitlands' case requires that they spend 125 years in the house. When Adam attempted to leave, he found himself on Saturn for reasons that are never really explained within the film. As for the last part of your question, Adam remarked that he saw nothing about Heaven or Hell in the Handbook For the Recently Deceased, so it's possible that neither Heaven or Hell exists within this version of the afterlife.
Well I know this is from the musical, not the movie, but in the song "Say my Name", Beetlegeuse says "I'm a demon straight from Hell." So maybe there is just a lot more, where not everyone is guaranteed to go to Heaven or Hell, and they have to prove themselves.
Answer: Yes there is a Heaven and Hell in Beetlejuice. Juno says the 125 years is like a purgatory, they have to stay there until their time is up, and then they can "move on."
"Move on" doesn't necessarily mean that the Maitlands will go to either Heaven or Hell at the end of the 125 years they will be stuck in the house; it also doesn't mean that they are in some sort of purgatory. It most likely means that they will be able to leave the house after that time is up.
She doesn't say that in the movie.
Question: When the Maitlands return to their home after it's been altered by the new owners, Juno tells the Maitlands that they should be thankful that they didn't die in Italy. What did she mean by that?
Answer: Italy is the center of the Roman Catholic Church, which includes exorcisms as a real-life ritual. Presumably, ghosts in Italy are at greater risk of encountering trouble in Italy because of this reason.
Answer: It's in reference / added on to her previous statement about being quiet/peaceful: Italy, presumably, has a louder, more raucous group of the living.
Answer: Italy, is a trendsetter. There would be constant art-deco changes that conflict with the Maitland's personal taste. In comparison, the Deets' are pretty tamed.
Chosen answer: When the Maitlands first meet their case worker, Juno, they tell her how miffed they are with the new family that has moved into their home. Juno glances around the peaceful house and remarks, "Things seem quiet here. You should thank God you didn't die in Italy." The case worker's name, "Juno," is a traditional Italian girl's name; and we see (when she smokes a cigarette) that Juno's throat has been slashed open from side to side, implying that she died a very violent and grisly death. Based on her personal experience (probably being murdered in Italy), Juno is commenting that the Maitlands could have died a far worse death under far more horrific circumstances, and that they really have little reason to complain.
I'm Italian: there's literally not a single female being, girl or woman, who has (had or have) this name in this country. Let alone being "traditional." "J" is not even in our original alphabet, go figure. I also think it's about us Italians being noisy and the place being quiet, that's all.
You may be Italian, but you're not informed. While the formal Italian alphabet (derived of Latin) does not have a "J" character, the letter "J' is used in modern Italian writing every day. "Juno," in your limited world, would be spelled "Diuno," who was a Roman goddess (queen of the heavens). As this pertains to Beetlejuice, she is a Roman goddess in charge of organizing.
Juno slashed her own throat. It says earlier in the movie that people who commit suicide become civil servants, which is what Juno is as their case worker. The beauty queen at the desk implies the same when she talks about what happens to people when they die. She says "if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have had my little accident" holding up her slit wrists, implying that she wouldn't have committed suicide if she knew she'd become a civil servant (as a desk girl).
It's never stated or established that Juno committed suicide.
I really think she was supposed to have had a tracheotomy due to her smoking.
Question: Is there any reason besides plot convenience that the Deetzes didn't enter the attic during the three months that the Maitlands were away from the house to meet with Juno? I realise they don't have the key, but seeing as how they were renovating the entire house anyway, it seems like they would have had no problem just knocking the door down.
Answer: No reason was given, but they probably felt no immediate need to enter the attic. I've never been in my own house's attic. As you pointed out, it's really a matter of plot convenience.
Answer: After the dinner scene when Otho asked where they hid and Lydia said "the attic" Charles replied that the attic was locked. So it seems like she never told them she had the skeleton key.
I addressed this in the question. A key is not required to get into the attic because they could just break the door down.
Except they didn't break the door down. Delia kept banging on the door until it opened. If they had broken the door down, there would have been some damage.
Answer: This is purely for convenience. It's always bothered me. Like since the early 90s when I first had a VHS copy to rewind. That whole house has been gutted and rebuilt but no-one got in to the attic for 3 months? That's BS. For one thing not only would someone like Charles Deets want to see every square inch of his property, but a major company/contractor doing a remodel of that size would have at some time needed access to and been on every square foot of that house.
Quite often, people don't think about the attic along with the rest of the house. Many of them won't be going into the attic every day, not every month, maybe not more than once a year.
She was incredibly depressed. She wasn't happy anywhere and she didn't fit in with her own family or anything they were trying to do. She was a goth girl. The realm of the dead and the macabre seemed more a place for her. When one sees the "Netherworld," it kind of seems like a more interesting place. But... upon closer inspection, it's not really all that different from our world.
Answer: She wanted to be with her mom who had passed sway.
It's never stated that her mom had died. There could be a possibility that Charles and her mom got divorced. The first two answers are more likely.
I've heard the interpretation that Delia really is Lydia's biological mother, but they are very different and don't get along, so Lydia pretends that Delia is a stepmother.
Answer: Her mother died and Delia is indeed her stepmother. We are not told in the film how her mother died. In the musical we're told Emily Deetz is her biological mother.
Bishop73
It's clarified in the second one that her mum is still alive. More than likely she doesn't like Delia because she sees her as replacing her mum or because they are so different.